FLASH! health care system still broken

How often to do you look at the front pages of the papers, listen to the chatter on cable, or even think about what's important now without being reminded of the confusion in health care reform? Things seem to be at a sagging pace. Those on the Right appear delighted that Mr. Obama looks to be losing. After all, they must prepare for 2012. Solving the health care mess isn't as imporant as that.

The 'blue dogs' have been scared off by the Republican's attacks of the threat of 'death panels,' a Hitlarian or Stalinist sounding term which accomplishes it's purpose, throwing fear and confusion into the picture: the government making sure the old and infirm are disposed of efficiently and effectively. Of course the proposal of discussing end of life issues had nothing to do with death panels, it only encouraged advance directives and living wills.

The Progressives are also disgusted with the White House hint that the government option feature might be dropped, because it has certainly upset Big Insurance lobbyists who have poured so much money into the coffers of the people in Congress. A government option would of course foster more competition and bring down the cost of insurance, but that would be a disaster for that industry's profit motive. And the Progressives feel that Mr. Obama has let them down and weakened the plan.

I wish the Obama family well on their vacation and hope that the President will come back refreshed and with the strength and will to come out swinging for this vital program - apparently it's up to him entirely. The liberal press is discouraged, Evil-news nutties like Fox are delighted, supposedly the elderly are afraid they will see Medicare diluted - and all of this is waiting for the President.

I wonder if the rest of us could maybe write to our Blessed Representatives in Congress and let them know we need health care reform that is real and makes sense.

Social Insecurity

In May the government said that the Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2037, four years earlier than was predicted a year ago. One of the problems for Social Security is the expotential growth of executive pay, most of which exceeds the limit on income that is subject to the payroll tax, now set at $106,800.

Since 1982 the portion of the wages subject to Social Security taxes has shrunk from 90 to 83 percent, and this figure doesn't even include other executive compensation such as stock options. If the earnings ceiling were lifted, the trust fund would be solvent for the next 75years. (Source: Wall Street Journal, July 21).

All the recent talk about socialism, it would seem that the only evidence for it is in the highest income brackets.

Too Complicated to Understand?

Trying to follow the health care reform debate gets more complicated by the day. Those who favor a universal health care plan for the United States are faced with confusing proposals. Those who favor a government option as a way of assuring coverage for everyone, while preserving the choices of the many private plans now available, rightly fear that the government option will be shot down by the insurance industry. The president has said repeatedly that he will only support a plan that preserves the private choices people have now, and that the government plan would be in addition. It's evident that the Right are promoting anything that will confuse and defeat any reform.

Now we see the foolishness of the so-called 'death panels' threats which supposedly would have the power to withhold care for the ill who face end-of-life issues. This of course has never been proposed and is only a ploy being used to muddy the waters. Living wills, advance directives and end of life discussions are valuable tools for intelligent planning, but should be talked about apart from the issue of insurance coverage for all.

I have felt all along that the Obama plan should have been proposed as simply as possible, something like 'Universal Medicare,' which would be expanding the current Medicare program to include all ages of the population. Medicare now for those 65 and over has included many private options - the supplementary insurance coverage which can be purchased in addition to the government program. There are now a wide variety of private plans offered by insurance companies, some through employers and pension plans, but many which can be purchased individually according to the choice of the customer. The government could come up with a government sponsored supplement to Medicare to compete with the private supplimentary plans now offered. Such a government offered supplement could foster competition and lower the cost of the other plans.

All sides agree that a careful cleansing of waste in the current system must be effected in order for any reform to be affordable. I would favor in addition some kind of law to forbid Congress from raiding Social Security and Medicare funds for other programs which has been done for years.

For any proposal to have a chance to succeed, it must be clear and understandable in order to be free from deliberate attempts to confuse what we all know is needed, a workable system of health care for everyone. I think the place to begin is Medicare for all ages.

Politics As Usual, as usual

It's obvious that the interim platform for the Republican party is to try and defeat anything that President Obama tries to accomplish so that he could be defeated in the election of 2012. Many were shocked when Rush Limbaugh announced a few months ago that he wanted Obama to fail even if it meant the country would fail, afterall, Limbaugh is shielded in a bubble of gas that allows him to be allowed such words. But it's apparent that this is a concerted tactic being used by Republicans. If Obama promotes it, Republicans must defeat it.

Now it's not just Rush but most of the Republican side of the House and Senate. McCain has announced that he won't vote for the confirmation of Judge Sotomayor, even though 30% of his constituents are hispanic and no one has made a credible case that she is anything but an exceptionally qualified candidate for the Supreme Court. Texas senators are joining their Party colleagues in trying to defeat the plan for a new health care plan and have both stated that they're against a so-called public option which most supporters of health reform show must be included for any plan to succeed in order to accomplish affordable care for all Americans.

Every red flag has been raised, the label of socialism, the threat of increasing control by big government, even the birther charge that Obama isn't even a natural born citizen of the United States though the proof of his birth in Hawaii has been produced repeatedly by that state.

I know, the same charge of obstructionism has been made about the Democrats in the past. And in every new election we will hear the promises of no more politics as usual and a new breath of bipartisanship. The problem now is that this country is facing perhaps the most serious challenges that it has ever faced. It's time for our political leaders to be shaken up and driven for their own political survival to learn how to work together for the survival of the nation.