Nationalized or "Universal" Health Care

An anonymous (give me a final word on this, if you want to be anonymous or not) asked me to comment on nationalized health care, so here it is. It's really quite simple, it just depends on what side you take. Whichever side you take dictates the positions you support.

Here's why.

For every claim proponents make, opponents make an equal or exaggerated counter claim. For every claim opponents make, proponents make an equal or exaggerated counter claim. On nearly every issue, claims fall on both sides, cost, quality, the occupation of "doctor," just about every one. Basically, simple differences of opinion, and both sides give examples. But the pros look almost exactly like the cons except in the negative mathematically speaking.

Everyone I've talked to in America operates on a few vital misconceptions about the very nature of nationalized health care (that means you.) Firstly, very few NHC (Nationalized Health Care) systems actually use the government as the insuring agent. The government rarely really controls or owns the system, in fact in most cases, the government simply requires and regulates the system and helps those who cannot afford it.

The US: The American and states governments either directly or indirectly insure around a third of all their citizens. Talk about NHC! The problem is, for every person, not just those insured by the government, the government is already spending more than $500 per year per person more than some governments with NHC and indeed UHC. That's right, we're already spending more per person on health care, and two thirds of those people aren't even insured by the body spending the money!

Another misconception is that everything is covered, leaving the people to foot the bill. Wrong. Most NHC systems work exactly like American health insurance with co-pays, deductibles, and coverage limits. The difference is, poor people get help to pay, and pre-existing issues are covered. It's like accident coverage, not elective plastic surgery.

With the government overseeing and regulating a wide system like this, costs are likely to be much smaller than even current expenditures because of the potential for enhancing efficiency. And it makes no difference the size of the country. European countries are not all the same size, and several of them are larger than California in population. China is already over three times the size of the US and still has NHC which has to be payed for. The US health care system is the most expensive in the world, and yet, does not provide universal coverage. Tell me that can't be fixed. And the worst part about it is that that incredible expense doesn't even get us to the top of the list on stuff like infant mortality, life expectancy, and get this, in health system performance, we rank 37th, behind Slovenia.

In many NHC countries, a goodly portion of the citizenry actually keep insurance above what the NHC system provides. This is to cover stuff that goes over the basic program, like here when you pay more for a more enhanced plan. The difference is you pay less than the US because firstly, your covered for basic stuff by the regular plan, and secondly, the enhanced plan has a much narrowed likelihood of being needed.

Here's the surprising fact, just for you my anonymous friend: Two thirds of American doctors want NHC. That's now. You know why? For the same reason's why some don't want NHC. Doctors in America feel constrained by insurance companies, not able to provide the care they really want to for their patients. Insurance companies force you to go to certain doctors or they won't cover you (I know this intimately, and you do to.) However, in NHC systems, doctors are paid by the visit, which means, if your patients like and trust you, they'll keep coming back, and you keep getting paid, and if they don't like you, no one is forcing them to keep seeing you. Doctors don't have to worry about people not paying for visits, and bill collection costs drop off the map.

The final reason I like NHC is that poor people get helped. I remember a number of times in my childhood when my brothers or I got hurt or born and my poor father had to foot another bill. He still tells us of having to give up a hot rod for each of us (he builds them for a living.) To this day, he still doesn't have a running one of his own. The fact of the matter is, between my brothers and I, there were likely hundreds of times when we should have gotten help that we didn't because we couldn't afford insurance. I fell out of a tree when I was 15 and likely broke my back, (we're still not sure) but I didn't go to the hospital because it was too expensive. It still acts up on me some times, excruciating pain for sure. But the bottom line is this: people who need help get help. I have the stones to lay down another few dollars of my paycheck to make sure that people less able to pay than I am still get the same care.

The "Good Samaritan" did the same, he even paid extra to make sure the unfortunate dude got the care he needed. The funny thing many forget is who didn't help. It was the paid religious professionals and politicians (many of whom might be called conservatives today) who walked on by while a man was dying within arms reach.

I'm for people not dying, not just the unborn babies, I'm for all undeserving people not dying.
WiredForStereo

Budget, Rediculous, Crisis, Ludicrous, Debt, Stupendous.

It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases. - Bono

Leave it to a rock star to put it all in perspective.

The national debt is incredibly large. When Bush showed up, the debt was being paid down.

