Monday, July 27, 2009

Politics Fix

My somewhat weekly ramblings on the polical world...

Sarah Palin
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah....how far you have fallen. You have disappointed me. I had such hope for you and your mavericky ways at one point. Even after the Couric interview I rooted for you in your Vice Presidential debate against Biden. I believe that McCain would not have had a chance without you. Yet, I believe now that America dodged a bullet by not electing you. Your resignation proved it.

When I thought about who I was going to vote for last year, one thing I remember saying is that I needed a president I could tolerate listening to for the next four years. Although I think your rival President Obama is a camera hound, I can still listen to him. I find the sound of your voice whiney and grating. And the day you find a new career will be a great day both for me, and for our country.

Birth Certicate Nonsense
Nobody else is being staight about it. I will. The drama about Barack Obama being born in the US is nothing more than racism.

President Obama has a passport. He has a certificate of live birth made available for the media. He has a social security card. There are newspaper clippings from the day of his birth in the local paper. Yet, there are many who claim that these are not valid. That is because they cannot accept that a black man, and the son of an immigrant can be president. He won the election fair and square. In case one forgets, President Bush's election was a lot more questionable in 2000. (I say this, even though I did vote for him). President Obama won with a greater percentage of the electorate than Bush or Clinton did for either of their terms.

I watched a town hall meeting in Deleware recently. The woman started screaming I want my country back. What was she really saying. She was saying she was unsure she could accept being a part of a country with a black man as president that doesn't feel beholden to do what she wants him to do. So sad.

Health Care
Ok. I think it is obvious that something new needs to be done with health care. It is also obvious that we cannot keep spending ourselves into oblivion as President Obama and Speaker Pelosi would want us to. Also, although I believe insurace companies need to make a profit and continue to exist privately, limits need to be set on how far they can go to make a profit. Their activities need to be regulated somehow.

So, what needs to happen is that the government needs to offer some subsidized health care plan, but they need to offer it in such a way that only the most desperate of people will want it.

I am not completely sure how this will work, but here is a suggestion. A government subsidized catastrophic health care plan for the lower middle class. This will cover 80 percent of the costs of health care up to say 75000, and then 100 percent after that, with a $5000 deductable. If you choose not to redeem your health care plan in this way, you may choose to have this plan as a supplimental plan in some way to your insurance plan.

Why do this? If you are working at 7-11, you are probably not going to have very good health care options. The government plan will at least make it where you can put yourself on some sort of payment plan and have some hope of paying the medical debt back with payments. Otherwise, we will continue to have working people just starting to get ahead until their kid gets in an accident and they don't have insurance. Yet, at the same time, people will want more than the government plan, which they should if we don't want people wanting completely socialized medicine.

2 comments:

Aphra said...

I think your health care idea is very good!

I am not sure I understand why Americans would vote a black man in and then have problems that he is a black man? Or am I misunderstanding? Or is it the ones who didn't vote for him upset because they lost?

Kim said...

Clint, I wish someone who knows more than I do would look into Japan's National Health Insurance. It seems to be working pretty well over here. I don't wait in lines forever for things. I am also not elderly - it might break down there, but, we don't have a good retirement home plan at all. Families take care of the elderly. Anyway, Canada and England aren't the only countries with National Health Insurance. No complaints here from me!

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