A solution for Universal Health Care

A solution for Universal Health Care

There is no reason we could not have “Socialized” Health Care (instead of it’s true meaning – Universal Health Care,) have it cheaper, and allow it to serve all people, AND still have the ability to bypass the “Lifetime Cap” that so many people are afraid of. It does mean that all sides would have to make sacrifices though, plus the Insurance and Health Care Industries would have to undergo some major changes.

Step One would be to Nationalize ONE major Insurance Carrier. This company would have a cap of 6.5% profit margin. They would operate independently of the US Government, but would answer to Congress, the Judicial Branch, and it’s investors. The 6.5% Profit margin is below high risk funds, but slightly above most medium risk funds making it a good company for larger funds to invest in. The company would have as it’s mandate to reduce costs as long as it is not at the expense of the care their clients would receive. Their secondary goals would be 99% customer satisfaction, 5% or less waste, 90% Employee Satisfaction, and client processes that are as simple as possible. This means Bonuses, company perks, benefits, etc – you want the place to be a happy place to work which means happy and productive workers who in turn give good service to the clients.

Step Two would be to mandate health care upon everyone. Companies would still contribute to Health Insurance just like they do now, and would need to include part time employees in the plan. I would allow them the ability to only need to pay 75% of the cost of a full time employee for the part timers though so it would still be cost effective to have part time employees in certain situations. Although I would not allow the number of part time employees exceed more then one half of the number of full time employees unless special circumstances warranted it.

Step Three would be to put a cap on Doctors earnings, I’d still make it fairly high to make the industry attractive. In return they would be exempt from general malpractice suits, although they would still be liable for gross negligence. I would make it easier for Doctors to consult with each other, including a national database (and forums!) of illnesses and diseases, their symptoms and a step by step regime for each one. Controls would be put in place to allow doctors to step outside of that regime when needed – probably a peer review committee randomly selected of doctors and retired doctors within the local geographic area. Doctors would also need to go through a periodic re-examination. The test would include mental abilities, skills, and face to face behaviors. It would also be partially dependent on their patients treatments, recoveries, and happiness with the doctor in general.

Step Four: Give the FDA more power to analyze and enforce Food and Drug quality controls and tests. They would also have the ability to fast track promising new drugs and greater ability to use human volunteers. The FDA would also have the power to price control drugs, making it cheap enough to be cost effective for general use.

Step Five: Drug and Medical Supply Companies. As above, I’d Nationalize one of each industry. The goals would be the same, with the same profit margins, employee bonuses, etc. Drug Companies would not be allowed to give gifts to doctors and such would be as tightly controlled as campaign donations are for politicians. (Or more so.) Companies would still be allowed to patent and license technologies, plus sell their own house brands of common medications.

Step Six: Consumers/Patients would be able to purchase additional insurance to hedge against costs that went over the lifetime cap – I think most people are saying $3 million lifetime. The exact finances would have to be worked out, but say you want to go to a five million lifetime cap. You’d have to add say $1.5 million to a general fund that is only payable upon your death, or upon your reaching the $3 million dollar cap. Excess monies in the fund at your death would be inherited, taxed at a slightly lower rate (to encourage starting the fund in the first place,) but would only go into your inheritors own fund. Half the interest on the fund would go to the company that administrats these funds and the other half would go back into the fund itself. The companies would only be allowed to reinvest the money in low and medium risk ventures as determined under supervison of the SEC, but would be liable for any decreases of more then 10% over the life of the fund. IE – if a person puts in $1 million dollars over their lifetime, but the funds value decreases to $500,000 the company would be liable for the missing $500,000.

Individual Users would be able to get a .05% tax break per a year that they’re able to see a Doctor for regular check ups. They would also be able to get another .05% tax break once every ten years, providing they either make significant changes to their health (significant weight loss, stop smoking, etc), or maintain within 15% of the recommended standards as approved by a doctor. To qualify for this, they would simply need to have an annual physical/checkup every two years.

There is still a lot more to it, but I believe that this would be an extremely effective system, provide health care for all and answer all the issues people have with Universal Health Care, yet not give up too many individual rights and freedoms.

Measure 66 & 67

Measure 66 & 67

I simply can not imagine how raising the total annual corporate taxes on businesses in Oregon from $10/year to $150/year is going to lead to lost jobs. Only at the very, very, very bottom end of the spectrum is this going to cause problems for a business. And honestly, if they’re this close to the financial line anyways, they need to be out of business totally, or simply run better.

I can see where taxes on families that make more the $250,000 a year, or single people that make more then $125,000 a year might be more controversial. But I really can’t imagine why. My wife and I don’t even come near the $125,000 a year together, yet I’m willing to step up with higher taxes if need be. The additional taxes are negligible in the grand scheme of things.

What is REALLY ticking me off is the commercials on the radio right now, essentially blaming the current tax short fall on OVERSPENDING in the Oregon Congress. This is despite the fact that Congress was facing a Four billion dollar short fall, managed to pull that down to two billions, found eight hundred million in a rainy day fund and are only expecting to get another seven hundred to eight hundred million out of these taxes which STILL leaves them short.

But people don’t seem to realize that things are already cut hard. No matter what jobs are going to be lost, but not raising these taxes is going to mean more jobs are going to be cut at the level of Fire Departments, Police Departments, Civil Workers at the State and County levels. Oh and School Teachers, especially those at the Community College level.