The government is enormous. Bush campaigned on smaller government and then made it larger than ever before, at a rate greater than ever before.

Christians are commanded by Jesus to care for the poor. Bush lowered taxes for the rich. McCain wants to do it even more.

The latest spending bill has slipped under the radar due to the Wall Street mess. It's $634 billion if it slipped under your radar too. Yeah, just like that stupid bailout plan. Do you people understand how much a billion dollars is? Do you understand that a billion is a thousand millions? Do you understand that a trillion is a thousand billions? That's a million millions. Do you understand that the national debt is going up at a rate of around $30,000 per SECOND? Do you know that it's already at nearly 10 trillion dollars? Let me write that out for you with a few zeros. That's $10,000,000,000,000. Do you understand that each and every one of the Americans reading this owes over $30,000 on that bill? Three people in my house nearly equals the entire cost of my house for crying out loud. At normal tax rates, how long is that going to take you to pay off?

I want you to look at something.

Do you see what "trickling down" does to the debt? Do you see what Reagan republicans do? Do we really need another "tax cuts for the rich" republican in the White House? Do you see what happens when we let rich people for rich people run the show?

How long do we put up with this?

I can't run my house this way. Why should the federal government be able to do it?

Reagan Republicans obviously either have no understanding of how economics works, or they play it to their own benefit and ideology.

I'm done with it.

WiredForStereo

Who Am I Voting For?

Oh, yes, it's the long awaited election post.

Now before I do this, I want to make a few thing perfectly and absolutely clear. First, I am not supporting any candidate. That's right, I don't have a horse in the race. My dog's not hunting. I am merely voting for one dude over the other. Second, I am not voting based on any sort of spurious parameter such as things like Obama's a Socialist (you know who you are) or McCain is a warmonger. This decision, finalized just this morning and still subject to reconsideration is made based on very finite and factual parameters.

Parameter number one: Taxes. John McCain's tax plan includes tax cuts for everyone, Obama's plan calls for tax increase for the top 20%, and cuts for everyone else. Under McCain's tax plan, the top .1% of tax payers would get a tax cut of $140,000, while the bottom 20% would get a cut of only $19. For the all important middle class, of which I am part, McCain would give me approximately $319 while Obama would give me $2136. Tax policy is an extremely important issue, and I will not vote for another person who gives the biggest tax cuts to the people with the most money. In fact, I'll not be voting to anyone who offers tax cuts to the wealthy. It is simply wrong to shoulder more of the burden on the people less able to carry it, that's Biblical.

Secondly, the economy. John McCain is by default, by his own words, against regulation. We all know what money will do when you let it loose, we've just seen that. Money only cares about money.

Lastly, I don't believe we should have a former soldier in charge of the military. That's like leaving a militant terrorist in a van full of dynamite in the middle of Manhattan. You're asking for trouble. Military men need to take orders, not be the ones watching over "the button."

I'd love to hear some feedback on this one. Remember, these arguments are based on pure factual information. Tax plans, regulatory opinions, and former soldierhood are not up for debate, these things are facts. Based on the the FACTS, I have made my decision.

WiredForStereo

Visitors Searching for "The Shack"

I just checked my web tracker, and it appears that well over half of all my visitors recently have been referred to my blog after they searched for a subject related to "The Shack" by William P. Young.

What to do about this, I don't know.

So, I am asking you. Should I blog more about it, what should I address?

Comments have been mostly positive, though as you can read, some are not. So leave me a comment, I'd like to hear from you, what should I do?

WiredForStereo

The Pickens Plan

As you've probably seen on TV, the Pickens Plan is getting alot of press, due in large part to T. Boone Pickens supporting and promoting it with his own money. Let me explore the Pickens plan for you.

The plan is fairly simple in scope, but much more complicated in application. The plan is to build massive amounts of new wind power, up to 20% or more of current consumption, then use that to stop using natural gas for generating power for the most part, then use the natural gas to power cars.

I am a natural cynic at heart, my tendency is to disbelieve things at the outset, especially things championed by old rich white guys who own oil. But I do see some light in the Pickens plan. If the first phase (the wind turbines) goes off well, we will all be in a better place environmentally, and for reasons of health. Anything that can displace burning of fuels to make energy is a success. However, when it comes to the natural gas aspect of the plan, I am not so optimistic. True, NG is at a great price now, but start feeding millions of cars with it and prices change. It will likely become as volitile as gas prices. Additionally, NG is still a burnable fuel, it is not without its own pollution, and NG is a limited resource just like all the rest of the fossil fuels. It does bring us closer to renewability because biogas can be substituted in, but I don't think it's the real big idea for the future.

