Hundreds of NHS wards to be shut in secret plans

To save money, you shut things down. Don’t worry, I’m sure services won’t suffer.

Stafford Hospital caused ‘unimaginable suffering’

Doctor’s worried about costs, because the government tells them they got to meet the budget, and patients suffer.

If you don’t think the same things would happen here in the US once the government starts calling the shots then I got a ocean front property in Arizona to sell you.

Want to lower health care costs? Start allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines, do away with the minimum package an insurance company has to offer. As a single male insurance covering the cost of pregnancy is of little concern. Allow people to purchase insurance with pre-tax dollars. Just a few things the government could do to help lower health care costs.

What we all can do is get some  exercise, eat right, and get plenty of sleep. Since this involves personal responsibility I don’t have high hopes for it succeeding.

Myself I was ticked off at the Republicans for pushing this 6 years ago. It was bad policy and bad economics. And I’ll agree that the Senators that backed Medicare reform 6 years ago are being hypocrites. This however is politics as usual.

My personal opinion is the Federal Government has zero business in being involved with health care. They can regulate a health care company that does business across multiple states, that is the power given to them by the Constitution, other than that stick to those limited powers you are suppose to have and leave the rest to the states or the People.

1994 Clinton Health Care Plan: 1342 pages

2009 Pelosi Health Care Plan: 1990

That is not a sign of being off to a good start. Second sign is the Democrats blocking access to the press conference announcing the bill. So much for transparency in government. The Democrats want to keep this bill under wraps as long as possible and attempt to shive it down our throats before get a good idea of what is being done to them.

Being from a state with two Republican Senators, I should have high hopes of them putting up a fight, but my Senators our Snowe and Collins…

Again, my simple solution to health care in this country starts at home:

1. Eat the right foods
2. Exercise
3. Get plenty of sleep

Sounds too much like personal responsibility, something the Democrats won’t tolerate.

“Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics.”

Okay, probably true, but we have also seen attempts at honest debate. President Obama also said this last night:

“Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing. Our deficit will grow. More families will go bankrupt. More businesses will close. More Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it most. And more will die as a result.”

Pot calling the kettle black (I’m sure some liberal will label me a racist now)? And how do we know these things? We don’t. Well we can be pretty sure the deficit will grow with our without health care reform, probably grow even more with the reform being proposed.

Before we turn over control of everyone’s health to the US Government, does anyone really stop and look at how they have been running the part the already are controlling in Medicare and Medicaid? Yup, well run there, just trillions of dollars and unfunded liabilities waiting to be paid by our children (thanks kids).

Heart disease: 631,636
Cancer: 559,888
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 137,119
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,583
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 121,599
Diabetes: 72,449
lzheimer’s disease: 72,432
Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,326
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,344
Septicemia: 34,234

Start looking at how many of those have a personal factor in them, i.e. how diet and exercise plays a role in preventing these deaths. Then think about the health issues many of these cause and the long term costs of dealing with those. Pretty huge numbers.

The American diet is pathetic. We eat too much sugar, too much processed foods, the wrong types of fat, and overeat. Then look at our exercise level, also really bad. People in general don’t get near enough exercise.

What can we do about this? Very little. One could argue that if we are going to tax tobacco due to its health risks we should do the same for foods that are bad for us. I’m not a fan of taxes myself. I rather see the cost burden shifted back to the individual, with a tax credit for purchasing your own insurance if you want too. Let people start seeing the total cost of health and maybe they might make some changes in their lifestyle. I tend to doubt it but one can hope.

In a government system, the decisions are the bureaucrats’, and that’s that. My father is currently ill, and the health “system” is doing its best to ensure it’s fatal. When an ambulance has to be called, they take him to a different hospital according to the determinations of the bed-availability bureaucrats and which facility hasn’t had to be quarantined for an infection outbreak. At the first hospital, he picked up C Difficile. At the second, MRSA. At the third, like the lady above, he got septicaemia. He’s lying there now, enjoying the socialized health care jackpot — C Diff, MRSA, septicaemia. None of these ailments are what he went in to be treated for. They were given to him by the medical system.

Gives you a warm fuzzy feeling doesn’t it? Don’t worry, just part of the treatment…

George Will and John Stossel offer their commentaries on what government ran health care means for us.