Non Essential Government Services

If Congress doesn’t agree on last year’s spending and doesn’t pass a continuing resolution, the government will be forced to “shut down”.   I have to ask myself, “Is that such a bad thing?”

What is a shutdown?  Nobody really knows but we’re told that Social Security checks will still be sent and that the armed forces will still protect us (and about 90% of everyone else on the planet.)  The only thing that we’re told is that the “non essential government services will be closed and those people will be put on administrative leave.”

Since that’s all the information at hand, I’m going to make some observations and suggestions that may be all wet in light of the complete picture, but I think it’s a start when we think of what this might mean.

The first question that comes to mind is, “Will we get back the $105 Billion that Democrats inappropriately snuck into ObamaCare when they passed it?  It was an authorization bill but they made it into an appropriations bill with nobody but the sneaks who did it knowing about it.  I’m not sure in which of the 2,400 pages of the bill the appropriation is, but it’s there and we want the money back!  Pronto!

Am I surprised they did that?  No, not really.  A former pastor of mine said, “We should never be surprised when sinners act like sinners.”  Without trying to equivocate, I just want to paraphrase and say that we should never be surprised when free-spending liberals act like we have all the money in the world and act according to their true nature.

After recovering from the angst of Dems acting like Dems, I have to ask, “If we shut down non essential services, how will that affect our lives?”  If they’re not essential, I have to think that the answer is, “Not much.”

Next I ask, “If we shout down the non essential services, how much will that save?”  Again, I have to think the answer is, “Not much,” since the meaning of “essential” is left to the operating units themselves.  Some how every bureaucrat will deem himself or herself “essential”.

Let’s shut down the government until Democrats start acting like responsible adults and not like the spoiled rich kids that they are.  I don’t think we’ll see any real difference.  The roads will still have potholes and bridges will be crumbling because Congress raided the Highway Trust Fund in years past.

There are dozens of ways that Congress can get us back on the road to fiscal health, not the least of which is to let private people pay for Harry Reid’s Cowboy Poetry Festival.

Let’s take everyone’s ideas and do them all. Assuming, of course that they’re Constitutional.

I’m sick and tired of Health Care Reform

Health Care Reform is the one of the Obama agenda items that seems to be on the list of why so many Democrats were fired in the last election.  Republicans now want to take advantage of that now.  The question that people ask is, “Why do we need reform?”  The simple answer is, “Health care is too expensive.”  This then begs the question, “So, what’s wrong with ObamaCare?”  To which one reply is, “It rations health care with no guarantee of improvement.”  Simple questions with simple responses.

But the true answer is really more complex.  It’s too expensive partly because government has made it too expensive.  Let me explain with one of many examples.

Way back when, the people thought health care costs were getting out of  control.  The solution presented by the socialists was to create HMOs.  Everyone goes in the pool at the same (or relatively the same based on parameters) cost and HMOs decide what you need to stay alive and you get that treatment.  Costs were kept down but the (unintended?) consequence was that now health care became rationed.  A triage nurse or administrator decided if you could see a doctor and what kind of doctor (probably a nurse or physician’s assistant) you’d see.  The HMO determined what treatment options they’d make available and there could be a waiting list.  To lower costs, the government created a method of rationing run by the private sector.  It was reminiscent of ration coupons during World War II.

ObamaCare is HMO times infinity.  Like any government program, it would cost orders of magnitude more than the politicians say it will and, like social security, welfare, and other programs, will bankrupt the government as entitlements grow out of control.

Now, I won’t tackle the constitutionality of government-controlled health care with its mandates on what you must buy.  About 25 states are willing to do that better than I could.  I only want to address one issue, the cost of health care.

There are a whole host of reasons why health care is so expensive so I’ll just touch on a few of them.  Rather than forcing the citizenry to be shackled to the Federal yolk, these areas are places that government can address if it’s serious about reigning in health care costs.

The cost of medical school and specialized education is significant.  Four years of college, four of medical school, residency (where you’re paid enough just to keep you almost from starving), and further education for specialization can leave a doctor a half million dollars or more in debt before he or she can start a practice.  It, along with its interest, must be paid back one way or another and that is through the doctor’s salary.  It’s not uncommon for a doctor to have to pay tens of thousands per year to pay off education debt.  If we want reform, let’s at least make the interest tax deductible and lower what the doctor needs to be paid.

