I have talked about this but haven't posted it...

A huge expense that paying Americans are covering are the medical expenses of people who go to emergency rooms for things that aren't emergencies and then have no money to pay for the bills they have run up. The costs become exhorbitant and if there is no insurance, which is typical, the public has to cover it.
Here is a better idea. (When my kids were young and we had no insurance we used to go to a clinic and paid on a sliding scale according to what we earned.) Why not have clinics opened, maybe in an annex of the emergency rooms, where non-emergency patients could go. This should not be a free-clinic, but payable on a sliding scale. Some won't be earning any money, but most earn something.
I'm all for helping others, but we all need to do what we can to support ourseves, too.
What do you think?

San Francisco has a great idea!

Recently we went to San Francisco and were eating at a restaurant on the Wharf. On the bottom of the menu there was an added fee that my daughter explained was to help cover health insurance costs for restaurant employees. (There is a Health Care Ordinance requiring coverage for employees in SF. There are certainly more specifics involved but the idea of everyone helping a little bit really got me thinking!)

I have been a server in many restaurants over the years, I put myself through school that way, and have worked in only one restaurant where there was insurance for the employees. Owners say it is just too expensive.
At the bottom of the menu there was a 4% added fee to every meal to help cover the cost of insurance for everybody who worked there.
So, take this a little further, suppose there was an added fee of 4 cents on the dollar, or whatever, on all the staples that everybody eats. Like milk, flour, tortillas, meat, fruit, vegetables...staples. Everyone eats, whether they are legal or not. If this money couild be set aside AND NOT TOUCHED, but put in a fund just for health insurance everyone would pay their fair share and there would be money available.
I know darn well that there will be those who say...the poor can't afford it!!! That is rediculous. A few pennies wan't make a difference when everyone shares the expense. A huge number of people not contributing and getting the major portion of uninsured benefits is too great a burden to pass along to a few.
If you can think of a better solution, more power to you. I thought this was a terrific one!

I've been thinking...

With the healthcare bill now to the point of debate, I am afraid that something will eventually pass.
what does that mean for you and me?
I think that on one hand, regardless of what is in the bill, we are giving too much power to the government. Right now, the honesty and good intentions of the countries political leaders are up for debate. What if some who have definate, dishonest or evil intentions for the American people gain control? Suppose one of the dictators we often see in the newsreels is the example for our leader? Just imagine the power over each of us and our families he would have. And, we gave it to him. Keeping more of our lives separate and our own makes more sense.
Here is another thing to think about, how will any healthcare company compete with our government backed system? If it doesn't have enough subscribers, just penalize those who aren't joining...if you aren't making enough money, cut benefits or print more money...there is no way for the private sector to win.
Something that really concerns me is this: let's suppose something passes. Now we are all being taxed, paying premiums, and maybe getting benefits or maybe just waiting for benefits. What if it comes to the point that we decide WE JUST DON'T WANT IT at all. Then what? How do we reverse it? The politicians who we elected are not listening now, what makes us think they will listen later when we know that WE DON'T WANT IT the healthcare system they created. Then what?
How about doing a 6 month trial...or even a year long trial. Then putting it on the ballot for the entire nation to vote on. (Even that may have inherent problems. If people who are getting benefits for the first time in their lives and don't have to do anything to get them I can't imagine them voting against it. We could lose that vote too.) Oh, well, food for thought!

This was sent to me...worth our consideration...

"Certainly food for thought........(or for hypocrites)

If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?

If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?

If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?

If George W. Bush had mis-spelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoe as proof of what a dunce he is?
If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?

If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?

If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 9 months -- so you'll have three years and three months to come up with an answer."

Change is coming...is it really what we want?

Every day we hear commentary about the health bill that is under discussion behind closed doors. Will there be a public option, who will pay for all the people now covered who weren't covered before, will we receive less care or poorer care, why isn't competition across state lines an option...and the list of questions goes on.
Does any of this scare you? It sure scares me! If there was a truley open forum where we could hear the discussions maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Or if those voting on these changes were going to be relying on the resulting healthcare plan, maybe it would be reassuring,
But that isn't the case. We don't hear what is being decided behind closed doors. We don't know what concessions are being given to win votes and we don't know how this new healthcare plan will affect us at an individual level. Heck, we don't even know if our representatives will have read the bill before voting. If that isn't scarey, I don't know what is!
Here is something else to think about. How can any business or type of business have any chance of success when they are competing against the government?! If things don't go well with the government plan...change the rules. The private sector won't have that option. I just don't see how that can work.
And another thing, many people are up in arms about illigals being included in the healthcare plan. I am a firm believer in being strong on illigal immigrant policies. The first word in the description...illigal...is pretty clear. However, if there isn't some plan in place for illigal immigrants to buy into the healthcare plan, or something, we will be back to where we are now. Now those with no insurance go to emergency for every little thing because they have no other place to go where they will not be turned away. Insurance holders pay exhorbatant costs to cover their own expenses and those of the non-paying. It is a topic that needs to be addressed, not ignored. It exists, face it!
So, what this all boils down to is that we need to be vigilant, watching the current goings on and make our views be known wherever we can. If we don't get involved, we deserve whatever we get...not a happy thought.

