Is America Becoming a Socialist Country? That’s What Big Corporations Fool You Into Believing

A while back I responded to an email I received from someone who was far right thinking that the Obama administration is making the US a socialist country starting with Obamacare.  I was so surprised by those allegations and still am amazed that the “Tea Party” people really believe that.   Here is my response.

Claiming that Reform is  National Healthcare

This Healthcare reform is NOT national healthcare, I wish it was (I explain at the bottom***).  What we ended up getting is what the Republicans wanted back in the Clinton days.  Basically we keep everything exactly the way it is, with the for-profit-Insurance companies being regulated so that they stop their tactics of killing people who happen to get sick while on their policies, etc (insurance death panels).     There had to be some compromise, thus there will be a mandate that everyone get insurance by 2014. (Because of this mandate, we are no longer paying for other’s who don’t have insurance, right now we are.)  With this mandate insurance companies aren’t forced to only insure sick people or they would quickly go out of business and everyone’s rates go way up (like now).   In return, they cannot deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, they can’t refuse to cover people who happen to get sick, and they must return 85% of the money they take towards medical care, if not they send rebates to their customers.  This is far from socialism.     Basically this is similar to what the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) does in regulating utilities.  Corporation’s only goal is to be profitable and make their stockholders happy, thus they will find ways even if it means people die.  In the US, 45,000 people die each year because insurance companies would not cover them. How important is your life? How much would you pay to survive? This is something the insurance companies know they can abuse, hence they made billions of profits in one quarter alone.    Government stepped in to regulate utilities because people need heat to survive in winters, and if these for-profit- corporations were not regulated then we would be hearing about thousands of people dying because they could not afford to pay for heat.  The PUC controls increases in fees, the utilities must justify their rate increases and show that only a small percentage goes towards overhead costs.  They also offer government subsidized programs for the very poor.  Exactly what will be happening with the health care industry now.      Capitalism with government overseeing to protect the people.  I think that is the role of government, “to protect its people”. 

Healthcare Covering Illegals and Government Help

People who cannot afford healthcare, like now, will continue to be covered under government programs.  I agree that we should not cover illegal aliens. Why should we, they don’t contribute towards taxes and are breaking the law.  But, what do we do when they wind up in the emergency hospitals, kick them out and let them die?  That is not good. Some countries send sick illegals back to their own countries to get care.   I would prefer that we enforce our immigration laws.  Force companies to only hire legal Americans, and limit taxation for employees.  Workman’s comp and unemployment insurance is ridiculously costly, so these companies are better hiring illegals in order to be competitive.    So our taxation needs to be reformed as well.  Then we can set up programs for those who are here on temporary visas or who get legalized so that the pay into healthcare.     

However our healthcare problem is still not solved.  There are people who fall in the middle, not poor enough for government subsidies yet don’t make enough money to pay insurance.  This area is gray because we are not implementing a “nationalized healthcare plan”.    There is no government public option or government-run insurance or non-profit insurance that would offer low rates or cover these people.  This healthcare plan makes the assumption that because there will be mandate and since insurance companies can’t make more than 15% profit, then the costs must go down, so many of these people will afford insurance.   This we  have yet to see.  What it does mean is that we will continue to pay for people who don’t have insurance, only it may be less because a lot more can afford insurance and everyone will be forced to participate or pay fines.    Should work out better for most people,  better than it is now, but not a complete solution. 

Healthcare Being Horrible in Other Countries

It is not true about Canada and other countries not able to get appointments or dying because of lack of care.  This has been debunked and verified.  There is a marked difference in the type of care you receive  in other countries versus the US though.  Example – scenario my own daughter and her diabetes.

Insurance US:  I will not be able to get insurance coverage for my daughter period because of her diabetes.  No one will insure her here in the US, we are lucky that we get insurance through our employer.  If we were to lose  that, after COBRA,  we could not get insurance for our daughter.  If there was no change, then when she graduates from college, she would not be able to get coverage.     We have insurance, and get her supplies every month and still have to payout about $350 in co-pays.    Making an appointment and getting access is good, usually don’t have to wait too long with her new doctor.  Loma Linda would take about 3 months (long waiting periods).  We were able to get the pump and the best diabetes medicine available.

Other Countries:  Our daughter would be covered regardless of her age, even with her chronic disease.   She could get regular care and emergency care without a problem.  Probably same delays in getting appointments just like Loma Linda.  She would survive and live a healthy life.   However, there would be a very good chance that we would not have been able to get the insulin PUMP.  The insulin pump manufacturers simply cannot make as much profit as they do in the US, so they actually don’t market outside the US.  Rich people from other countries who have the money come to the US to get the PUMP and whatever technology necessary.     This is why arguably people say we have the best health system in the World, and we do, if you can afford it.

