National and world politics from Noisy Dove.
I decided to take today off. I’m only reading stuff that isn’t directly related to diagnostic pathology. So, I picked up the monthly newsletter from the MSMA (Missouri State Medical Association). It laid out the healthcare bill in a simplified format, and stated point by point why it doesn’t support it (in contrast to the AMA). They bring up some good points. I was on the fence before regarding if I want this bill to pass, but I’ve decided I hope it doesn’t. Regulating insurance companies and requiring people to have health insurance are good things, and I think laws need to be passed to make this stuff happen. There are a bunch of problems though: (1) It does nothing for torte reform. Obama said frivolous lawsuits only account for like 1% of healthcare spending. That doesn’t take defensive medicine into account. (2) It doesn’t eliminate SGR (“sustainable growth rate,” a built in system in medicare that decreases spending by decreasing the amount physicians are reimbursed for services). (3) It creates a new bureaucracy with power to independently control medicare at a pretty extreme level. (4) According to the newsletter, the bill would “effectively ban” the development of physician owned hospitals.
Reconciliation
One of the jobs of the Senate is to keep Bad bills from getting through. Think about it. Think about all of the highly contentious, arbitrary, partisan issues we have and have had that basically split the country down the middle. And think about the other possibilities of a simple majority rule.
I’m still amazed the Democrats are using Reconciliation. It’s just so inappropriate. But this is all on top of an amazingly brazen and belligerent bill – so my surprise is simply due to my optimism.
In case you are losing a sense of the American Spirit, lest you forget, here is a reminder.
Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle.
Overall I don’t think the specific concern (“if doctors would be required to accept forced-on-us healthcare plans”) would become a huge problem. I know what this argument is getting at though. Medicare doesn’t pay doctors as much as private insurance. If their was a government option, it would pay as much as medicare. Cuts in medicare spending are a constant threat to control costs. “Cuts in medicare spending” translates exactly to paying physicians less for specific services. I’d be a lot more concerned if the government option was still part of the bill.
Ever wonder why the US was so successful in kicking Mexico’s ass during the Mexican-American war? Or why we gave so much land back to them after our marines occupied the Halls of Montezuma in the capital of Mexico City?
This is a good graphic representation of the political ‘spectrum’.
There is a silly test you can take to see where you fall on this chart, nolanchart.com Although it isn’t a fair test. I fell just on the Libertarian side of the line between it and Conservative. I have a feeling the guy who made this was Libertarian. Just take the survey (test) and you’ll know what I mean.
The uniqueness of the summit was that it was on TV. Presidents have always gathered up congressmen and tried talking them into this or that.
It’s fairly obvious that the summit was a symbol. Obama knows that his only chance of passing this now infamous bill after Brown won is to abuse Reconciliation. The summit was a symbolic show of bipartisanship to try and make the Reconciliation effort look less dastardly.
We witnessed a fairly unique political exchange in the experience of this summit. Has no one anything to say about it?
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Tom Hanks Delusional
By Noisy Dove on March 12, 2010
Posted in Politics | Tagged 2, Adolph, aircraft, asia, attack, building, comments, different, dogs, easier, empire, german, global, gods, hanks, harbor, hitler, II, japanese, kill, kraut, leftist, movie, names, pacific, pearl, purpose, racist, re-enter, remarks, slant-eyed, society, stupid, tom, troops, us, USA, war, world, WWII, yellow | Leave a response