Forget the rent in New York City.  The cost of malpractice insurance is too darn high.  Why?  Because we are a litigious society.  If a patient dies because of the operation, that can be malpractice.  If the patient dies in spite of the operation, that is not.  It is proper to sue if the doctor has done something wrong.  It is not proper if you simply don’t like the outcome of a properly-performed procedure.  You, your parent or guardian, made an informed decision.  If it doesn’t come out as you hoped, that’s unfortunate and, sadly, too many judges don’t have the guts to throw out frivolous lawsuits.  We need to take a tighter look at who is suing for what.  There should also be caps on things like “pain and suffering” when your nose job doesn’t make you look like a superstar.  In short, we need massive tort reform.  Let’s hope that Congress has fewer trial lawyers this go-around and can do something here.

Because of the threat of malpractice, doctors are forced to perform CYA tests and procedures.  Everyone wants an MRI for a hangnail.  People go in to the doctor and demand that they prescribe that new medicine they saw on TV.

There are other reasons, too.  Costs to create new drugs, hospital expenses and medical equipment are all factors as well.  The net, however, is not to grab control of the industry.

Don’t get me wrong.  There are some good provisions buried somewhere deep in the ObamaCare bill.  Those should be culled out, debated and, if truly beneficial to the American people and not just to lawyers or other special interests, passed as separate bills once the overall bill is repealed.

There are reasonable things that we can do to get health costs under control.  Rationing and socialism are not among them, however.  Let’s get rid of this fiasco and debate features we can understand.

A Portend of Things to Come?

USA Today reported in an article that “hospital care [is] fatal for some patients.”  Apparently about 15,000 Medicare patients die each month partly from shoddy hospital care.  On a regular basis we hear of abuses in VA Hospitals or, as in this case, with Medicare recipients.

Medicare, Medicaid and VA Hospitals are all run by the government.  So will ObamaCare.  Government-controlled health care will have all the problems, regardless of what it is called.  Is that the kind of care you want?

Any time you read “VA Hospital” or “Medicare” or “Medicare”, you can substitute “ObamaCare” with little chance of misrepresentation.

There is a commercial on television where a man is bitten by an animal and goes into the emergency room.  The receptionist tells him that someone will be with him in 28 days.  Michael Moore to the contrary, this is typical of poorly run, over-extended socialized health plans.  Scarce resources will be rationed and unless you are well connected, they won’t be rationed to you.

I applaud the lame duck Congress in not funding ObamaCare in the last session.  I hope the new Congress will take a very close look at the bill and be very careful in what they do fund.  True, there are some good provisions.  Those should be funded and promoted.  It’s good politics and it’s good public policy.  However, the rest should be allowed to die.

It may require that the rest of the government be cut back to a shoestring budget to prevent diverting other money to ObamaCare, but would cutting back everything else really be a bad thing?

A Time for …?

Today’s USA Today had a headline that read, “Now what?  Obama, Republicans face choices of compromise or conflict.”  That may be true for Obama but sadly, each time that Republicans have gotten any kind of power in recent times, they took another choice: Cave.

Mainline Republicans want so much to be loved by Democrats and the main stream media that they have been willing to sacrifice values and their political careers to get on their good side.

When will the learn that some people live to hate them?

This new crop of Republicans in congress seem to have heard the message that this election was not an embracing of Republicans but a repudiation of the Obama plan.  The Republicans seem to have heard this but I doubt the President has.

For once the people have had a chance to speak where Obama and Congress were forced to listen, and for many of them, the message was, “Good bye!”

President Obama in his address yesterday essentially said that he lost track of the voters but that we were not smart enough to understand his policies so he should have explained better.  Which pieces of his policies did the voters not understand?

Was it Cap and Trade, which promised to raise energy prices and put coal miners out of work?  This in a time when unemployment is still very high and most families don’t have a lot of extra money to spend on higher energy bills?

Was it treating the Christmas underwear bomber as a criminal which allowed him to “lawyer up” in place of treating him as the terrorist he is?

Was it the give away programs to the labor unions (Harry Reid owes them big time for his re-election)?

Was it the rising debt that will bankrupt our children and grandchildren as it races to $14 Trillion?

Was it the growing government?  During this time of unemployment, the federal payroll continued to grow.

Was it ObamaCare, the unprecedented takeover of the health system?  I don’t think it was just an unfortunate coincidence that the last big Republican take over of the House happened after HillaryCare was soundly rejected by society.

Every one of the problems that these “fixes” were designed to address have  fixes.  Many of the fixes don’t require rampant socialism.

It is doubtful that the new Congress can repeal ObamaCare outright.  Obama still has the veto pen.  They can, however, deny funding for the federal programs and enact legislation that address the real problems without sacrificing liberty and our futures.  If necessary, we can address some of the more rational fixes.