Tort Reform

I understand that there was some tort reform included with this bill, but I don’t have the details.  Studies have shown that this alone is nothing and would be negligible in controlling healthcare costs.  There will be major overhaul of the medical system to limit unnecessary and duplicate tests and regulation to protect doctors who follow the medically approved standards.   That’s all I know.

Government Approvals Needed – BS

All approvals will come from insurance companies as they do now, the government is not involved. That is not changing.   Right now, people die all the time because insurance companies will not approve care.  With this new healthcare bill, by law insurances can no longer deny coverage because of some technicality.  They must cover them.  Starting in September children with pre-existing conditions (my daughter) must be insured.  They are creating a “high-risk exchange” pool where all insurances split up the costs to cover them.  Kids still in college will not be dropped from parent’s policies when they turn 21, (give them a chance to get a job, finish college and be taken care of medically. )  This is why my son and daughter will be good now.   Not sure if you heard the story Nancy Pelosi mentioned last week.  A 21~ yr old diabetic girl finished college and got a job that did not offer health care.  She could not afford the insulin and tried to wean herself off of it.  The mom was a single-parent of 5 and gave her as much as she could.  After a few months she died in the middle of the night because her body went into DKA (basically all your organs shut down because the body is not converting sugar into energy – your body starves to death).  That could have been my daughter in a few years…….  For everyone else (adults) this mandate to accept pre-existing conditions goes into effect in 2014.   

 Claim that Rates Would Go Up

We probably won’t see rates go down until 2014, when the real reform goes into effect.  For poor people, they will continue to get government coverage, for Medicare patients that aren’t getting the meds covered, they will now, and for kids just finishing college they will be taken care of.    There are some theories that beginning in 2014 since the rates will go down, some people may opt to get better coverage and pay a little more.  But, if you don’t change anything, it should go down.   Personally I am leery of this as I don’t trust insurance companies, we’ll see.  I also think that health insurances will go crazy increasing rates now to make more money before the reform goes into effect in 2014. It’s going to get really bad for a while. 

Transparency in Government and Freedom is the Worst Ever

This administration has been the most open in history.  The bill is available on their website.  CSPAN has shown all the debates.  Whitehouse logs are public (never done before).   There is always give and take in politics.  Obama did work out a deal with the pharmaceutical companies, that is true.  He had to work with both sides or he would have failed, just like Nixon, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Clinton failed before him.   I do not understand the statement about undoing the US as a “free” country.  If you look at healthcare does, I just don’t get that statement.  I do get that our congress for the most part, is corrupt and has been the worst ever.  Much of the corruption surfaced during the Bush administration.    Most of them have been bought-out by the big corporations, including insurance companies.  All the republicans are on the insurance companies’ side, some of the democrats as well.  We need to get rid of any congressman that has been in office for more than 3 terms.  Big corporations can now pay out as much as they want to get their politician elected (thanks to the recent supreme court ruling from Roberts court.)   This may be the way we are losing our freedom.  Corporations already have so much over us, now they can truly take everything away.  Mandates to buy their products, mandates to prevent citizens from suing them, or protecting themselves.  I can see us losing our freedom, but it’s not Obama, it’s these large corporations.    Actually Obama is quite unpopular with these corporations hence the campaigns at Fox news to spew lies and start these so-called (insurance funded) movements. 

Entitlement and Government Protection

I believe medical care is a right.  No human being should ever go without care, especially in this great rich and free country we live in.  We should not let any legal citizen die simply because of money.  I think government was created for one reason, and that is to protect its citizens.  Government is in power because we put them there.  One way we protect our people is by having an army, police, fire departments.  The citizens of this country felt education was important, so we have public schools.  We have many government agencies that regulate to protect our people.  Think about it; the water you drink, the lotion you put on your body, the food you eat, the car you drive, the Medicare your mom receives, social security, disability and unemployment.    All of this is covered through taxes.   So nothing is a free ride. 

