People on the left when discussing health insurance reform are angry with the right. They rant that the right is racist,ignorant ,lying,fear mongering, and violent I might have missed a few. When they finish bad mouthing the right their usual next line is that if they don't like the dem's bill they should work with them to make it better. Sometimes the criticism is that the right has no plan of their own. I believe the reason the right and left aren't working together on this issue is that both sides are so far apart that compromise becomes almost impossible.
When you can't reach a suitable compromise in politics the only solution is to try to stop a great wrong from happening.
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Well put. Often the "experts" (meaning journalists who are automatically considered experts on every subject despite no in depth knowledge of any subject) talk about the need for bi-partisanship or compromise as if they are goals in and of themselves. No! I want gridlock if the alternative is a very bad idea. I'm not rooting for pretty bad thinking that it would be better than very bad.
ReplyDelete"I believe the reason the right and left aren't working together on this issue is that both sides are so far apart that compromise becomes almost impossible."
ReplyDeleteAgreed. But the inflamatory remarks (made on both sides of the issue) only widen the gap. We need to tone down the rhetoric or we will find ourselves in a real mess. And I don't just mean about health care...
Sometimes the criticism is that the right has no plan of their own.
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a familiar argument. You can't criticize the plan unless you have one of your own. Well, I'm not convinced that there is a health care crisis at all, let alone a pressing need to fix it.
You're not convinced there is a health care crisis?
ReplyDeleteAt the agency I work at, something like 20% of the budget goes into health care costs every year, and that number is rising quickly and steadily. This is in addition to the money staff pay out of pockets... for premiums, copays, things that aren't covered.
We're a non-profit, and the majority of my staff make something like $9 or $10 an hour. We haven't given a raise in years because every potential raise has been eaten by increases in health care costs.
Our agency is going to be in trouble in a few years if something doesn't give. The people who work for us are already in trouble, in many cases (one of my staff is being garnished something like 40% of her $9 an hour paycheck for medical expenses that she incurred before her coverage kicked in). And, of course, the very vulnerable people that the non-profit serves will be in trouble as more and more of our budget gets directed away from services and into health care.
We're a very fiscally conservative agency, the people that work for us work hard and have health care coverage... and the system isn't working for them. Repeat this in business after business after business, then try the variation on the theme where the business simply can't afford to offer care and people like my former roommate (who worked 50 to 60 hours per week, and worked hard) find themselves facing bankruptcy because of an unexpected illness requiring surgery (a few hundred grand in debt, he made $8 an hour and wasn't eligible for assistance of any kind).
I am very much convinced that there is a health care crisis.
I don't pretend to know what the best answer is, and I don't pretend that there isn't something out there potentially much better than the Obama plan.
But there is reason to be concerned.
Jockeystreet, I never said there was no crisis but to address a problem in the wrong way is not going to help people or the country.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I lost my job but even before the job was lost the health insurance was canceled without my knowledge. The problem was my wife was pregnant with our second child and within a month of delivery she had to have surgery to remove her gall bladder. We couldn't afford the bills that seemed to just keep coming. We managed though by contacting the doctors and hospitals and arranging payment schedules we could sort of afford. All the people we contacted would take minimal payments as long as we sent something every month.
You see if you act in good faith it doesn't usually end up with wage garnishments or law suits.