I sincerely hope the new Congress will follow the mandate given to them in this election.  Let’s break with tradition.  It will take some compromise and a lot of conflict.  Let’s not cave this time.  Maybe the Democrats and media won’t like them but “We the People” will.

Sauce for the Goose

You probably know the saying, “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”  It flies in the face of double standards.  It says that if you can do something, so can I.  Conversely, if some consequence for bad behavior for you is fitting, then the same consequence is fitting for me if I do the same thing.  Everybody plays by the same rules.  It’s the antithesis of means testing. Let’s look at this with a bit of retrospective regarding last year’s failed Swine Flu (H1N1) pandemic.  Please don’t get me wrong.  My heart goes out to all the families who lost loved ones due to the disease.  My criticism is with its handling.

States do means testing for their benefits and tax policies.  Hospitals do means testing for how much they charge their patients.  Rich patients or those with insurance pay more than poor patients with no insurance.  State-run clinics means test for how much patients pay for their services.  Means testing determines Medicare coverage.  Means testing determines how much of your Social Security income is taxed.  Means testing is a way to regulate the supply or cost of a good or service by manipulating the price paid by the consumer.

Businesses don’t do means testing but they do practice supply and demand.  The price of oil goes up therefore making gas more expensive.  Some people modify their driving habits to use less gas and thus not spend as much.  If things cost more then either you spend more or you cut down on your consumption.

Means testing is as well ingrained in the health care industry as supply and demand is in the rest of the capitalist system.  So why are states upset when pharmacies vary their charges for Swine Flu or other vaccines?  Some claim price gouging such as what happens when stores jack up the price of water after a hurricane cripples the water supply of a town or region.

The problem? There were claims this last flu season that the varying cost of Swine Flu vaccine from state to state and within a state, sometimes by as much as $75 across the state, was price gouging.  Ignore the fact that some pharmacies have to mix their own formula for children’s doses (ever hear of increased labor costs?  Ever hear of malpractice insurance?  Someone has to pay for them to take the risk of mixing the vaccine themselves.)  Ignore the fact that the vaccine itself was in short supply in some places.  One place charged $49 and another charged over $90 for the same dose.  Often these were in the same area and it was relatively easy to get from one place to another.

The solution?  Chris Dodd, retiring Democrat Senator from Connecticut, wanted a government investigation and the Mississippi State Attorney wanted people to report any price gouging they found.  Of course this begs a very important question.  What is price gouging here?  If the drug store I visit charges $90 I should report them, right?  Forget the fact that I can go to another pharmacy across town and pay only $49.  The government needs to do something for me because I’m too lazy to shop around!  His committee investigation should have its results about a year and a half after the Swine flu has long subsided and the next flu season that’s coming kicks in so don’t hold your breath for meaningful results.  Perhaps they’ll have something before the next manufactured “crisis”.

I don’t know what Dodd’s committee intends to accomplish.  Maybe he’s jealous over the competition for medical care dollars.  Maybe he’s looking for ways to get pointers on how to ration health care under the guise of caring what happens to you.  Maybe it’s good that he’s retiring.

I don’t see how the variation in prices for H1N1 vaccine was price gouging but then again, I’m not a government hack, so what do I know?  It’s supply and demand.  You want what I have, here’s the price.  If enough people refuse to pay the price and go somewhere else, maybe I’ll consider lowering my price before the vaccine I’m holding goes bad or isn’t needed.

Don’t like the price, maybe WalMart has a better price.  Not everyone advertises “Always low prices … Always” (or at least used to.)  Use your phone and call around.  By the way, at what price is it gouging?  Who sets the standard?  Maybe we need to fix the price and be done with it.  Hmmm… Sounds like socialized medicine is one more step closer.  The current year’s flu vaccine is currently about $25 at my local food store pharmacies.

What do you think ObamaCare will do?  Means testing is the centerpiece of government programs.  Government bureaucrats, not your doctor, will regulate how much health care you can get.  They will limit the supply regardless of the demand.  They will limit it depending on your income, age, and current health.  Ignore the fact that health care is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution as a federal responsibility.  They will control your access to health care and you will lose your freedom of choice about it.  Get used to it.  It’s coming.

People look to the UK for the model of government- run health care.  The claim is that it is second to none, and it is … when you can get it.  The trick over there is convincing the government that you truly are worthy of being treated for your ailment.  The same will be true here.

Socialized medicine only works when the government has enough of your money to spend freely.  As the amount of your money decreases, so does the quality of the health care they’ll allow you to receive.

I can hear the campaign slogans in the New World Order: Want a vaccine?  Then vote for me!  I’ll make sure you get it or die trying.