This was sobering - but I suspect it accurately describes the state of American Democracy.
Joe H.
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The Years Of Writing Dangerously
9 years ago
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About Me
- Joe Huster
- I am a 51 year old 7th year attorney and former philosophy professor. I am married and have one son. I am originally from California, but have lived in Honolulu and Salt Lake City, Utah all of my adult life.
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Blog Archive
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2009
(191)
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December
(20)
- A New Years Thought
- Move Your Money
- Republican Nihilism
- Death Panel Redux
- Decade of the Con
- What Drives Me Crazy
- "Health Care Reform Please - and hold the Crap!"
- Substance vs. Lunacy
- Storms of Stupitity
- If I Were a Senator - Update
- Dear Nobodies
- Holy Joe - UPDate
- Fundamentalism
- American Exceptionalism
- Group identity and Corruption - Follow Up
- The Importance of Obeying the Constitution
- A Good Question
- Group Identity and Corruption
- On Tiger Woods - UPDATE
- Tom Tomorrow and the Stupidity Crisis
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December
(20)
2 comments:
Joe, thanks for the info on the "other Joe." I didn't get the connection that his state houses big insurance companies. Ironically, my Dad had double knee replacement surgery in November of which, Medicare paid half. When he complains about National Healthcare ruining everything, I point out that he has benefited from a government-run program himself! These comments won't make me popular around the table this Christmas! Angie Hurd
Hi Angie.
Its remarkable that people can enjoy the benefits of a collective program and condemn them at the same time.
You and I have a mutual friend ( physician) who adopted a baby that was born to a young and poor single mom. The baby was born extremely premature - the baby would have easily fit within the palm of my hand.
Medicaid paid the physician costs and hospital costs for the baby's long hospital stay - which had to have been enormous. No private insurance company had an obligation to pay for her care.
At any rate, I remember talking with our friend casually, a couple of years later, while her daughter sat in her lap, about the "New Deal" type of programs. She questioned their validity. She simply didn't realize that without such New Deal programs, like medicaid, the daughter who was sittiing on her lap would have perished.
The key thing to remember is that markets ration. It costs money to educate children. Without a system of universally available public schools, many children could not be educated profitably at a price their parents can afford. They'd be priced out. We decided, for various reasons, that this result is intolerable, so we socialized schooling.
In my opinion, health care is precisely such a good. It is produced by people who are entitled to compensation for their products and services, but it is so important that access to it cannot be left solely to markert determinations.
Happy Holidays.
Joe
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