I came across this snippet and placed it on my playlist some time ago. I'm just getting around to putting it at the top for readers to listen in. Teddy Roosevelt was quite a guy. It seemed that he called things as he saw them and in this speech one understands why he found himself outside of the Republican Party.
His words are as true, maybe more so, today as they were nearly 100 years ago when spoken. TR comments on big business being able to cut deals with the leaders of the Republican Party and Democrat Party...."but they can't make terms with the people". This is true, but, maybe what he couldn't forsee is the incredible barrage of media that can be unleashed on the people funded by those special interest. It does control the people...more specifically, the voter.
Frankly, I'm not sure how we will ever wrestle away our precious Democracy from the grip of lobbyists working on behalf of corrupt corporate and special interests. It is the reason we cannot achieve solid health care reform. Both McCain's and Obama's plans fail(ed) to address the true issue and economically devastating impact of health care/health insurance costs.
Of course this is fresh in my mind because I received notice today that our health insurance, less than 1 year old, will have its premiums go up by almost 20%, and we've barely used it. Let me do a comparison for those of you who get irate over property taxes. Our health insurance INCREASE (not annual premium, only the increase) is MORE than what we pay in TOTAL PROPERTY TAXES in a year.
Why don't people beat down the doors of our health insurance providers? We're too busy getting up in arms over possible government intervention...and maybe rightly so....but God forbid we go after the real problem.
2 comments:
We are already paying for the uninsured! Your premium increase reflects that. So shifting that burden to government and requiring all but the poorest of the poor to pay some form of health insurance tax may help. The profit motive drives the insurance companies that is why they are fighting the competition that a government program may pose. At a bare minimum we need a federal wellness program that gets people to the doctor long before they need the services of an emergency room, it must include dental and eye care and we must continue to not out law but tax mightily vises like smoking, drinking, and foods which have little or no nutritional value.
If you take all those away, what will Hoosiers do for fun?
I just can't see how this will bring down the costs of health insurance. In fact, it seems that it would deliver a captive audience to providers already in place and the provider has no incentive to lower costs. I know that I don't like being at the mercy of a provider, can government be any better?
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