Engineer:Well as always, I am the last to know. Just as I was finishing up on my dance interpretation feature explaining the science of magnetism, suddenly it is about health care. Just as well.....
I actually should be ashamed at introducing such a serious subject with such a cheap intro, but I am at the point that if I don't laugh, I think that I will scream. The shear stupidity that is swirling around this topic is numbing.
I overheard a conversation while standing in line to purchase an item at the local big box store that gives a perfect example. This overheard conversation was apparently started by a couple making comments after seeing the headlines on the front page of the newspapers that were for sale beside us. This front page headline had President Obama, who in their very loud opinion, was going to give his hypnotic mind controlling Socialist Indoctrination speech to our poor schoolchildren. Luckily our local official discovered this devious plan and was going to intercept. They went on to discuss his destruction of the country by putting his other secret agenda of Health Care into place. Later in this conversation, in between the cashier calling for a price check, one of these talking heads mentioned how if it wasn't for the Indian Hospital, her sister would be dead right now. The other listened with solemn concern.
Instantly the righteous bile of indignation rose to my throat like bubbles in a Dinty Moore Stew. I thought, you stupid f%&$, don't you realize that Indian Care IS GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE! But then I realized that this is the case before the public right now. The powers that be are waging a war of ignorance, shifting the focus of reform into fighting stupid rumors like killing grandma and shout matches at the public debates. The IBM sales people had a term for it when they were selling the big mainframe computers. The term is FUD, or Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. With this they could instill the emotions to always maintain the status quo. There is a deliberate campaign to exploit the fears of a group that lives on paranoia and fear. This is the same group that has a percentage who does not believe the President is a U.S. CITIZEN.
The funny thing is that if you talked to them as a group, 80 percent could tell you a horror story of some medical experience that they or some of their relatives have experienced. The lawyer made a interesting point in that most of his cases concerning bankruptcy involve a catastrophic medical event. There isn't a family in the country that couldn't be destroyed financially by a medical disaster. Even if you have insurance, you could reach the cap of the policy or be turned down by some "previous condition" like acne or a hemorrhoid.
The profits of companies that may be effected by this bill are so immense, that incredible amounts of money is being spent to lobby- not just in the hallowed halls of the government, but also to wage Madison Avenue campaigns to sway the minds of the general population. To go against this for a complete Heath Care reform, in my humble opinion, is too large of an offensive. But I have a master plan that is just devious enough to work. Not that it really matters what I think about public policy, but this is my blog so here it is.
You may have heard of the old joke about the 2 hunters that are suddenly confronted by a bear. One of the hunters starts to run and the other hunter yells out, "What are you doing- you cannot outrun a bear!" The running hunter says, "I don't need to run faster than the bear, I just need to run faster than you!" Well this is the plan. You make a deal with the AMA, Pharma, etc that within reason, they can have what they already have now. But they would have to give total support to and lobby towards reforming the Health Insurance Industry, with the Government Insurance Public Option made into law. The Insurance Industry profiteering would be the sacrifice that they would make to save themselves. Hmmmm just might work. Thoughts?
The Lawyer: Well said, man.
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