This morning it was really nice out, mid-60s, clear blue skies, nice and sunny. I had an exam in Urban Econ at 9am, it went well, and on my way walking back I felt very relaxed, even though the exam was the least of my school-related burden right now, I think just because it was such a nice day out. I saw a plane ascending into the sky and had two thoughts- #1. I wonder where it's going? and #2. What a perfect day to fly. I don't know why, but everytime I see an airplane I think about where it's coming from, and where it's going to, and try to guess based on direction/altitude, ie- this one was obviously had taken off from New Orleans, and was flying northeast.
School has been absolutely oppressive recently. Two of my classes have a "sane" work-load and are very manageable, the other two have 20-25page papers due in a month or so and about a book of reading per week, it's really been getting to me lately. The positive, I guess, is once I finish these papers (I'm aiming to before Thanksgiving) the semester is more or less over, and so is college classes. The first two classes I mentioned with a sane workload have finals, one in-class and one relatively early during finals period, and don't concern me a whole lot, and the two insane ones have the papers as the final requirement. So I don't think there will be much stress for me finals week, and this semester has been hard but afterwords, I only need 1 econ class (econometrics), a public service internship, and possibly 1 history seminar (hopefully not if my Study Abroad class counts as it) to graduate. Optimally, I'll just have to take the first two next semester.
A final, and unrelated note- As I was walking home from my exam this morning (I walk down the famous St. Charles Avenue) I was watching the streetcars roll by. They each have one banner of advertising on the sides, and I noticed they were predominantly hospital-related, one for a hip replacement, another for general hospitals, etc. What does this say about their ridership? I'd assume "old people" but that generally doesn't seem to be true. Maybe some old tourists, though I don't think they are here for medical tourism, I'm not sure. One of the banners said you can now check online for wait times at Ochsner Baptist (which this morning are all at 0) for the emergency room. This kind of baffled me, isn't the point of the emergency room that it's the ultimate triage system? If you have the sanity/health/patience whatever to go online to look up who has the lowest wait times, I'm not sure you need to go to the emergency room. I mean who says "Gosh, someone shot me twice, but Ochsner Baptist has a 35minute wait, I better go to the Tulane Medical Center."
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Various thoughts on Universal Health Care
Universal Health Care in the United States
If anything highlights the dysfunctional and perhaps self-destructive nature of politics, it is the health care debate that has been raging over the past month or so. Let me first question Obama's decision to push this in the summer, July and August are notoriously slow political months and certainly I do not believe it has helped his cause. Here's my various thoughts on the health care debate in this country.
#1- What are we getting for our taxes in this country?
In a brilliant Daily Show clip, John Oliver goes to a anti-tax tea party in New Jersey. A protester tells him "New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation" to which his biting reply is "And what are you getting for it, because this is an awful state!" I wonder the same thing about our taxes, surely as far as social programs go, health care should be a priority. Yet European nations almost universally have universal health coverage, and moderate-to-high tax rates. Spain, for example has a well funded education system, a fantastic public transportation network, and universal health care. What everyone says is "Oh, European socialists have tax systems that kill business." European politics does put a bit of a stranglehold on business, and while I have no evidence to back this up, I would put it down more to regulation and disincentives to entrepeneurship, innovation, and R&D more than the tax levels. Perhaps not in Northern Europe, but I don't know for sure. The point which rends all of this argument moot anyways, is that in several OECD (1st World Countries) such as Spain and Italy, they actually have lower tax rates than some places in the United States! There was an article in the left-leaning Spanish paper El Pais that pointed out that in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, and a few other predominantly Northeastern states, the overall tax rates are higher in the American states! Which begs the question of how efficiently our tax dollars are being spent. (answer: not
#2- Universal Health Care in a European form is not feasible for the United States
Our health care is generally pretty good, with advancing technology, new medications, and generally short wait times. The US can provide health care for all of its' citizens, though a European-style National Health Service is probably not apt for the process. Particularly in a time with economic crisis and unparalleled government deficits and debt, we simply cannot afford the $1 trillion-dollar plus systems they have. To Obama's credit, he has realized this and his plan would not replace private insurers as much as it would cover those unable to procure this insurance for a variety of reasons. Having just spent trillions to avert financial armageddon, the US simply does not have the finances for this. Nor is it necessarily the best plan. But I think Obama's plan, however much of a scaled-down version it is, is also not financially doable for the US. Frankly as it stands, no large-scale overhaul, of any social service right now. We're looking at a $2trillion deficit right now. Unless we want to burden further the future generations of Americans, our priority's right now are to stabilize the economy and slow the sea of debt that the United States government is drowning in.
