Posted on 05/20/2002 1:09:58 AM PDT by sarcasm
Luckily, he has little chance of winning. After spending untold millions two years ago, he lost, just barely, to the GOP candidate, Shelly Moore Capito. This time he barely won the PRIMARY, and did it in a way that, thankfully, is becoming a typical RAT tactic: completely dividing the party through mudslinging and lies (throw in some racism and you have the reason Mike Bloomberg won the NYC mayor's race). Practically everyone that supported his opponent in the primary now DESPISES him, so Capito will probably win reelection easily, while Humphries will become a lot poorer.
But make no mistake: This is a RAT planted story. They're going to try every scare tactic in the book this year, because they have nothing to offer but fear and hate.
Believe it or not Republicans are shills for it too. St. Taxquist of Tennessee will be looking for work this January. Will Washington, DC {federal position} be on his top 10 possible employers? I can think of nothing worse but it won't suprise me if he is not appointed over something in doings with health care.
Their ultimate goal is National Universal Health Care with them being the overseer of the program.
Don't kid yourselves. The crisis is real. Modern medicine is much more costly than what was practiced in the '50s; expensive machines and the specialists needed to use and maintain them, high expectations that result in lawsuits, doctors who want to live well, hospitals which must meet more stringent building codes, patients who demand the best regardless of what they can afford, immigrants who use emergency rooms as if they were free medical services.
Now it's all breaking down and nobody knows how to fix it. Ultimately, if we are to avoid socialized medicine, people are going to have to accept more responsibility for taking care of themselves (preventative medicine) and realize that medicine is a scarce resource - with the best going to the brightest, the luckiest, and the wealthiest.
That's going to be a really hard sell.
My husband works for a large city government. Our plan when renewed this year by Humana (it's the best plan offered by the city and costs us plenty) does not include coverage of injuries received as a result of a war, declared or UNDECLARED.
What that translates to is that it will not cover any injuries received as a result of terrorism.
Called the insurance commissioner for our state and was informed that most insurance coverage will have this as part of renewal policies in the very small print (that's where I found it by reading through all the small print.)
Alot of homeowners policies will include this cause too. So far, State Farm doesn't, but many others do.
By way of illustration, Joe Whiney Butt wrenches his back while moving the recliner to get a better angle on the WWF cage match. Since Joe is maxed out on his credit cards and the payments on the big screen TV, he can't cover what would otherwise be a $100 office visit, a chart of home exercises, and a handful of muscle relaxants left with the doctor by a drug company rep.
Joe screams, "There oughta be a law!" and sure enough, Congress passes the HMO Act. Joe pays S10 for an office visit and $5 for the latest from Pfizer. Cheap, right? Joe has five office visits, three prescription refills, and free physical therapy.
People wrench their backs all the time; it is a risk which amounts to a virtual certainty. Unfortunately, Joe, descendant of Revolutionary War guerillas and frontiersmen, is too stupid to realize that the only way to profitably insure against a certainty is to, in effect, post a surety bond. Thus, Joe thinks he is getting "free" health care while paying over $4,000 - $5,000 in premiums. When the premiums hit $6,000 a year as the doctors, drug companies and medical device makers charge more to take advantage of all the third-party dollars floating around, Joe calls his Congressman again....
You could not be more wrong. Medicine is a scarce commodity like any other commodity. Unless it is distributed via rational pricing, we will pay more and more for less and less. The only role for government in medical insurance is to punish fraud.
Good to hear from you again.
I know about that but I didn't realize it was so common. I'll put my own interpretation on that misspelled word.
But it's hard to convince people that a good society - a rich society - cannot afford to subsidize them. That the society is good even though it allows them - or their children - to die miserably because the can't afford medical care while others drive around in luxury cars and live in palaces.
It's the truth but convincing them is another matter.
Doesn't Rockhead have a primary opponent as well? I heard he is also a trial lawyer, but I think this is a rare case where the lawyer can't be any worse that his opponent. The only thing Rockhead has accomplished is putting coal miners out of business through his evrinomentalism.
BTW - the way to get people to understand the limitations of health care is to educate them as to the way the marketplace works to provide goods and services, and to educate them as to how socialized medicine (and socialism in general) has worked out in other countries. Free markets do a better job of providing what was formerly unattainable to the masses. Just look at cars, which were once a rich mans toy. Computers were once owned by only the biggest businesses and governments.
What we need is to educate people as to the fact that there are basically two kinds of health care technologies out there. The first kind is the technologies that have become commonly accepted and widely used. The second kind are the rarely used and the experimental. People have to understand that the second kind are not going to be available to every Joe Sixpack out there, but if they allow the free market to do what it does best those cures may be available to their children someday. In the meantime they themselves can take advantage of better care than their parents had.
It's a mindset that is in favor of free enterprise and that is willing to embrace hard reality. It will be a tough sell to the general public, but it is better to at least try promoting this viewpoint than to just sit back and allow socialized medicine to take over.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.