Ahh...thank you NCIS for the great quote. What "Ducky" was talking about was: in such a small amount of time we have gone from listening to great orators waxing about the human existence and the meaning of life to watching an orange colored pygmy with big hair get drunk on the beach. So with that here are my soapboxes (unlike Prof Politically Correct, I save it for an appropriate medium.)
Soapbox number two (remember number one was about leadership): I am a firm believer in personal responsibility and accountability. From a small child I was taught I am responsible for the things that I do and say and should be held accountable for them (and when I was a child, for what my sibling say and do...ah the joys of being the oldest). So in essence "you made your bed now you have to lie in it." I have been held accountable for the things that I have said/ done and I have taken responsibility for them (or I am in the continual process of doing so). And sometimes it sucks! But that is what growing up and being adult and being a responsible member of society is about.
Relation to today's topic (Healthcare Reform): The majority of the American people lack personal responsibility and have developed a sense of personal entitlement. Someone else should take care of their problems or its not their fault for being in the situation they are in, "the man is keeping them down." What this healthcare reform does is increases the lack of personal responsibility and feeds into the sense of personal entitlement. It says healthcare coverage is a right not a privilege. To a certain extent everyone has the right to be healthy, but you do not have the right to expect me to pay for your poor choices, just as I do not have the right to expect others to pay for my poor choices. Now the point was made that we already pay for others' poor choices through taxes through Medicare and Medicaid. Now the idea of these two systems is great, but as they are now they are corrupt, abused, and outdated. So why are we creating another system to become just as corrupt and abused? People are going to start thinking that now that they have healthcare there isn't any reason as to why they shouldn't go to the doctor for the sniffles and to the extreme...well I have coverage why not smoke crack, I am taken care of...? Preventative care is not going to matter for some people. People are going to do what they want when they want to no matter what the doctor says. Like the lung cancer patient that keeps smoking even though they know that shouldn't! So essentially what I am saying is, I don't want to pay for your poor choices.
Soapbox number three: Professors should NEVER soapbox their personal political opinions in the classroom unless they are going to FAIRLY and HONESTLY represent both side of an argument.
Relation to today's topic (Healthcare reform): I just want to start by saying I am all for reforming healthcare, but I personally believe the way the US government went about it was wrong and unconstitutional. For starters the bill was pushed (through open coercion and threats) through congress and against the will of The People, which congress is suppose to represent. Now I don't want anyone to think I think that insurance companies should be allowed to run amok or that children should be without coverage, because I don't. Children should have coverage, "pre-exsisting conditions" clauses are bullshit, and making private parties pay through the nose to cover the higher risk patients, I believe there should be caps. While the reform law covers SOME of these things, it doesn't take care of all and it creates problems that Prof Politically Correct is not telling us.
First, while the law is suppose to set caps on private payers, that's only half the problem. What Prof Politically Correct is not telling us is the law does not regulate how much the insurance companies pay out for services rendered. Now my healthcare is a government healtcare plan, so I can tell you exactly how much my insurance pays for what. My nasal surgery cost thousands of dollars (with everything) and Tricare maybe paid for 30% of what was charged. Now I didn't have to pay for what was left, because of my coverage, so the surgical team had to "eat" the rest of the cost. This ultimately drives up the cost for others. Now if all insurance becomes essentially a single payer source (because that is what the government is doing, it is "buying out" these insurance companies) the government will dictate how much it will pay for services. It may not DENY services, but it won't pay what is being charged. So if you think of it as a chain: a person comes in for a service- now factor in the cost of supplies, personnel, misc, that amount is predetermined by the facility- so they bill the government, but in return, because the government is the ultimate regulator, the facility only receives 20% of cost (which is what Medicare pays). Now if a facility is only getting 20% of what it is charging, how long do you think they will stay in business? Now your argument will be doctors and facilities are charging ridiculous amounts of money for their services, and you would be correct. This law does not regulate the amount of money healthcare personnel and facilities can charge for their services. Now that we are working in the healthcare field, are you willing to take a cut in pay? Are you willing to have a higher patient ratio? Because this leads me to my second point.
Facilities and healthcare workers are not going to lower their prices to accommodate their prices to accommodate the needs of the people because they won't turn a profit (come on people its a capitalistic society!) So they are not going to lower their costs, but they are not going to receive the compensation that they are getting now, they are either going to have to cut back on their services or cut back on their personnel. So if they do lower their costs, they run the risk of personnel leaving (for lack of adequate compensation) and the risk of not being able to provide the quality of service the people demand. Now part of the reason healthcare workers and facilities cost so much is because of the cost of supplies. There are no regulations on how much GE can charge for a MRI machine or how much Pfizer can charge for Zoloft. So once again you have a chain reaction, if the facilities are not getting paid cost for their supplies, corporations are not getting business, thus driving up costs, and lowering the economy.
For right now these are the main reasons I am not a fan of the Healthcare Reform law. I look at it this way, as a nurse I know I am not going to be properly financially compensated for the amount of work I do. If my patient ratios increase, I am at a higher risk for being sued for malpractice (yes! Nurses can be sued for malpractice!) and at a higher risk for making mistakes. While there are good things that this reform offers, it is not good enough or comprehensive enough for me to a) pay for it and b) risk my career for it.
Please keep in mind this my personal opinion and I did not pull it out of the air people. I actually read the law. And I have done a lot of investigation into this. Everyone is entitled to their opinion please respect mine. :)
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