#3- Republicans are wrong in their rhetoric
On the Republican side, "Swift-boat" style ads are drumming up fears of "death panels" drawing on a specific part of legislation that simply provides for end-of-life-planning. Like hospice care, getting your will together, etc. There's a lot of people with terminal conditions in this country and many more that very old. Life-planning is an extremely, rational, important step. There is the concern of scarcity and a government-run health care that would have red-tape amok and an inefficient bureaucracy, these are very legitimate concerns. However, the "health care is between you and your doctor" ad by anti-ObamaCare activists is ridiculous. There's already massive bureaucracies out there, they are called the insurance companies. I personally have dealt with them extensively and while they have always allowed me to take expensive exams and such in a timely manner, some of the smallest things like getting reimbursed for medication is a time-intensive process. The scarcity argument and bureaucracy are ones they should expound upon, they do bring up legitimate concerns but not surprisingly, are going about it in the wrong way. But do the ends justify the means? I can see an anti-ObamaCare advocate justifying it by saying the other topics are simply not sexy enough (financial issues, scarcity) so they have to drum it up to accomplish their goal, derailing national health care.
#4- Democrats are wrong in their planning and rhetoric
This shouldn't surprise anyone, as the only thing the two parties can ever agree on civilly is how to pad each others pockets and keep any real independent groups out of government. But the Dems are equally culpable as the Republicans on slander and misinformation. Let's start with the plan first, obvious in a wholly Democratic-led government, it is their responsibility to lead the way, and the GOP will simply play defense. That is exactly how the Dems behaved during the Bush administration, it's natural. But they have failed poorly here, it seems none can agree on specifically what they are aiming for. The Congressional Dems want one thing, Obama says another, and the Health Secretary says another thing. Are we looking at a universal health care system? Is it going to be government run, or like Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac (probably poor examples to bring up) government-sponsored. Often they talk about creating a health care cooperative, but I question whether one can be financially healthy when a sizeable portion of their mission would presumably be insuring people who have difficulty getting coverage from existing insurers. All in all, they have done a terrible job of articulating their plan to the point numerous Democrats have said they will not support the current bill. But they are wrong in their rhetoric as well, senior Democrats have labelled anti-ObamaCare activists as "an angry mob" and figuratively as archaic hillbillies who are stuck in the 19th century. These people have legitimate concerns about the size and scope of the US Federal government, and in light of the massive expansion of government over the past 2 years or so, they are fairly justified. The US government has taken over large banks, an automaker, and pumped trillions into the economy in exchange for equity.
I'll cut it off for now, even if I haven't fully developed my thoughts.
If anything highlights the dysfunctional and perhaps self-destructive nature of politics, it is the health care debate that has been raging over the past month or so. Let me first question Obama's decision to push this in the summer, July and August are notoriously slow political months and certainly I do not believe it has helped his cause. Here's my various thoughts on the health care debate in this country.
#1- What are we getting for our taxes in this country?
