Response to my RW sister on health care questions

[donco6]

My sister forwarded the "MOST OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENT EVER MADE" email, which I debunked with Snopes. But then she replied with some - for her - honest questions about health care:

So you want all to have healthcare as I do...but do you realize that this healthcare is going to be BAD care for all...as I now see at Ed's practice on a daily basis? I know firsthand that you will be passed from one physician to the next, no one will know or understand your medical history because no one will take the time or have the time to look into it AND you will have to wait, and wait and wait. You won't get to go to Dr. Smith (your doctor) when you are ill, because YOU will not have a personal doctor...you will get what they give you. While those with the "means", meaning lots of money to get the BEST healthcare and receive the surgery they need while YOU get passed by? Yes, it sounds pretty messy, but it is happening in our government healthcare right down the road in Fort Riley, KS...yep....Ed sees it daily. Very upsetting to think about it. So why do you think our own government will not have the same WONDERFUL healthcare they are going to deal out to us? It seems pretty common sense. What are your thoughts on Obama? Do you think he is a good president? I see a lot of talk and a LOT of defending his position, but not sure he is looking out for our country. What has he done for the Gay community? I heard the Gay community is not very happy with him....is this wrong thinking?
Just curious...

So here was my reply:


Lots of questions!

Having worked with budgets for quite a few years, I find it curious that the issue of priorities never comes up. Here in the district, we never assume that we'll pick up a new program and just keep all the old ones running. There's only so much money to go around. So you figure out what you value more, and you pay for that. In the case of health care - we spend more in *one year* on keeping our military armed with the latest weapons they probably don't want (like the F-22), than in the entire 10 years of the health care program. So where are our values?

I've been to Canada and Europe many times. I have friends who live there. All the concepts pushed by Glenn Beck and Fox News are riddled with myths and outright lies (much like the email you forwarded). They all see their own doctor, and have for many years. They don't have to wait any longer than we do (I had to wait 6 weeks to get my chemo started, and I have great insurance). The only difference is that there's no middle man to suck out 15% more in costs than are necessary - i.e., they don't need health insurance.

Health insurance's only role is to get between you and your health care. They don't make money unless people are paying more than they're getting in treatment. So they tell people "Throw in your lot with us - we'll pool all of our money and pay out for people who get cancer or get hit by buses and we all will share the risk." Great idea for many things - except health care. There's no need for it. We already have access to the biggest pot of money in the history of the universe: the federal government. There's no reason to pay this premium to use other people's money when we can use our own and pay directly for medical services. No paperwork; no actuarial studies; no "eliminating risk" (which means throwing individual, real, live people out of health care). You get sick, you go to your doctor, you get taken care of. It works in many, many countries.

In fact, we have business models that confirm this rationale. Any large corporation worth it's salt self-insures for its medical coverage. They form their own insurance pool, from which they pay medical claims directly. They have boards that determine what types of treatment are appropriate or not (Sarah's "death panels" if you will). If your personal claim rises above a certain layer, a separate catastrophic insurance coverage kicks in and you're still covered. The corporation saves money by pooling its own cash rather than paying a premium to use someone *else's* cash.

The government should be doing the same thing - in fact, it's the only sensible thing to do. Instead, we insist on protecting health insurance companies by bringing them into the equation - basically forcing the government to use private insurance pools to finance our risk. This is foolish. It's throwing money at a special interest that offers nothing of value to anyone. And it's not even good business sense.

So, bottom line, if we as a people valued our own fellow citizens, if we cared about those who suffer and cared about the plight of the poor or jobless or those with pre-existing conditions, we would ensure that everyone was covered with quality health care, and we would cut other programs to make sure it happened. But we really don't give a shit. So we don't and won't. It's a telling indictment on who we are as a people.

As far as Obama and gay issues, I give him a D-. When he has opportunitiies to speak up and suggest that gay people are more like human beings than not, he hasn't. I don't have much use for him.

And frankly, the health care plan is so riddled with corporate handouts I'm hoping that disgusting toad Lieberman manages to kill it. It would serve us all right. The whole world laughs at our stupidity, and we totally deserve it.

[MadMaddie]

1. Well at least she is asking questions!

The other question that should be asked is why is it okay for Congress members to have the very insurance that is unavailable to all Americans?

I agree the handouts to the insurance companies should be removed from the bill.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. They're like dogs chasing their tails....

I've noticed the same meme as cropped up in your OP in several right-wing emails received last week: why don't THEY (the government) want the same healthcare they're trying to push on us; why can't we have what they have???!!!


LOLOL

Of course, I respond that true progressives do INDEED want the same options as government employees, including Congress. The right-wingers, however, decried that as socialism from the start, and now they're bitching that we're aren't being offered the same thing. Of course, their intent is to diss the current bills, but they don't realize they're using their own argument against socialism in the process.

They're making my head spin lately.

Oy.



Edit for typo

[donco6]

5. That's exactly how I felt.

On the surface, the questions sound legit . . . maybe. But when you really think about it for more than a second, you see the circular logic to it all and you just throw your hands in the air and say, "Fine - you're probably going to win anyway! Be happy!" I just get so frustrated I probably say things I shouldn't.

[Wapsie B]

3. I find it amazing and frustrating at the same time that people don't realize

the rest of the civilized world functions just fine with this government healthcare that's so demonized by the gop/bluedogs. We've been brainwashed to believe the way we do things here is the best when in fact it's far from that.

[Warpy]

4. The pot luck doctor scenario she described

is one I went through many times at an HMO back when that HMO was very highly rated. I also had to wait three months to see a specialist for my well documented and potentially fatal illness. Plugging random doctors into situations they aren't prepared for is an insurance company policy. This is one of the reasons people have to change primary doctors so often at HMOs. They get sick of being used as assembly line workers and quit.

Doctors would be in practice with single payer, either singly or in groups of doctors with the same specialty. That's how it works in Europe, even with a mixed system. They aren't employees of insurance companies. They are independent.

Unlike you, though, I don't want this bill killed. Yes, it's a bad bill that does much to protect insurance giants and too little too late for people like me who are too sick to qualify for private insurance.

However, don't say it's worse than nothing until you've lived with nothing as long as I have.

[donco6]

7. OK, that's fair.

I just get so exasperated, I probably slip into hyperbole when I shouldn't.

I have an HMO now and I see my same doctor every time. I'm pretty happy with it and I'm pretty confident we could figure out how to do it if we just let ourselves believe for a minute that not all government is evil.

[Yavin4]

6. Terrific Reply -- Good for You

You explained the entire health care issue in a concise and easy to understand manner. The negative reaction to health care reform is due to the decades of conservative economic propaganda being shoved down our throats by a lazy, corrupt media which are biased toward conservative economic principles.

[DCKit]

8. Very nicely explained. Logical, concise and not likely to create an emotional response.

Your sister might not only get it, but spread the word.

Even the majority who want a public option would benefit by reading this.

[donco6]

9. I'm not holding my breath, but who knows.

And to top it all off, she's a RN.

[DCKit]

10. Mine too. Guess it's something they catch in the hospital.

In all fairness, mine makes a whole lot more sense in person than she does in her emails. We spent a couple of days visiting earlier this month and I believe she finally realizes it's her hateful/hurtful attitudes toward the less fortunate (i.e., anyone who's not "one of us") that aren't appreciated. It's as if they adopt the daily talking points of Beck and Rush without even thinking about what they're saying and how horrible it sounds to anyone with an ounce of empathy.

Hopefully, both our sisters will begin to analyze what they've been hearing and begin thinking for themselves again.