H/T to Allahpundit at Hot Air who brings up a good point:

One point I haven’t heard anyone raise yet: Precisely because Caroline’s vulnerable on the latter point, Senate Democrats will be forced to shore up her credibility right away by giving her a high-profile role on prominent legislation — and it’s not hard to guess what that legislation will be. Everyone comfy with an absolute novice being thrust into an area of policy that’s famously complex? Hillary was going to play point man on health care for Teddy had she remained in the Senate; now, ironically, it’ll probably be her replacement, at least for purposes of photo ops.

So this very inexperienced woman not only may be appointed to the US Senate, but could also be given a high profile position on day one to help bolster her experience creds. So much for the United States being a meritocracy.

I’ve heard Caroline’s appointment is a done deal, but we’ll have to wait and see about that. Paterson can’t be very popular with New Yorkers right now, after proposing his whopping tax increases. He’ll have to weigh the benefits of having help from the Kennedy fundraising machine with the possible backlash from appointing a woman who’s never held a a full time job. Hmmm….sounds eerily similar to another senate seat in another state.

This time they’re going after asthmatics. That’s right. Starting January 1 all asthma inhalers containing CFCs will be outlawed. The cost of the new “green” inhalers ranges from $30 to $60 (as opposed to $5 to $10).

In other words, while the nation was having a debate about how to lower health care costs, the enviro-nazis were seeing to it that health care is more expensive for millions of Americans.

In addition to the added costs, some patients are allergic to ingredients in the new eco-friendly inhalers and these new inhalers have harsher side effects than the old inhalers. World wide use of the old inhalers accounts for less than 1% of global CFC emissions.

Is it really worth risking the health of millions of pulmonary patients for something with such miniscule effects on the environment? This is just another example of the environmentalists’ disregard for humanity. If you are against this new law, you can sign a petition to save CFC inhalers.

There’s been much speculation about the direction Barack Obama will go when he ascends to the Presidency. Some believe he may take the moderate route, a la Bill Clinton. Others believe he’ll take the liberal route, a la Jimmy Carter, while others fear he will try to quietly and incrementally pass leftist legislation with the aid and cover of the main stream media.

The way things are shaping up, it appears he may take the full throttle lefty route, possibly starting with nationalizing health care. According to the Wall Street Journal, the selection of Tom Daschle to head HHS, and last week’s release of a health care policy blue print by Senator Max Baucus, are strong signs that we’re headed toward a national health care plan. Read the rest of this entry »

Think the economy is the only issue in this election, think again. So many socialized medicine advocates tout “preventive medicine” ad the great equalizer for medical costs. Here is an example of preventive medicine to go along with preventing the treatment and preventing the testing called preventive immigration.

I’ve written about socialized medicine here in the U.K. with cases such as the man refused treatment because he didn’t have the survival percentage, dentists cheating the government and their patients, and preventive medicine decisions that delay the age at which women can have breast cancer screening. Now a very personalized and eye opening AP story coming out of Australia.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) – Thirteen-year-old Lukas Moeller has Down syndrome. His father is a doctor who came to Australia from Germany to help fill a shortage of physicians in rural communities.

But now Australia has rejected Dr. Bernhard Moeller’s application for residency, saying Lukas does not meet the “health requirement” and would pose a burden on taxpayers for his medical care, education and other services.

Read the rest of the story . . .

The Heritage Foundation put out this video explaining the differences between the health care plans of John McCain and Barack Obama. It boils down to this question. Do you want to be in charge of your health care or do you want the government in charge?

The closing days of the political campaigns have ramped up the passion and pushed aside the logic. We might all benefit in the long run if we take a deep breath and ponder the future and the impact we might have on it. Isn’t our collective future worth an hour of objective reasoning?

Read the rest of this entry »

The Wall Street Journal is sounding the alarm about what the ultra liberal Democrats will do with their supermajority should they win the trifecta in next months election.

If America is truly a center-right country I can’t imagine the voters will let this happen. I certainly hope not. Do you really want the most liberal member of the US Senate leading our country with absolutely nothing to reign him in?

The Journal predicts the following will be enacted between 2009 and 2010: Read the rest of this entry »

I received an email from a reader named Allen who is living in the UK. He wrote to me about John McCain’s VP choice of Sarah Palin and mentioned that he’s an American whose job brought him to England. Out of curiosity I asked his opinion of the national health care system over there.

