Free Health Care For All?!? (Part 2)

There is an interesting article from a generally leftist writer that is a bit critical of the Democratic party's handling of health care reform. It is worth the read...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2009/08/12/town_halls/

Also, my dad decided to get involved in the political process and wrote to U.S. Senator Ben Nelson from Nebraska. Here is his letter:

Senator Nelson: August 8, 2009

I have never written or called a congressman or senator in my life (I'm 63 years old), but this health care legislation is a huge concern. My concerns are the resulting care (speed and the care decision process), and of course the cost.

I base my concern on (1) the expected deficit for Medicare that has been discussed in Washington over the past years...with no proposed solution; (2)my 20 years experience with the Air Force's health care (it was good) but I cannot begin to tell you the long, long hours we waited in the emergency room for health care (we had 4 children so we had plenty of experience) and (3) our travel to Europe on short-term Christian mission trip. They wait months and sometimes years for an important surgery.

Why are we doing this to ourselves? I do not want our (yours and mine) grandchildren to have poor health care when they become adults. One recent comment was that the USA is 37th in health care. My response, they can pick and receive health care from any of the top 36 nations, I will pick USA for my care (and I would guess that they would choose to have their surgery here as well).

If we want to do something, let’s:

(1) Limit litigation dollar amounts, (2) require everyone to posses catastrophic private health insurance (like our required liability car insurance), and (3) take very small steps that have been tested and proven at the state level. The path we are headed down will NOT WORK.

I worked in the military bureaucracy (headquarters) for 10 of my 20 years and having this type of a system for health care scares me.

One final comment: If we estimated the cash for clunkers program ($1 B vs. $3B) which is a quantified program that requires only a few upfront assumptions; how far off will we be on a $1.3T program? I know the government does not guess on the high side!

Thanks for your listening ear.

Bob Becker