In a brilliant Daily Show clip, John Oliver goes to a anti-tax tea party in New Jersey. A protester tells him "New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation" to which his biting reply is "And what are you getting for it, because this is an awful state!" I wonder the same thing about our taxes, surely as far as social programs go, health care should be a priority. Yet European nations almost universally have universal health coverage, and moderate-to-high tax rates. Spain, for example has a well funded education system, a fantastic public transportation network, and universal health care. What everyone says is "Oh, European socialists have tax systems that kill business." European politics does put a bit of a stranglehold on business, and while I have no evidence to back this up, I would put it down more to regulation and disincentives to entrepeneurship, innovation, and R&D more than the tax levels. Perhaps not in Northern Europe, but I don't know for sure. The point which rends all of this argument moot anyways, is that in several OECD (1st World Countries) such as Spain and Italy, they actually have lower tax rates than some places in the United States! There was an article in the left-leaning Spanish paper El Pais that pointed out that in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, and a few other predominantly Northeastern states, the overall tax rates are higher in the American states! Which begs the question of how efficiently our tax dollars are being spent. (answer: not
#2- Universal Health Care in a European form is not feasible for the United States
Our health care is generally pretty good, with advancing technology, new medications, and generally short wait times. The US can provide health care for all of its' citizens, though a European-style National Health Service is probably not apt for the process. Particularly in a time with economic crisis and unparalleled government deficits and debt, we simply cannot afford the $1 trillion-dollar plus systems they have. To Obama's credit, he has realized this and his plan would not replace private insurers as much as it would cover those unable to procure this insurance for a variety of reasons. Having just spent trillions to avert financial armageddon, the US simply does not have the finances for this. Nor is it necessarily the best plan. But I think Obama's plan, however much of a scaled-down version it is, is also not financially doable for the US. Frankly as it stands, no large-scale overhaul, of any social service right now. We're looking at a $2trillion deficit right now. Unless we want to burden further the future generations of Americans, our priority's right now are to stabilize the economy and slow the sea of debt that the United States government is drowning in.
#3- Republicans are wrong in their rhetoric
On the Republican side, "Swift-boat" style ads are drumming up fears of "death panels" drawing on a specific part of legislation that simply provides for end-of-life-planning. Like hospice care, getting your will together, etc. There's a lot of people with terminal conditions in this country and many more that very old. Life-planning is an extremely, rational, important step. There is the concern of scarcity and a government-run health care that would have red-tape amok and an inefficient bureaucracy, these are very legitimate concerns. However, the "health care is between you and your doctor" ad by anti-ObamaCare activists is ridiculous. There's already massive bureaucracies out there, they are called the insurance companies. I personally have dealt with them extensively and while they have always allowed me to take expensive exams and such in a timely manner, some of the smallest things like getting reimbursed for medication is a time-intensive process. The scarcity argument and bureaucracy are ones they should expound upon, they do bring up legitimate concerns but not surprisingly, are going about it in the wrong way. But do the ends justify the means? I can see an anti-ObamaCare advocate justifying it by saying the other topics are simply not sexy enough (financial issues, scarcity) so they have to drum it up to accomplish their goal, derailing national health care.
#4- Democrats are wrong in their planning and rhetoric
This shouldn't surprise anyone, as the only thing the two parties can ever agree on civilly is how to pad each others pockets and keep any real independent groups out of government. But the Dems are equally culpable as the Republicans on slander and misinformation. Let's start with the plan first, obvious in a wholly Democratic-led government, it is their responsibility to lead the way, and the GOP will simply play defense. That is exactly how the Dems behaved during the Bush administration, it's natural. But they have failed poorly here, it seems none can agree on specifically what they are aiming for. The Congressional Dems want one thing, Obama says another, and the Health Secretary says another thing. Are we looking at a universal health care system? Is it going to be government run, or like Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac (probably poor examples to bring up) government-sponsored. Often they talk about creating a health care cooperative, but I question whether one can be financially healthy when a sizeable portion of their mission would presumably be insuring people who have difficulty getting coverage from existing insurers. All in all, they have done a terrible job of articulating their plan to the point numerous Democrats have said they will not support the current bill. But they are wrong in their rhetoric as well, senior Democrats have labelled anti-ObamaCare activists as "an angry mob" and figuratively as archaic hillbillies who are stuck in the 19th century. These people have legitimate concerns about the size and scope of the US Federal government, and in light of the massive expansion of government over the past 2 years or so, they are fairly justified. The US government has taken over large banks, an automaker, and pumped trillions into the economy in exchange for equity.
I'll cut it off for now, even if I haven't fully developed my thoughts.
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