I don't know about you, but I have a finite amount of income!

I apologise for not writing for a while. The things that are effecting everyone are also impacting me...so I have been sidetracked, sorry.

As I have been following the news and watching the goings on in Washington DC, I have been inspired. I understand something that I don't think our politicians do get. I have a finite amount of money to spend. I can work harder, maybe earn more, certainly then be taxed more, but when all is said and done, I have only so much money to spend and then I am done.

Our fearless leaders just print more...that doesn't help me at all. When my taxes increase, I have less to spend. When my insurance costs more, I have less to spend. When my insurance, which I am paying for, refuses to cover a doctor recommended treatment, if my money no longer covers it, I get no care.

Why don't they get that? No matter how well meaning our politicians are, there comes a point where I, (we), simply cannot carry the burden any longer. Then what?

I have a friend at work who has had medical things occur that have required treatment. He even took over a year off to have things taken care of. He is back at work, struggling every day to make a living. His wife who also has medical needs has just left her medical assist business because it has shrunk so much that it wouldn't pay 3 people. Since she needed medical care, she bowed out. If their earnings are taken to give to those who do not work...why shouldn't they just say, "we're done, take care of us...we are tired of working."

We are teaching people in our country and even throughout the world that Americans give. If you do nothing, have a need and you will get.

That is not OK with me.

I spoke with a man once who was from England, had worked in South Africa and at that time was working and living in America. So, I asked him, "where do you like it best?" His response was, "England is home, it will always have a special place in my heart. South Africa is fun, fun, fun. They really know how to play. In America there is so much of everything, Really, plenty of everything you could want, but wow, do you work. Americans really work hard!"

How long do you think people will work so they can provide for those who are capable but not willing to provide for themselves?

If you are a prisoner for breaking the law, you should be working in the fields growing your own food. Our streets, parks and freeways should be immaculate with all the prisoners working in chain gangs, cleaning our country. Working every day and living a spartan life...you earned it, you broke the law.

If you are a recipient of welfare, you should be required to perform some sort of work that helps those who are willing to go to school, get a job, get training...whatever. For example, suppose you have several children and are receiving welfare. Couldn't you help out in a supervised day childcare so that your children and those of others can be watched and their parents can get training or schooling to eventually get them off the dole.

I can't be the only one thinking these thoughts. How far is your money going these days? How hard are you working? Can you work harder? Can you spend  less? How are you making ends meet? Why don't our leaders get it?

The Afghanistan war against theTaliban.

Yesterday I had a thought. The news was talking about the need for more troops in Afghanistan. And General McCrystal was saying that the war was being waged on the Taliban in the mountains was overflowing onto the citizenry of Afghanistan. He followed with the realization that if we don't have the support of the people, we will never be successful in the war effort.
It all made perfect sense and I was happy to see him look at the big picture. But what I wondered is this: what would be a "win" in Afghanistan? Has that been clearly defined? We certainly aren't going to eliminate all the crazies who want to destroy the American way of life. We certainly aren't going to change the minds of the clerics who think and believe that we are "infidels" and are, "setting a bad example", for their people??? So what are we hoping to achieve? That they agree to leave us alone? That they stay in some set geographical boundaries and leave the rest of the world to live in peace? What?
So, short of killing everyone who is thinking these crazy things, which isn't going to happen, what what should we do? It seems to me that killing is stupid. Yes, I said stupid.
We are smart, we have a lot of resources, and we have the ability to do huge and devastating damage, but we also give humanitarian aid all over the place. If we were really hard core....REALLY hard core, couldn't we stop ALL money, food, aid of every sort to this area? The people would suffer, but they would stand up and turn on these insurgents and oust them. With food in their bellies and their children safe and fed, they have the energy to fight, Make them fight for their own physical survival and the survival of their families and maybe there won't be any energy left to fight us.
I get that because we have so much we are willing to share and try to lift the lives of others up. But maybe if we let them figure out what they want and how badly they want it, it would be better. \
Just a thought...