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OBAMAS HEALTH

Written by Akinola Davies Jr

22 Monday 22nd March 2010

This morning I awoke to the news that the US House of Representatives approved the healthcare bill that Barack Obama has been trying to pass since coming to office. This will be the most significant bill proposed for Americans in 40 years. It seems all that is left is for the Presidential ink to dry.

Right wing skeptics have done all they can to ensure that this bill is stalled as much as possible with slanderous accusations. One I found the funniest was that old people would be sent to death chambers. It's hard to believe that anyone in the self proclaimed 'free world' would be gullible enough to believe that. Unfortunately believe they did.

The facts of the bill are that it will 'extend health coverage to 31 million Americans, expand the government health plan for the poor, impose new taxes on the wealthy and ban insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions'. I have a feeling the insurance company executives have had many a sleepless night. Their co-hort Republican buddies will also, like any opposition party be challenging the bill at every opportunity.

This brings an end to the year long political debate on healthcare reform. It also thrust Obama's policies into a position that many of his predecessors failed to attain. Many Americans through the wave of their Presidents wonderful election campaign had begun to get disgruntled over what was actually being achieved in office. This is not to say that they will be appeased but it was always going to take a while for the promises to materialize.

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Guest: towerofsilver

Wed 24 - Mar - 2010, 11:06

Also just to add: This bill includes numerous issues that affect institutions as a whole- The racial preferences for example are very egalitarian and are unconstitutional.
Guest: towerofsilver

Wed 24 - Mar - 2010, 10:45

Dear Akinola Davies Jr There is a lot in this health care bill that practically enforces a major extension of bureaucracy. On the surface the bill expands the availability of health care whilst at the same time making cuts to the service available, so the argument talks about death panels in principle. How can you extend coverage without extending the budget, When doctors prescribe treatment they will be working from a hymn sheet of available treatments, rather than treatments the doctor whilst using his own mind finds as the most effective logical conclusion. at the core this is a moral argument, the availability of healthcare is only a half truth. this 'free' healthcare comes at the expense of the professional doctors own lives. Those doctors have invested over 14 years of their life in education to finally arrive in an industry that has now become nationalised. They no longer own the product of their own mind, they are service to the state. When people are not left free to think, to own the product of their efforts they are enslaved. for an industry that is completely dependant to the conceptual formulation and abstract workings of the mind, its a dark day for medicine when the leading nation of medical innovation no longer encourages independent thought. As for the insurance companies, not only is the whole system of insurance massively complex, and the economic consequences of this bill going to tread on activities of insurance within the market place which is just fantastic when markets around the globe are crashing. But the moral argument applies to the insurance companies as well, insurance is an industry, it is a product, it is only in existence because of these companies orchestrated its function in the market and its availability. Insurance is not a caring safety net, it is service, If your medical history indicates future issues then your insurance is higher, you are more likely than someone without the same medical history to fall ill. You are paying higher rates because its more of a gamble for insurance companies to take you on as a client. Also it must be understood, the insurance companies available in the plan whittled down to a selection of favoured insurance firms which institutionalises an effective monopoly in each state. if you think the industry is cut-throat now, wait until you see the distortion and the policies introduced into the industry in this coming decade. This is the marriage of state and business. We are used to it living in a Fabian socialist country with a monarchy, the principles of the market are not introduced into intellectual debate. there is a reason why doctors are leaving this country, there is a reason why political leaders are flown to America for treatment. This has nothing to do with the left or the right, democrats or republicans, this is about the degree of state involvement in the private sector. It is important when considering policy to understand the whole of the truth, The bill effectively nationalises 1/6 of the economy. Read: Economics in one lesson: Henry Hazlitt http://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand/dp/0517548232 Kind Regards, David Tower of Silver

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OBAMAS HEALTH

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