For instance, I believe the Tesla Motors guys said that if you burn natural gas in a power plant (which is much more efficient than a car) and use the resulting electricity to power an electric car, you can go something like twice as far. Now I'm not sure if that's accurate, but it's something to think about. I do think CNG has a place in future energy infrastructure, but not a big one. I think CNG hybrids are a possibility for longer trips that BEV's can't do, but I don't think it's a fuel for everyone. Additionally, Amory Lovins points out that the problem today is not a fuel issue, it's a car design issue. Our cars are massively inefficent, not including the engine. His Hypercar is made of carbon composites, is aerodynamically efficient, and is super light and insulated. All this without a fundamental change in propulsion, though he believes one is needed. Toyota has just contracted a company to make carbon fiber parts for them, so we'll see where that goes. One of thier recent concepts is called the 1/X, and with the same interior space as a Prius, weighs 1/3, uses 1/2 the fuel or better, with an engine 1/4 the size.

I think CNG would be useful for tractor trailer rigs. With a hybrid setup and a CNG generator on board, I think stuff could happen there. A truck is not lacking of space, just look under the thing, but weight issues are the key, and trucks are vitally necessary to our society, so there needs to be a solution there.

Overall, I don't like solution that leaves our energy sources to "oil men." Sure the fuel is different, but it's in the hands of the same people. I still like electricity primarily because I can make it myself. And I don't need solar panels to do it, I can make all sorts of apparatus out of all sorts of pieces and parts, it's quite straightforward. And if I want to get all Lance Armstrong, I can make a power generator substantial enough to watch TV as long as I want as long as I keep pedaling. Of course the bigger the TV, the harder I'll have to pedal.

Overall, the Pickens plan is a good start, and I think it has a good goal, but we don't need any more stopgap measures, the solutions are here. We do need that much wind power though, that is for sure. We need a fundamental change in the way we do things, cars especially, ask Amory.


We need to have great cars, and we also need to drive them less. - Amory Lovins
WiredForStereo

Gas prices jump $1.50 before second hurricane THIS MONTH!!!

I'm just gonna go ahead and say, good. Good good good good. You skittery shifty cock-eyed consumerists can pay all the money in the world for your go-juice, and I'm loving it because it will get me that much closer to electric cars. I'm not loving it for the prices, but I'll sacrifice to reach my ideals, the American people don't seem to be much into that these days.

Every few minutes my wife comes in and tells me the latest news about runs on the gas station, prices up to $5. The gas stations are raping you in the back seat of your own car and you're lining up waiting for your turn.

Let me explain is this way. If your car gets 40 miles per gallon (I'm being real generous here because likely 3% of you reading this have a car that can do that,) you are spending about 35 cents to travel four miles at yesterday's gas prices. An average electric car gets somewhere around 4 miles per kWh, which means for that same 4 miles, they're not paying 35 cents, but more like 9-11 cents in this area. That means if you travel 400 miles, you're paying $35 in a gas car, while you're only paying $10 in an electric car. It adds up perty quick. Just think, if your car gets 20 mpg, you're paying $70 for 400 miles, and you're paying 18 cents per mile.

Electricity prices aren't going to rocket up like gas prices every time someone gets scared of a storm or terrorism or whatever. I can't make gasoline in my backyard, but I can make electricity, in fact, there's a little solar panel charging a battery in the shop as we speak on this bright sunny day before the hurricane ever even hits. I'd also like to mention that we just had a hurricane LAST WEEK and nobody panicked then. Electricity prices are very stable compared to oil because there are many diverse sources of electricity. In fact, when all else fails, we have backup generators. If one plant goes down, you can divert power from another one, and you may only just barely have a blink in your power, or you may not notice at all. There are 66 nuclear power plants many with more than one reactor, nearly 500 coal plants, 2000 hydroelectric plants and tons of natural gas plants. Oil pretty much only comes from one place, and once it's gone, it's gone. And let me be the one to tell you, it's almost gone. Prices will go up. Prices WILL go up.

One good note on the hurricane, Texas is going to reap a boatload of wind energy from this storm.
WiredForStereo