Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

It is time for me to weigh in on the healthcare reform debate. The topic is too complex and will take several blogs. That's why I have not tried to start it. But seeing how the debate seems to be going out of control with all these socalled town hall meetings. I will start by making some comments on what people are screaming about in the past week.

1. Debate is good and challenging the government is not only the right of Americans but a duty. But shouting down everybody else so that a civilize debate cannot take place is wrong. I wish those people who said they can't trust the government would have come out and say that when the government sent troops to Iraq for a war that should not have been fought. Whether healthcare reform bill that they eventually pass is better for the country or not, it can't be worse than the decision to spend $2 trillion and cause thousands of American lives and tens of thousands of Iraqis while taking us away from the our real enemies in Afghanistan.

2. Right now there are thouands of pages of possible reform but no final version so I won't say if it is worthwhile. But if there is no public option then you might as well forget it. If everybody is in and we subsidize those who can't afford insurance, the private insurance companies will become richer and our premiums will keep going up. A public option to compete is absolutely necessary or else forget the whole thing. When the prescription coverage for Medicare patients went into effect and is run by private companies, the cost is going up and coverage for elderly patients who had both Medicare and Medicaid went down.

3. The "Death Panel"? People who spread that rumor should be ashamed of themselves. That includes Sarah Palin who talked about the death panel. Totally false info to scare people is just plain evil. One doctor in our area stood up in public recently and said that under the Obama plan, "My 85 year old mother, if she gets breast cancer, wouldn't be treated in favor of some 40 year old illegal immigrant!" That is purely wrong and should not be said by someone who should have known better. There is no such proposal in any of the bills and the AARP's political clout is way greater than those of all immigrant advocacy groups combined. If there is one truth in politics, it is that politicians are most afraid of political clout.

4. Those seniors who say: "Don't let the government take over my Medicare coverage" should be examined for Alzheimers. They didn't know Medicare is by the government? When Medicare tried to cut cost by using private companies to run Medicare HMO, it was a disaster here in our county. After some insurance company couldn't cherry pick the healthy seniors after a few years, they left the program, leaving seniors scrambling to find new doctors.

5. Some people say: "Why change the best system in the world. If we are not the best, why do people from other countries come here for treatments?" We don't have the best system. We spend more per capita that all other industrialized countries on healthcare but have worse outcome than most in many of the health statistics. We do have the best health technology in the world and that's why rich people from all over the world come here if they need the most obscure and difficult treatments. But most people don't have obscure diseases. Given what we spend, we should have better preventive care, better prenatal care etc.

6. I think a reasonable argument against reform is cost. I am a fiscal conservative. I don't like taxes and deficits. Obama and the Democrats are not being honest to say that reform will bring in cost-savings so that deficits won't occur. If there is no deficit increase then there will be large tax hike. This is a legitimate reason to question the Democrats' plans.

7. While I don't like tax increases, I don't like premium increases either. My family health insurance has increased 60% in the past 3 years. We are all in good health, don't smoke or drink much and 2 of 4 kids have their own insurance now. But our premium is going way up each year. People say the government will keep increasing taxes or ration care if they run a deficit with the public plan. What do you think the insurance companies will do if they lose money? They will raise premium, deny care (which they do even when they are making a profit), or go out of business--at which point you are out of luck.

There are many other things I want to talk about but I am out of gas. I welcome any comments or questions on any topic.