The long hot summer
By SHEILAH PEPPER
The Gazette Staff
The Republicans had one small piece of luck last week. The strange press conference given by wandering Governor Mark Sanford was followed the next day, sadly, by the death of Michael Jackson.
That event took the media spotlight off the hapless governor of South Carolina and spared everyone on the right an endless cavalcade of earnest pundits, pseudo-psychologists and silly man-in-the-street blurbs - all in the service of painting conservatives as being hypocritical about sex.
The governor didn't help himself (or his family) by meandering on in front of the press and offering more details than we really needed to know about his extra-marital activity. He certainly gave a new flavor to the song "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina."
But fate stepped in and everyone spent days glued to the TV sopping up every last detail about the demise of Michael Jackson.
Meanwhile, back in D.C. the travesty of the cap and tax bill passed by a narrow margin. The drive on the left toward socialized medicine is coming next, so it will be a long hot summer.
The thing is, cap and tax could be overturned some day even if the U.S. Senate is foolish enough to pass it. But socialized medicine is almost impossible to reverse. Its cost goes far beyond the financial area. It could literally cost certain Americans their lives.
Which Americans, you ask?
A concept called rationing is in the works, only those who support it likely will not call it rationing. Under this scheme, a board appointed by the government would make certain decisions that are currently made between you and your doctors. In a socialized system, rationing comes to the forefront for a number of reasons. One is that, under socialized medicine, there are more patients and fewer doctors and waiting lines for care. Also, certain procedures and tests are deemed too expensive.
This inevitably leads to decisions on who will get what kind of care. If you are a senior citizen, you can probably make a pretty good guess as where your place in line will be. As costs skyrocket, certain types of equipment (such as MRI units) won't be replaced as they wear out. Medical research will also falter. If it is deemed by the powers that be that certain medications are given too widely, such as antibiotics, these will also be trimmed.
Yes, some reform is needed, especially tort reform, to allow doctors some confidence that they won't be sued at the drop of a hat. Some doctors currently order more testing than may be necessary because they want to cover themselves. Reform in this are alone could cut costs immediately and substantially.
The biggest lie out there right now is that 47 million are uninsured. When you discount illegal immigrants and persons who could actually afford catastrophic insurance but prefer not to buy it, the actual number is about 22 million. A system involving tax credits and pooling of resources could help these people gain at least catastrophic coverage.
Major incidents such as a bad accident or major surgery and hospitalization account for almost all the bankruptcies that result from medical bills. A focus on this one area would provide most of the solution without massive tax hikes and loss of choice and quality.
Most American surveyed like and want to keep their current health insurance. Three out of four (74 percent) says they trust their own judgment more than that of the average member of Congress when it comes to economic issues. Rasmussen reports that Americans, 62 to 17, prefer private enterprise over government programs and 76 percent say government is likely to waste the stimulus money. So there is a mysterious disconnect between what Americans think and what their government is actually doing.
The Congress has gone into recess ... but they'll be back and who know what the long hot summer will bring.
Copyright©2009SheilahPepper
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