"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Friday, October 02, 2009

Another Health Care Post

But I'm handing this one over to Barbara O'Brien at Mahablog -- she's done a lot of reading and comparing on health care reform, and probably knows it better than anyone in Congress. This post is in the wake of Rep. Alan Grayson 's (D-Reality) speech in Congress on the "Republican plan." Here's a quote from Grayson's speechL:

“It’s a very simple plan,” Grayson said in a floor speech about health care on Tuesday night. “Don’t get sick. That’s what the Republicans have in mind. And if you get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: die quickly.”

O'Brien parses the "Republican plan":

The various health care plans being put forward by Republicans address two vital issues:
1. They provide impressive talking points to repeat on cable news programs.

2. They can be printed into respectable stacks of paper to hold up to cameras, accompanied by the declaration See? We do so have a plan.

As explained in the two posts linked in the previous paragraph, the crown jewels of the Republicans “plan” are these:
1. People should pay more for their health care so they take better care of themselves and not need health care (in other words, don’t get sick).

2. Allow the insurance industry to separate us into low-risk and high-risk pools. They can make bigger profits selling junk policies to the healthy, and if the unhealthy can’t afford their jacked-up premiums, that’s too bad (in other words, die quickly).

3. Tax credits.

Seriously. The “purchasing insurance across state lines” scam falls under “separating us into low-risk and high-risk pools,” as explained elsewhere.

Perhaps the biggest flaw in allowing health care to be paid for by “free markets” is that there is no incentive for “free markets” to cure anyone. The health care industry doesn’t make money by curing you, but by what it can sell to you at a profit. Whether you live or die, you (or your heirs) still have to pay the bills.


Remember, the insurance companies are the ones who give people bonuses for letting you die.

Here's Grayson on the Ed Schultz show -- it's a great clip:



I almost wish I lived in Florida, so I could vote for him.

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