Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Acid Base, Drinking the Kool-aid.

My mood is more creative these days.  I have less angst and fear of others.  If one met me, they would see a well-balanced, neat, clean, intelligent woman on the outside.  One would never see the turmoil, second guessing, sometimes sadness on the inside, but then, I was a drama minor in college and got all "A"s..

I do think the terrible things that the Tea Party representatives say about everyone from Girl Scouts to this President have created an acid base in my personality and has affected my mood.  I do not worship this President or think he is better than sliced bread or even one of our most outstanding leaders in history.  I do think he is so far better than the crazies the GOP has put forth who cannot relate to the poor, or those different in gender interests, heritage, religion and other areas of their life.  I keep trying to see why we are so different, because I do think the average American is willing to compromise and does not think every millionaire is a crook and every poor person is a lazy slug.  I lean liberal because I know who has more power to sway this world...the rich crook...they are more dangerous to our Democracy.  The lazy will not revolt if they don't get a free ride...they just want food and health care.  If we have a revolt it will happen when there is no longer a middle class.

I have been following the ACA Law and the criticisms of it as the weeks pass.  While certain conservative press releases indicated that Obama's presidency has raised the price of health insurance dramatically...the facts are that the last real study on this done by a non-partisan group was in 2008.  During that study and adding figures up to now it seems that under the Bush administration health care costs went up over 10% each year (closer to 13%) and under this recent President a little over 5% each year.  The other argument against ACA is that over 100 health care classifications have been adopted and forced on insurers and doctors by this President.  But research shows these classifications were created by the United Nations years ago, adopted under the Bush administration with a delayed implementation until this year! 

The issue of the terrible roll-out of this process rests totally on the shoulders of this administration.  I do not know why their IT work has been so very terrible, but I think it is because the people who got the contract were unqualified friends of the administration and they ended up subcontracting the work to some other contractor. (Shades of FEMA under Bush.)  We will see what the head of Health and Human Services says to get out of this.  There is no excuse!  The government does this all the time...under both parties...I have worked as a Fed and remember a Senator's nephew who got a job in our building for no reason other than that he was a Senator's nephew!

Whether this ACA will work effectively or not, only time will tell.  I do believe that everyone in the richest country in the world should have access to health care, everyone, including young working adults, should carry the burden of this health care, and I would much rather pay for someone's health insurance subsidy with my taxes rather than their visit to the emergency room in the hospital!

If you question how closely this subsidy will be regulated...that is up to each of us to question.  We don't do it with Defense contractors but maybe we will with health companies.

10 comments:

  1. I have been straining for years to understand the divide between left and right, trying to see things through the right's eyes and understand how they think but I can not penetrate the mystery. I think they mimic talk show blowhards who pass around false information. Or maybe like my first husband, take a bit of truth and twist it.

    What did you mean by changing my "About" paragraph? I'm not aware of what "about" or changing it. Maybe I should ask Jesus!

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  2. I was going to write on the ACA after hearing the arguments from a western writers' group, but then blew leaves and worked on getting a rental house for two days in December with friends-- also reading A Terrible Glory by James Donovan about the political aspects to the Custer death in 1875. It doesn't ignore Custer but it brings the aspects in the Grant administration (earlier Johnson) on the campaigns into conquering the Sioux and Cheyenne people. The more I read the more I think nothing changes with how our country operates. What will it take to change it?

    One thing I do know about the problems the ACA has been having. Righties were calling in to disrupted it or prove it didn't work. They didn't want to see it function but one who is an Oregon pundit said he got real information on a cheaper policy than he currently has except he didn't want it. He just wanted to call in. How many did that?

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  3. I'm sure the glitches will be fixed before long. Let's keep in mind that the Republicans are all about criticizing the Affordable Care Act but they have nothing to replace it with. That's what they're offering---nothing!

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  4. Now that Mike's medical bills have started rolling in, believe me, I am doubly grateful for health insurance. I cannot imagine that the ACA will cost more than people being uninsured, but it is inhumane to let so many go with out adequate access to health care.

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  5. An excellent and thoughtful post.

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  6. An excellent and thoughtful post.

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  7. Yes, I agree....and have you considered not thinking for a while? LOL Little angst here tho there should be some on my return for a second mammogram. I'm making a concerted effort not to think when confronted by politics this year.

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  8. I used to be a computer programmer. I haven't done so since 1994, so I missed being on job during Y2K.

    Funny...everyone thought that was going to be a disaster, but I guessed that it wouldn't. Changing file sizes to make the year a 4 digit field instead of a 2 digit field and then doing the math isn't hard.

    However, what's going on now is major. It's a whole new system. My guess is that they knew it would be bad when it went live, but what choice did they have? They were operating on a hope and a prayer.

    But, like Stephen said, it'll be fixed before long. They'll patch it up while rewriting the whole thing...maybe. Ching Ching Ching But, that's life. And as you said, what else do we have?

    Exciting times in our government.

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  9. I agree with you about the ACA, and I'm very concerned about the technological glitches in the roll out. They are tainting the whole act and giving fodder to the self righteous critics who are just sure the whole thing will fail.
    One reason the roll out is going so poorly is that it was meant to cover about six states, not 26. States were supposed to set up their own exchanges, but states controlled by Republican governors and/or legislatures refused to do so. They also refused the medicare extension to pay for folks in poverty even though it would not cost the states anything for three years. In Washington State enrollment is going very well.

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  10. If anyone tells me it isn't working, I just say, "Isn't that too bad. What we really need is a single-payer system."

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Take your time...take a deep breath...then hit me with your best shot.