So think about that before voting NO.

Quote: On Writers committing Murder

Quote: On Writers committing Murder

“It’s a queer thing to know that a book-writer can imprison folks without a warrant and even kill them yet go unpunished.” – Told to Elbert Hubbard by Mr. Hawkins, a London Police Officer in the late 1800’s talking about Charles Dickens after examining the building where Dicken’s father was kept in debtor’s prison and later appeared in his writing.

Professor Snape is the REAL Hero of Harry Potter

Professor Snape is the REAL Hero of Harry Potter

I just came to this realization today. Professor Snape, Harry’s direct and visible protagonist is the real hero of the entire series of books. First off, I agree totally with this editorial on Mugglenet: http://www.mugglenet.com/

I believe that as much as Snape hated James Potter, he had a huge crush on Lily Potter. Simply because she was the first person to show any real kindness towards him. Add in the fact that she was pretty much perfect and he didn’t have a chance but to fall in love with her. As such Snape both loved and hated Harry as a physical manifestation of his parents. Harry inherited his father’s abilities, but his mother’s eyes and personality. Snape finds himself utterly torn between his feeling between the two and as a major personality flaw, takes it out on Harry. We see this many times when Snape looks into Harry’s eyes, almost lost. But then gains his composure back and walks away, stiffly and formally, most likely mentally berating himself yet conflicted over his emotions.

The critical component here is that again and again, Snape was at the center of Harry’s life. Even more so that Sirius or Dumbledore. I believe that a lot more of that was intentional then the books or movie show. For instance, Snape knows that Harry’s biggest failure had always been potions. It would have taken a simple spell to make sure that his own potions book with his own notes made it’s way into Harry’s hands “by chance.”

Snape’s constant pushing of Harry to do better was at first punishment for James’ treatment of him. But this later became him trying to push Harry to live up to what Snape thought his mother was. Snape felt that he owed Lily a debt and as such deep down wanted to keep Harry safe. In his unique position, he was extremely aware that eventually Voldemort and Harry would meet and have a show down. Snape simply could not fail Lily by letter Voldemort kill her son too, especially after she did so much to save him.

In addition he greatly reduced Harry’s energies and gave Harry’s frustrations an outlet. This kept Harry from concentrating upon the bigger threat of Voldemort until he was ready to take him on. The extra home work, catching him after curfew, his extreme disapproval over the Wizard’s Cup Championship and the subsequent episode regarding the gillyweed was all Snape trying to protect Harry because he knew that Harry was not ready to take on Voldemort.

In the last book we see this all come to a head. Snape has done everything he can for Harry directly. He has finally become at peace with himself. He doesn’t like Harry still, but he no longer hates him either. He may soon begin actually liking Harry on some level and even worse for his own turmoil, Snape is extremely proud of what Harry has accomplished.

After that, his last act is to continue hoodwinking Voldemort in order to get Harry in position to finish him off permanently. By this time we see that Snape is no longer really “on” Harry any more. He’s no longer out to make Harry’s life miserable any more and take his frustrations with Harry’s father out on him. Instead, he is helping in the only way he has left. He risks life, limb, and painful torture beyond imagine… for Lily’s memory.

The Inexactness of the English Language

The Inexactness of the English Language

The English Language is a strange beast. First you have the fact that one word can have multiple meanings. Or one object can be defined by many words that have extremely different origins. But not to be outdone, three different words with separate meaning and spellings can be pronounced the same. Then the English language absorbs new words at an outrageous and prodigious rate. With fanciful tales of twenty-thousand new words added per a year even in this modern day, it is a wonder that anyone can speak, read or write English even moderately fluently.

Yet three hundred to four hundred million people speak it as their first language. Actual numbers of writers is more dubious. Secondary speakers are estimated to be any where between two hundred million and almost one and half billion more.

The single most wonderful thing about the English language though is that it can be both very exacting, and very vague. Words can can be mixed and changed to bring new ideas to life.

Swift used the language to spear his detractors metaphorically.

“A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying… that he is wiser today than yesterday.”

Mark Twain forced an entire generation to come to terms with their own racism and frivolities.

“I have no color prejudices nor cast prejudces nor creed prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can’t be any worse”

Emerson laid forth the simple truth.

“A man is a god in ruins. When men are innocent, life shall be longer, and shall pass into the immortal, as gently as we awake from dreams. “

Shakespeare observed, reported, coined, and extrapolated human existence.

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”

Japanese and Greek are naturally resistent to new words. German embraces new words, but instead invents them out of seemingly thin air. Russian takes the English words and gives it an accent, maybe changing a few letters around. Chinese doesn’t even attempt to disguise it’s borrowing of the English word.

Yet only English embraces all these thoughts and massages it into a cohesive language. It adds another twist by taking a fairly dirty common word and by mere popular use gives it an entirely new meaning. A native speaker may not know even a tenth of the words in the English Lexicon, yet communication is effortless on spoken level.

For example:

“I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds ’round my neck.” – Emma Goldman

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.” – Dale Carnegie

“The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.” – Salvador Dali

“A life with love will have some thorns, but a life without love will have no roses” – Unknown

“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses.” – Alphonse Kerr

A mere five quotes about a flower. Yet each one quickly becomes profound in ways that you may never thought before. Such is the English Language. Even words strung together incoherently may have meaning far beyond their original intent.