An Open Letter to President Obama
July 30, 2009 14 Comments
Dear Mr. President,
I am reading the Health Reform bill and I do not like it at all. I do not think this is the direction in which our government should be going– specifically, that is, competing with private business and issuing mandates to employers about insuring employees and mandates to American citizens (and also to non-citizens!!!) about our bodies and our minds and even opening the door to monitoring how we raise our children.
I am not one who thinks highly of modern Western medicine with all its drugs and advanced technology. Instead, I tend to have confidence in the ability of the body and mind to heal themselves. I suspect that except for what doctors and hospitals accomplish in the case of trauma (i.e. mechanical repair and temporary life support,) a remarkable amount of “health” care in the U.S. is unnecessary, ineffective, and at times actually harmful. If amusement parks had the same accident record as some hospitals, they would undoubtedly be shut down.
I believe that food is the best medicine. Add an active lifestyle and a sound spiritual foundation and for the most part an individual can achieve health without the constant presence of doctors and certainly without government management.
Which brings me to the fact –by the way– that under your watch government is getting way too big way too fast in an enormous number of areas. This was unfortunately also the direction of the Bush administration. But by means of the stimulus horribilis bill you signed into law, the far- reaching arms of the government have been transformed. Now they are more like tentacles that would only grow longer if this Health Reform bill passes.
I am also concerned that you don’t seem to be following through on quite a number of your campaign promises. One particularly bothersome omission is that you promised (I thought) to bring bi-partisanship to Washington. I know this is a difficult task but some of your comments and your obvious feelings of irritation haven’t been helpful. The same goes for your supposed post-racial philosophy.
You promised transparency in your administration and you simply have not achieved that nor apparently have you made any efforts to do so. As far as I am concerned, your thinly disguised love of power and secrecy creates a frightening and dangerous combination.
Our nation and her people will be lucky to survive another three years of your administration. Another seven is totally out of the question
BO promised a lot of things to get elected. Too bad he is only fulfilling his promises to his left wing henchmen.
So as part of getting the government out of medicine, do you favor closing the VA hospitals and shutting down the Medicare program?
Actually I am not in favor of Medicare or Medicaid for one reason because there is evidence to suggest that like other programs which don’t favor pay as you go, they have contributed to the rapid rise in health care costs and for another because it seems to me that relatives on Medicare and Medicaid did not always receive as good care as relatives on private insurance.
When my mother was on Medicare and Medicaid in a nursing home, she broke her hip and although she had Alzheimers and spent most of her time in bed, her government -guided care deemed surgery necessary for a simple fracture because otherwise she would never walk again (She was barely walking anyway.) As a result of this surgery about which there was absolutely NO discussion, my mother was subjected to pain,surgery, powerful opiates (even though she was confirmed alcoholic) and supposed rehabilitation in the last weeks of her life. She had the surgery, never walked again, and died a few weeks after the surgery.
I am actually completely against insurance in any shape or form for anything. I believe in pay as you go and if you need to owe anybody, owe the doctor, dentist, or car mechanic. Like auto and home loans, insurance has simply driven up the price of everything which it insures. But don’t worry, I am not naive enough to mourn the fact that the days are long gone when doctors delivered babies for free or took a side of beef as payment for setting broken bones.
As for the VA, I had a friend who was a WWII vet who was ill and I took him on many visits to a VA hospital where thirty years ago he received phenomenal care. I am not sure he would have the same experience in 2009.
I believe we ought to give our veterans the best care possible whether or not their health problem is “service connected.” And I believe this should be guaranteed to them the same way that a pension plan would be.
Jerry, I am sure you will point out to me any discrepancies or illogic in my so called thinking!
Thanks. Sorry that my stance on things is rather eccentric at times.
Oops I forgot something…Why couldn’t our veterans get their healthcare at a private hospital instead of at a government run hospital? My only requirement would be that veterans’ healthcare would be paid for with taxpayer/govt(?) money, not that their care would be snoopervised by the government.
Doesn’t that put the veterans into Medicare (which you oppose for others)?
Actually you appear here to advocate the ‘single-payer’ system that I favor. Sometimes it’s called MedicareForAll. We could go to private hospitals and the bill would be paid by taxpayer/govt money. A lot like many other countries.
Since currently about a third of all spending goes for overhead in the private insurance arena, we could get more health care for the same money by cutting out the middleman. Medicare spends about 2% on overhead.
I hadn’t thought the veterans issue through too well…
I am thinking maybe the government could give all veterans free health care in private hospitals at government expense. This would be to compensate them for putting their lives on the line for their country.
I don’t believe it would be appropriate to extend this free care to non veterans because A)average citizens haven’t necessarily given for their country in the same manner as veterans and B) the govt might possibly go broke with that kind of financial burden(just as I think Medicare/Medicaid can be blamed from way back when -1944?_ for some of our economic woes)
However you may say that if the federal government pays for veterans’ care then what about police, firefighters, etc..won’t they all demand/deserve free care paid for by the government as well? I believe that could be solved at a state and local level and maybe would have to be considered part of the compensation package before retirement and the pension plan after retirement. I’m just throwing that out there off the top of my head.
At the moment, except for veterans, I would lean more toward private insurance companies to cover medical costs for everybody. Even though I distrust insurance companies I think I distrust the government more, although honestly it’s kind of a toss up for me. However, unlike having one governmental source for funds, with more than one insurance company if you get screwed by one you can always go see what it feels like to be screwed by another.
Medicare passed in 1965. It’s funded by payroll deductions, same as Soc Security, and it also ran up a surplus, same as Soc Security. The surplus will be with us for another decade or so, thanks to the baby boomers.
So it’s not causing any economic woes for the feds.
Hi Jerry,
Thank you for the correction and for enlightening me..Would it perhaps be accurate to talk about FUTURE economic woes since baby boomers like me are about to use up all the funds? (I am assuming this is true..it is refrain I have been hearing for years)
What is the scoop from you on Medicaid?
I don’t know a heck of a lot about Medicaid, but you’re right that rising costs will soon deplete the Medicare surplus and fresh funds will not keep up with costs. So something has to be done. Either cut benefits, or boost taxes on our kids, or radically change the system so that medicine is no longer the road to riches for doctors and hospital CEOs. (and insurance CEOs, too).
I favor the radical change. Otherwise health will soon be the biggest expense in eveyone’s budget. It’s not that way in Canada, or England, or Japan, or many other places.
Jerry,
I am all for a radical change in Medicair and Medicaid myself. However I don’t think your idea of radical change is the same as mine.
I want to see Medicare and Medicaid eliminated. It is not the place of the government to maintain the healthcare of millions of Americans. It is programs like this that erode the American tradition of self sustainability and personal responsibility. If individuals fail to plan for their future how does that become the responsibility of the millions of us that do?
The major costs to Medicaid and Medicare are due to long-term care costs. Also, Medicare faces the same problems as SS– increase in the aging population and a decrease in the birthrate (# of workers).
I suppose now that the baby boomers are to retire instead of paying them the benefits they payed in for all those years they should just go and be put to sleep.
I am almost sixty and I definitely plan to knock myself in the head before letting anybody, including the almighty government, put me to sleep!
In my opinion this has become a pretty informative thread and thanks to all who are contributing…could this be one of Obama’s “teachable moments”…..and we are having it on a CONSERVATIVE blog? hmmmmmm