Yes, there is abuse.  We have some programs  specially here in California that create an environment where people become dependent on government hand-outs.  What used to be programs that would hold people over till they get back on their feet, has become ridiculous cycles where generation after generation stay in the endless cycle of government help.  We need to change that.  Just like our over emphasis in imprisonment.  These programs also provide a lot of jobs and to dismantle this, would mean losing jobs. Politicians, prefer the status-quo.  Should we remove life-saving programs (social security, Medicare, unemployment, food stamps) from hard-working Americans just because some jerks are abusing the system?  I think we need to kick these abusers out. When Obama was governor of Illinois he actually did that.  What a lot of people don’t know is that Obama is actually more on the right than Fox news leads people to believe.   He stopped the production of the useless Russian era bomber after millions were wasted.  The only reason it was repeatedly approved was that a very powerful senator had the plant that made these in his state and the other congressmen had too many back room deals.  Imagine that, keep making this thing that no one uses, wasting millions year-after-year, because it will lose jobs in his state?  Why not build new roadways, better bridges, ubiquitous networks, better schools, that we actually could use?  Again, kick out anyone that has been in congress more than 3 terms.

Our Country is Not becoming Socialist

We are a capitalistic country with some very popular socialist programs and with a strong belief in separation of church and state. We are the best country in the world because of that.  We protect our citizens and if we need to implement a socialist type program, we do.  The army, police, fire department, Medicare, social security, unemployment and schools are socialists programs.  Can you imagine when the fire department was run by companies, they would watch houses burn to the ground simply because these people were not paying for their service?  When government decided that no house should burn down and started taxing ALL citizens and funding the fire departments, no houses were left to burn.  (though looks like some states have gone back in time with this one lately). 

Right now hospitals, doctors, insurance companies watch people die, simply because they do not pay for their service.   Maybe it ‘s not as visually stimulating as watching a house burn down on your street, but  imagine if you could watch that little girl or little boy slowly die, while the insurance companies decide not to pay?    In reality 123 people in the US die each day because of lack of insurance or lack of money, right now, today 123 will die, we just don’t see them.    So this new health care reform, does protect us from the horrible practices that insurance companies have been getting away with, but we will still have people die every day because of lack of money. (That middle of the income spectrum, not too poor but not enough money to afford insurance).   Is a house more valuable than a life?  Is a socialist program bad when it saves the life of my daughter, your neighbor?    ***This is why I think we need a fire department type of health care program.  We need single payer national healthcare, that works for everyone.  This single payer program doesn’t have to be a government agency but should be a NOT-for profit corporation that is funded by taxes, guaranteeing that in our country we will never see someone die because they did not have money.   

Actually real socialism is quite different from what Fox news and some pundits claim it is.  A real socialist country doesn’t allow for capitalistic profits.  Everyone would share in the wealth, government would make sure there is financial equality.  I don’t want that either, I think capitalism makes us an innovative and makes us number one in the world.   

Finally, I have watched many lies come out of the Fox news networks and groups heavily funded by insurance companies.  They scare people into believing that our country is being taken over by socialists, fascists, etc.  In reality our country is being taken over by big corporations.   Even CNN propagates misinformation and reports only sensational stories that are not true news and don’t uncover the lies.  They are part of the problem since they make money by selling ads for these corporations.     I am disgusted by what CNN has become, it used to be the place to go for good news reporting.  Now it is a complete joke.  I guess you can’t bite the hand that feeds you.  I recommend  MSNBC’s  the Rachel Maddow show.  Whilst she is a lefty liberal she is very accurate in her reporting.  She does criticize Obama and the democrats when deserved, and always backs it up with facts.  The other show that is great is the Daily Show with John Stewart, it’s funny but also very honest –both shows online anytime.  NPR and Democracy Now are other great news outlets. 

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Sources 

If anything Canada’s government healthcare model is one we should learn from as not to do.  They opt to have each province determine how to pay for healthcare, thus some provinces you get great care while in others it takes forever to see a doctor.  However all Canadians have access to fully paid medical care and NONE die because of lack of this.  Below are facts and rebuking of the right’s propaganda about people dying because they did not receive life-saving care in Canada or England.

Canada and England Healthcare #1:  http://www.factcheck.org/2009/07/englands-and-canadas-health-care/

Not Healthcare like Canada: http://www.newsweek.com/id/195656

Not Canada and Canada not as bad as the right claim it is:  http://factcheck.org/2009/07/canadian-straw-man/

Not true about life threatening life threats:  http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/is_health_care_better_in_canada.html

About the girl who died, this absolutely happens every day.  Hospitals will not take anyone without insurance just because they need insulin.  You have to buy it and it is expensive $600 monthly.  Here are the details about the letter: http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?m=201003  Here is Cindy Mercer Jones’s facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1233212843#!/profile.php?v=info&id=1233212843   She exists, she is a hard-working nurse.   Here is her daughter’s obituary: http://obit.baue.com/obitdisplay.html?id=742946&listing=All   Here are the facts about her death: http://www.julielove.org/Courtney-Huber-Memorial.php

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