Well . . . as promised and as we all knew, Georgie has kept his promise to veto the bi-partisan health coverage for children known as Schip and managed to slap this country yet again. Twice. Ever the 'Compassionate Conservative', family values, uniter, non-nation building and bringing 'respect and dignity back to the white house' person that he is . . . he has inadvertantly made it clear that this country needs and must have universal healthcare.
Today, a joint study released by Arizona State University and Brigham Young University and The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a report on this very topic. It turns out that when these kids are denied healthcare . . . they end up avoiding hospitals until they turn into emergency room trips much more often and this costs much more money.
What this country needs now is to be rescued from the limited thinking of people who somehow cannot understand that WE are the government (in theory) and we should perhaps think about taking care of our own vital needs first. This country benefits from healthy, productive citizens . . . AND they can save money! Instead, we leave the children without needed care and spend even more to do it. Two slaps. A third one is the loss of lives of potentially productive citizens who may have contributed . . . anything.
Noted in the report: A 10% disenrollment would increase the costs of health care in the community by $3,460,398 annually, or $2,121 for each child disenrolled. This increase in costs is attributed to a shift of care from ambulatory settings to more expensive emergency departments and an increase in hospital days. We determined that 69% of the change in emergency department visits, 58% of the change in hospital stays, and 74% of the change in ambulatory visits would be attributable to the change in insurance status.
There is no sanity in doing this. Increasing both the cost in money and the cost in suffering and human life. We could save money by being compassionate . . . but still people object.
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Comments: 39
Nothing in this country really makes any sense anymore....
I agree, those in somewhat power positions like the sense of being in control of all of these people - check out Todd Stroger, Cook County Board President, also George W. Bush. But, what they don't realize is that they only think they are in control of the masses. The idealistic part of me believes that to a certain degree, we are the master of our own destiny - if you don't want to live in the ICKES Housing Complex, work your ass off to save money and move out of them.
I feel like this has gotten off the topic. But... You can just delete me. : )
Donna, Carlin recognized and mocked language shifts from these people like a master . . . I'll never forget him saying he wouldn't be surprised to see a rape victim referred to as an involuntary sperm recipient! What can I say . . . the man has a way with words and can see through the bovine poo poo very clearly! :P
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Just goes to show the republiCON party cares not for children once they are born .
A couple of questions.. Why is that a 3rd world country like Cuba can offer universal helathcare, education for all and no ilitarcy and yet the BEST nation (for it is with all it's warts) in the world is unable to offer even the basic neccessities to their people?
Next do you think that with the high cost of running for office today that a man like Licoln would ever have a chance of winning?
I'll grant Bush has little political capital here because of his refusal to block waste earlier but at least in a small way this helps taxpayers. Painful as it may to know of or see anecdotal stories of people in need, the waste in this, like any other government entitlement program, shows a need to minimize expansion.
I'm sure I'll be pummeled on my stand but in case anyone hasn't noticed, this Congress is doing almost nothing to change the spending habits of the last 6 years. Someone has to start and soon or the dollar will lose all its value, hopefully all understand the potential for disaster there.
They freaked out when a combat hardenened military veteran was called a name . . . but have no problem attacking a 12 accident victim!~
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
"at least in a small way this helps taxpayers. "
You seem to have missed the conclusions in this report. It costs us MORE not to cover them than it would cost us to cover them. There's more than potential for disaster. Privatized medice will certainly bankrupt this conutry if allowed to continue unchecked and the immoral medical/pharmaceutical industry wants their profits and will infuse massive amounts of money into a drive to keep the program and profits intact . . . it must go. Universal healthcare is a given . . . just need to know whether it can happen before or after the collapse.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Private patients actually supplement the insurance companies, as they are charged full-throttle fees by hospitals and doctors without the 'Blue Cross' or 'HMO' reduced payments for services rendered.
Why are we allowing the insurance companies and corporations to continue to dictate how we care for our sick, young and elderly? It is a something that defies understanding for me.
Great post.
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"Unfortunately, I believe that some have given the president bad advice on this matter," said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah. He said supporting the health bill "is the morally right thing to do," and that he hoped Mr. Bush's veto could be overridden.
Another Republican, Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon, expressed similar sentiments and called Mr. Bush's decision "an irresponsible use of the veto pen."
Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said that contrary to what Mr. Bush says about his own vision for the insurance plan, "It won't even cover kids on the program today, much less reach out to cover more kids."
In an attempt to defeat the veto, Mr. Grassley said he would try to persuade some House members who voted against the insurance bill to switch their positions. There is already enough support in the Senate to override the veto, so the main battleground will be in the House of Representatives, which is expected to vote on an override measure in about two weeks.
Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the House Republican whip, told The Associated Press he was "absolutely confident" that there was strong enough opposition in the House to sustain a veto. But Mr. Blunt's counterpart in the Senate, Trent Lott of Mississippi, said Congress should be able to reach a compromise with the president.
"We can work it out," Mr. Lott told the A.P.
Dana Perino, the White House spokeswoman, said Mr. Bush's critics had "made their political point."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/washington/03cnd-veto.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/B/Bush,%20George%20W.
I have a pain in my stomach. Unfortunately, I do not have insurance and cannot afford to see the doctor for something as trivial as a stomach ache so I try to wait it out. A week later, the pain is still there but I figure I pulled a muscle or it's the flu or something that will heal itself - after all, it has to heal itself because I cannot afford that doctor visit. That night, my husband finds me passed out on the kitchen floor. At this point, it is past the fix-her-up stages. I need to be rushed to the emergency room (ambulance $500, checking into the ER $700) and costs add up right off the bat. Now, instead of paying $300 to go to the doctor's office a week ago, I am paying $1200 BEFORE I EVEN SEE A DOCTOR! Cost for seeing the physician at the ER $150, IV fluids $75, prescriptions for the various drugs needed to treat a ruptured ulcer $200 (they didn't have generic forms).... If you've done the math, you see that I now owe $1625 - all because I couldn't afford the $300 to go to the doctor in the first place.
If I couldn't afford the initial $300, where do you think I'm going to get the $1625 to cover my trip to the hospital?
It costs more because we push off medical treatment until we can not function any more - or until our spouse finds us unconscious.
Now, tell me that this will help our society and our citizens get out of debt.
EVERY logical, semi-intelligent human knows that prevention is a lot less expensive than treatment.
This is one of the things that is wrong - we "help" the disadvantaged but we don't help those middle of the road people that do everything right but still cannot afford it.
No, I doubt if god would speak to the anti-christ, but then how often does the guy tell the truth?
So you're talking about vaccines... Not about the stomach ache scenario... When you say preventative...
Yeah, and we should all exercise and eat right because we know it's healthy - this is another problem in the country - we don't take any personal responsibility for ourselves and our actions.
Lanie:
"But, Sheryl, would God speak to the Anti-Christ? "
I think one of them might CLAIM that conversation!
Great comments everyone!
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
I can attest to the co$t$ of not providing basic preventative care as well as what happens when children and adults have no insurance. I have seen the out comes from working in the Health care system. Heck you see some of the long term repercussions just walking down a busy inner city street!
When I first moved here from Canada, land of socialism and socialised medicine according to the anti-universal health insurance crowd, I noticed within my first weeks here one visible health problem that could have been corrected with health insurance for all children... I had almost never seen an adult with congenital hip dysplasia until UI came here. That's where you are born with one hip joint that malfunctions and results in one leg being noticeably shorter than the other. In Canada all babies and children have health insurance and parents are encouraged to bring them in to the Pediatrician for regular check ups. When a child is found to have this problem immediate steps are taken to correct the displacement either through a special type of cast or in extreme cases surgery. Within a year the problem is corrected and the child grows up being able to function normally without any type of handicap. Granted this isn't a life threatening condition but it is a visually obvious problem when you realise how many adults there are here who have this disability. Some can compensate with special shoes... but those cost money too!
The attacks on the 12 year old are just another example of how amoral our elected representatives have become, totally lacking a conscience!
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Poor Senator Hatch. He doesn't realize that it is FAR more likely the President got GOOD advice on this bill and chose to ignore it.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
No it's not. If we insure EVERY citizen with a single payer system, i.e., The government, it will be considerably less expensive. This is why 36 other other countries pay less and cover EVERYONE.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Ten unsolicited points from the world's worst connection. Merry whatever you celebrate!