Health care winners

Now that the bill has become law just who are the winners in health care reform? The insurance companies and here is why. They are going to get new policy holders, around 47 million. The premiums charged are not going to be controlled, double digit increases are here to stay. They have to cover pre-existing conditions but at a cost of up to 3 times the standard plan.

The drug companies also do ok. There is not going to any type of control on prices. The only thing that could have made this better would have been for a ban on Americans getting drugs from countries with socialized medicine. I think that the drug companies should have held out for this. The American people don't believe in socialism so the government should do everything that it can to protect the people from these socialized countries.

The doctors also do ok for the same reasons as the drug companies. The same warning applies for patients who travel abroad for care. The government needs to put a stop to medical tourism.

Socialism! egad!!

I was reading the Wisconsin State Journal's opinion section from the weekend and was astonished to see the piece on solving the rural doctor shortage. The answer is to throw money at the problem to help offset their education loans (sounds like Socialism). Now admittedly their loans are a big number $150,000 on average, but so are other under represented professions. Except when you consider that they can already get $120,000 from the Federal Government and another $30,000 from the State plus a job that pays on average $150,000 per year. Money is not the issue. The issue is that people don't want to work in the rural parts of the State. Even the town that I live in has a hard time recruiting doctors and we are only 20-30 minutes outside of Madison. It is about the fact that they cannot make as much money as they can in Madison or Milwaukee. It is about that in the big cities they can be a specialist and not have to treat every little hangnail. It is about having patients that are earning a good income and have insurance, unlike the rural areas where people are lucky to have a job and medical bills are at least partially covered by the government. No in short it is about greed. It isn't enough to be making 7-10 times what your patients are making in a year. It isn't enough to be earning a salary that allows to be living and working in some of the most beautiful parts of the country. No it is about the greed of not having more.

Beggars on the streets

Unemployment compensation is an insurance policy, so every time benefits are extended it taxes the reserves of the program. Now the program is flat broke because the economy is in shambles and is not likely to improve anytime soon. Now along comes Sen. Bunning who is singlehandedly defeating another extension of benefits because it will add to the debt. There are many problems with his reasoning. First is that if he is so fiscally conservative why did he vote for the Bush tax cuts with no way to pay for them? Why did he support a war that was conducted off budget (all deficit spending)? Why did he miss the vote on TARP when John McCain suspended his campaign in order to get this done (I know John doesn't remember this himself)? So lets welcome the Jimmy come lately to fiscal conservatism. What is going to happen to the unemployed? Well some will join the ranks of the employed, granted at a much lower salary (minimum wage?). Some will be able to get welfare. The rest will become beggars in the streets, kind of like the depression. Maybe he is nostalgic for that time period. As much as I can agree with this stand on the surface I fail to see exactly how this moves the country forward. The good Senator should consider the costs of doing nothing.

Showdown at the Health Care Forum

President Obama hopes to jump start the debate, Republicans are only showing up because their constituents are upset about 20+% premium increases, and the Democrats are spineless. Does anyone think that the forum will accomplish anything? I hate to say it I'm with the Republicans on this one. The people have spoken and they don't want reform. Unfortunately they are a fickle bunch. They want to take advantage of other countries' socialized system by reimporting drugs. They are all upset about premium increases when those people who were for reform said that this was going to happen. They are upset that their employers are dropping coverage. But yet they don't want reform. For all of you worried about the big bad government taking over health care, I've got news for you none of the plans control costs. All of them leave in the employer based health delivery system for what it is worth. The bottom line is that until things get worse you can't get the people to agree to any reform.

Stimulus

It is the one year anniversary of the stimulus bill and the Republicans have said that it was a total failure even as they continue to show up at ribbon cutting events of stimulus projects. Ok lets for a moment assume that they are correct. What is their solution to the economic crisis? Probably tax cuts. We tried that the last 8 years and it was probably a contributing factor to the problems that we currently have.

Dick Cheney and safety

So, the FORMER Vice President is at it again. Once again making the rounds of the Sunday shows charging that the Obama team has made us less safe even as the President authorized the greatest offensive in Afghanistan since the war began.I think that the former Vice President should take the time to watch something other than Fox news. This President maybe making us less safe through collateral damage and the killing of civilians, but to say that he is a pacifist is ridiculous. He has yet to undue any Bush foreign policy. There are more troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Guantanamo Bay is still open and harsh interogations are still happening. If you would ask me President Obama has finally brought the fight to our enemies. Dick Cheney is just jealous because he is not in there directing the wars.

Dane County race for Sheriff

While not a big fan of big police departments I have thought that Sheriff Mahoney has been doing a good job. He finally has an election challenge in the form of a former lieutenant in the department. His reason for running is because Sheriff Mahoney did not stand up for the officers during budget negotiations. Let me get this straight you the Republican are upset that the Democrat failed to stand up for his UNIOIZED workforce when they were demanding that more taxpayer dollars be spent on the department. I guess like spending on defense it is ok to tax and spend for police if you're a Republican.