Government Health Care

Like most Americans, I've been reading a great deal about the two "health care reform" bills pending in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, respectively, and I have to say that there are some things that bother me about the whole fiasco. First off, a common theme running through the statements of supporters is that opposition to these bills as constructed is tantamount to opposition to health care reform in general. Supporters of these bills (there seem to be fewer and fewer of them) also imply or even flat-out state that we skeptics are cold-hearted and greedy, more worried about increased taxes and the ability to preserve our own health plans unchanged than in reaching out to help the uninsured downtrodden. Proponents of these bills have repeatedly stated in public that adoption of these bills will help lower the cost of health care. Finally, I keep hearing about how our health care system is in crisis, and this is why we need to rush into adopting one of these bills. Here's my take on the whole thing. Consider it a rebuttal to all of this nonsense.

Just because I don't accept that either one of these current bills will do anything to improve Amerian health care doesn't mean that I am close-minded to the idea of reforming the system. However, being open to the idea of reform does not equate to my arbitrarily and unequivically accepting whatever bag of crap the crap-peddlers in the U.S. Congress are trying to jam down my throat. Even when something is in need of reform, it certainly does not follow logically that any reform enacted is for the better. And I believe the American People are being sold a bag of goods here on these bills. Relinquishing control of our health care to the U.S. Government virtually ensures that the quality of health care here in the United States will decline. I've said it before, and Men and Women far wiser and more learned than I have shouted it from the podium and the pulpit... there is no entity that government runs more efficiently and with better quality service than private industry can provide. Think about your last visit to the Department of Motor Vehicles... do you want the same bureaucracy making your family's medical decisions for you? That prospect should scare you, I know it does me.

As to the charge that I am somehow cold-hearted because there is a financial consideration at play here for me... so be it. I can live with being called heartless, or greedy. But I am not going to budge on this. I work damn hard for my money, as do most Americans, and I am proud of that fact. I feel no shame in wanting the government out of my pocket, and I will not apologize for wanting to tell them where they can stick these two reform bills. I'm tired of these limousine liberals like Jon Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Henry Waxman, Diane Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, Barney Frank, and Ted Kennedy trying to make me feel guilty for wanting to leep more of what I earn. I have my own family to take care of, and I am not willing to let the quality of their health care suffer so that some illegal immigrant somewhere can have taxpayer funded visits to the doctor. If the bleeding hearts out there are so concerned about the welfare of their "fellow Americans", they are free to give to their heart's content, but I don't want them to force me to fund some huge govenrment program with the sole purpose of assuaging their own guilty conscience.

As to the notion that these bills will somehow lower the cost of health care, show me the evidence. As I see it, the only way that the government will be able to keep our costs down will be to either limit service, or to run the program at a loss, or both. Of course, the elephant in the room is that whatever the governement does, our costs will not be lower, because the program will be subsidized by our tax dollars. So while you may ultimately pay less out of pocket for the plan, any savings will be gobbled up in additional taxes levied against your income. If you are leaning towards supporting this garbage, I challenge you to name one thing, one entity that any level of government has run successfully and managed to lower the costs. Amtrak? Nope. The U.S. Postal Service? Sorry. Department of Motor Vehicles? Guess again. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Oops... still no luck. I don't know that I'd want to trust the government to sell lemonade competently, let alone manage my families health care.

I guess to even consider these bills, you have to accept that American Health Care is in "crisis". I'm not sure that I do. I constantly hear that 50 million Americans are uninsured. But I recently saw a breakdown of this figure... at leat 13 million factored into the 50 million are illegal immigrants. There are also healthy young people fresh out of college or into the workforce who choose not to carry insurance because they view it as an unnecessary expense, people who are temporarily uninsured because they are temporarily between jobs, and the wealthy, who have no interest in or need for medical insurance because they can afford to pay their medical expenses in cash. When these blocks are removed from the 50 million figure, we are left with around 15 million people who are uninsured, or less than 5% of the population. Put another way, over 95% of the population who wants medical insurance has medical insurance. Hardly sounds like a crisis requiring the immediate and hurried imposition of socialized medicine as the only viable solution to me. Should we do something to assist the 15 million in need? I think so, but I don't know that doing so through the government is the answer, and I am not willing to sacrifice my family's well being one iota to achieve it. Don't let these bills pass. Call or write your Congressmen and Senators today, and tell them that if they vote for this bill and against the will of the people, than they will pay with their precious jobs... we'll vote them out regardless of party affiliation. We need to open our eyes before this is foisted on us, before it is too late.

Erin Is 4

Erin turned 4 today!! Here are some pictures of her through the years. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Great Recipe

Made this Rachael Ray recipe Thursday night for Laur and me (after seeing it presented on her 30 minute meals showon Tuesday), albeit with a few modifications/substitutions (I quartered about 24 grape tomatoes rather than slicing up 4 plum tomatoes because that's all Pathmark had, I cut the Parmigiano cheese in half but added a handful of marble-sized fresh mozzarella balls, I doubled the garlic, used half of the onions because Laur doesn't really like them, and used chicken stock instead of veggie stock). So it had some changes... but my version was outstanding... definitely one of our favorites, and I will definitely be making it again. Just thought I would share it with everyone because we felt everyone would enjoy it. Check out the link below:

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2803