Bloviating Zeppelin

(in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Getting Older, Are You?

Then here's the real news.

Why be a nurse? Why be a doctor? It's extremely hard work, costs much money to attend a school, and you're hectored, your decisions questioned, every day.

Mr Obama will make it easier to simply do nothing.

11 Comments:

A Jacksonian said...: What really gets me is the idea that you have a 'right' to health care. Really, what are they teaching people these days?

You have liberty to work for yourself and benefit from your work. You may use that liberty to enter into an agreement to receive goods and services. One of those can be 'health care' but that is your decision and you make that agreement with an individual or institution: that is a contract.

Provision of health care is an exercise of liberty using your right to get a contract at fair market value as agreed upon by you and the provider. It was the political Left that established back in the 1960's and '70's that one did not have a 'right' to health care when the call to close sanitoriums down because of government mismanagement and abuse. Those who were ill-prepared to deal with life on their own were given the absolute liberty to live as best they could and not have government minister to them. This was BETTER than having government take care of them. Thus the assertion, now, that it is a 'right' means infringing on the liberty of those unable, unwilling or simply not wanting 'health care'. When a 'right' costs all of society to provide something as a good or service at a regulated price that is not the market price, we call that a 'subsidy'.

A 'subsidy' causes uneconomical use and valuation of a resource and general over-use of it. We have been subsidizing health care in the US via tax credits since WWII when it was supposed to be a temporary measure to entice those that had 'retired' under social security back to work... or else they would put their 'benefits' in jeopardy. Since WWII the cost of health care has outpaced that of inflation due to over-use by individuals who do not have to pay a fair market rate for it. Additionally the overhead and need for 'wise spending' and 'accountability' requires additional tests for medical conditions when one single test can be diagnostic. That, alone, is estimate to cost those on health care an amount that would allow over 40 million more to be 'insured'. That is the cost of 'accountability' when applied to a subsidized system: it increases cost.

Today there are doctors who see all the extra staff, reports to fill out, time spent with insurance companies, cost of malpractice insurance and all those lovely things that have come with this system and are taking a new approach: they refuse all insurance and require you to sign a non-suit contract for providing of health care. Doing that means that you will not ever sue for malpractice lest you break the contract and get countersued on it. What you get are doctors with more time, lower staff, lower overhead and who are able to get to know their patients and provide services at a much lower cost.

Why would anyone want to become a doctor or nurse under the current system? You have to be a form-filler, insurance worrier, and find your good practice approach counter-manded by insurance companies.

And don't get me started on the cost of regulations and health care on the actual medicines provided... my vitriol for that runs far, far deeper than having a 'right' to health care.; Sun Mar 08, 07:33:00 AM PDT
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: This: "Since WWII the cost of health care has outpaced that of inflation due to over-use by individuals who do not have to pay a fair market rate for it" -- is THE point of the year with regard to health care, AJ!

And actually, I wouldn't mind reading your thoughts on regulations and medicines. . .

BZ; Sun Mar 08, 08:50:00 AM PDT
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: Since, in my last post, SCOTUS made it easier to sue drug companies.

BZ; Sun Mar 08, 08:50:00 AM PDT
Ranando said...: We already have Free Healthcare in this country for anyone that needs it. There are Free Clinics everywhere across the USA that provide Free Healthcare, good healthcare and in most cases, Free Drugs.

It's been going on for years.

When the Government says it's going to supply Healthcare to everyone WTF!

They already do.; Sun Mar 08, 09:34:00 AM PDT
Ranando said...: And this................

New York Times Examines President Bush's Expansion Of Community Health Clinics; Sun Mar 08, 09:41:00 AM PDT
A Jacksonian said...: Mr. Z - I put a post up a bit ago that went a bit further on the topic... basically my comment was a sweetened condensed version.

I am moving further and further from my initial reaction that policy can help this: it can't. This is a basic change of our giving up essential liberty for less security. Basically, we need to de-subsidize health care and stop promoting it via insurance: that is the worst thing we can do to ourselves health-wise around. No one can say what health care would cost without this overhead, save to say it would be cheaper. This system of price supports effects anything that falls under the 'health insurance' regime and it does so for those not wanting health insurance and costs those citizens *more* because of those artificial price supports.