Allen did not have much good to say about it. He said the first time he lived in England was from 1990 to 1993. They utilized private medical insurance at the time and had no complaints. This time, he said, he sees a big difference in the country. People are now encouraged to utilize private medical insurance to make up for what lacks under the current system.

He told me of  a man who is fighting the National Health Service who was refused a drug protocol he needs to save his life. Without it his prognosis is month to month but with it he could live three (or maybe more?) years. He told me that breast cancer exams for women don’t begin until the age of 50. 

He directed me to an article about how the NHS staff is under political pressure to spin headlines. While reading that article I noticed the following headlines: “Mums at risk in hospitals”, “Age discrmination within NHS” and “The price of life”. (Note that after refreshing the page some of the headlines changed.) None of that sounds very good to me.

Allen also told me that he lived in Canada for a few years. While he was there his assistant’s mother was denied advanced treatment for breast cancer and subsequently died.

Allen has lived in England, Canada, China, Australia, Korea and Singapore. He said he hopes he is back in the USA should he ever become sick. I hope he is, too.

Barack Obama writes off unintended consequences like he’d write off a donation to the Salvation Army. At a speech in May he spoke of unintended consequences.

Even your successes will be marked by imperfections and unintended consequences. I guarantee you, there will be times when friends or family urge you to pursue more sensible endeavors with more tangible rewards.

What Barack Obama fails to mention is that those pesky “unintended consequences” effect real people. This is the story of the unintended consequences of trial lawers in America. This is the story Barack Obama doesn’t want you to know. Read the rest of this entry »

The biggest lie in the Presidential campaign to date came from Barack Obama when he promised to heal the sick. If you believe that, I have some ocean-front property in Arizona to sell you. He can no more heal the sick than I can turn water into wine. For a politician to make such a promise is beyond the pale.

Modern medicine is amazing. When you think about the advances made in the past few decades it’s enough to make your head spin. Unfortunately, regardless of the progress made in the field of medicine, our life on this earth is limited. We are all going to die one day. There’s no getting around it, there’s no promise a politician can make to change that fact. Our bodies don’t last forever.

Modern medicine is both a blessing and a curse.  Diseases that would have killed us have been eradicated or are now mere annoyances, controlled by medication or surgery, thank God. What used to be a death-sentence today can be managed, extending life and improving quality of life.

For others, medication keeps us alive, but not really living. The dying process is prolonged, the suffering is prolonged, the misery is prolonged. The dying have no control, the witnesses to the dying have no control. There is nothing the medical community can do about it, despite all of their accomplishments. There is nothing family members can do, despite their feelings for their loved one. And there certainly is nothing a politician can do about it. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is nothing more than a snake-oil salesman and should be rejected.

All we keep hearing about is the need for national health care. Unfortunately, the government has never been a very good steward of our hard earned money. And we all know that when the government gives birth to a new program, that program’s life expectancy will far exceed that of any American citizen.

I’m just another blogger, but I also have a lot of experience in the insurance industry and I am very aware of the high price of health care and health insurance. What I’d like to hear from our politicians are more ideas for making health insurance more affordabe for American citizens, rather than bankrupting our children and grandchildren with a new entitlement program.

I’ve come across several ideas, that if taken together, seem to be quite promising. The first is the Heath Care Choice Act, sponsored by Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ). http://johnshadegg.house.gov/news/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=80722

This bill would allow consumers to compare insurance policies from across the country, rather than restricting them to the state where they live. I live in NY and if I were to purchase a policy for myself and my family it would cost more than $12000 per year. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could go out of state and find a similar policy for 30% to 40% less? I sure think so.

Another way to help bring down the costs of health care is to put a cap on punitive awards in medical malpractice claims. All of the trial lawyers naturally hate this idea. But when medical care providers’ malpractice premiums are astronomical they have to pass that cost along to the consumers.

And what about health savings accounts? In my last job they offered HSA’s but you had to re-enroll every year, and any money left in the HSA at the end of the year was forfeited. That makes no sense to me. Why can’t we set up HSA’s like we do IRA’s and 401k’s and make them portable? Imagine the amount of money a young person could build up in an HSA over the course of his career? An HSA in conjunction with a high deductible health policy would be a very affordable option for a young healthy person.

These are just a few ideas I have found that seem to make sense. Why aren’t all of the politicians embracing these ideas and finding ways to make them work? I can only believe that it is because these plans would take the power away from the politicians and put it back in the hands of the people.