Yet we hear calls for more government intervention, more government payouts, more subsidies? That is already bankrupting us... just as social security is. And the Federal Reserve, note how well they have done in a minor econmic 'crisis'? Each of these is supposed to help make things 'better' and yet are each proving to be toxic when individuals who must run things things act as individuals dp with disparity of capability, analysis, outlook, perception and inward capability. That is why we should give so little for government to do: when it screws up it effects *everyone*. And those who think government should be vigorous in the economy are the problem no matter *what* party they are in. I trust my fellow Americans to make a better decision, across-the-board, than government... and when individuals screw up it should not be a National problem. Far easier to handle down here at the low end of things were a personal mistake doesn't cost us billions, and put us all at risk.; Sun Mar 08, 01:24:00 PM PDT
A Jacksonian said...: We used to have the best teaching and charitable hospitals in the world. Sadly many of those have been bought out by insurance groups and then closed as they are 'uneconomical'... which misses the point of them being charitable and teaching hospitals. NY and CA are the worst hit by this, both having had more and more intrusion going on than the rest of the country. Los Angeles is now finding itself facing hospitals closing because of the need to remove these institutions and 'centralize' care.

And reduce it and have those communities served by those institutions now have to face longer travel times to get to limited bed space. Only those institutions that have been able to say 'no' to insurance companies have been able to escape this. Sadly, the rising cost of health care has started eroding the solvency of even religious charitable hospitals, so that corporate buy-outs are the only way out.

We must get rid of this subsidy system or it will kill us.; Sun Mar 08, 06:51:00 PM PDT
Average American said...: There is an automatic 10% savings for healthcare in this country. Just stop giving free healthcare to illegal aliens! We do not owe them a frigging thing. Why are we bankrupting ourselves by paying all their bills? There is probably at least another 10% savings if people would only use what healthcare they really need. Going to the hospital with a sniffle should get a person a swift kick in the ass for being stupid! And then THEY should have to pay that bill, either in cold hard cash, or with community service if its the government that ends up paying it. Give us the same price for prescription drugs as other countries get. There's another big saving. That has to be at least 25% savings total. Not a bad start huh?; Mon Mar 09, 01:16:00 AM PDT
Average American said...: Here are a couple more. Let people who are capable stay in assisted living arrangements instead of nursing homes. So what if the caregiver is related, its still a whole lot cheaper than the nursing homes are. And when someone has lost all quality of life and just wants to die, let that person die if that is what they want. Dr. Kervorkian should have gotten a medal, not a jail term. Shoot those frigging ambulance chasers who talk patients into filing multimillion dollar lawsuits over bullshit just because they can. I'll bet these two posts come close to saving 50% of our national healthcare tab. I'll also bet NObama and the dems won't do any of it because they WANT the population to depend on the government dole. That's where their votes come from, the dumb people who think the libs actually give a shit about them.; Mon Mar 09, 01:25:00 AM PDT
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: Those are two huge issues, AA:

1. ILLEGAL Invaders and the costs of free healthcare they engender.

2. The utilization of a hospital's ER as a cold clinic.

You're correct; just those two items MUST be sapping the veritable LIFE out of healthcare and skyrocketing its concomitant costs.

BZ; Mon Mar 09, 06:09:00 AM PDT
Rivka said...: My son in law is a doctor and is doing his residency and then will do his fellowship. He and my step daughter are shaking in their boots wondering what the heck they are going to do after health care is socialized. He has put a lot of time and money into this and is an incredible doctor to boot.; Mon Mar 09, 01:25:00 PM PDT

Bloviating Zeppelin

: Name: Bloviating Zeppelin; Location: Sierra Nevada Mountains, Fornicalia, United States

A former Democrat in my tender and ignorant youth, I am now a Conservative first and, these days, quite a distant Republican with a dash of Libertarian mixed in for good measure. I believe in God, the strength of America, the brilliance of our Founding Fathers, the valor of our military, and the need for Leadership in all forms and on every level. I am not an advocate of censorship as I believe everyone on the Far Left has a God-given right to be painfully stupid -- as I have a right to expose said stupidity. UPDATED NOTE: Recent legal references mandate that I make clear that these writings are ONLY my written OPINIONS and those of no one else. FAIR USE NOTICE - This web site may contain copyrighted material, which may not always have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such images and excerpts are made available for the purpose of analysis and critique, as well as to advance understanding of social, political, media and cultural issues. We believe this constitutes 'fair use' as explained in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. ADVERTISING: I do NOT, however, ask for nor display advertisements here.

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Bloviating Zeppelin

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Getting Older, Are You?

11 Comments:

Bloviating Zeppelin

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