The President vetoes health care for kids, the Congress almost overrides it but not quite, and the American Academy for Pediatrics says the next likely pandemic flu bug, influenza A/H5N1, targets children and is being overlooked as the country whistles past the pandemic graveyard:
"Right now, we are behind the curve in finding ways to limit the spread of a pandemic in children even though they are among the most at risk," said Dr. John Bradley of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which co-authored the report with the Trust for America's Health.[snip]
Children have long seemed particularly vulnerable to H5N1, possibly because they are more likely to touch or play with the diseased birds who spread it. Wednesday's report says nearly 46 percent of bird flu deaths since 2003 were among people 19 or younger. (AP)
This is an important handle for flu planners. In doing environmental and occupational cancer work for many years I observed that telling a worker he might get cancer in 30 years because of an exposure at work as often as not is met with the reaction that he will certainly have to pay the rent in thirty days. But suggest to him his children or family will be harmed and he walks off the job in 7 seconds. Concern for the next generation (our children) is hardwired into the human brain. Without it we wouldn't have survived as a species.
The concern in this case is entirely legitimate. It is not a scare tactic. The trick will be to turn it into something constructive to use as an engine for getting the community to prepare.
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As an Aussie (who thinks more like a Yank) glad to be living with UHC, I did all that I personally could (online actions) to ensure the gov adopts the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)... I'm disgusted beyond words this fiasco is being allowed to continue -- prevention or cure!
As there is no cure for a transgenic pathogen, many kids will die for absolutely no reason other than Babyboomer greed -- history will consider the American Babyboomers collectively akin to Nazi morons!
Hiya Jonny.
Hold on, wait a minute, lets pause and look at the facts. The fact is that this is a STATE Childrens Health Insurance Program and not one that would be extended to the people that the Democrats wanted to. That group were people who were making 82,000 per year. Fact is that if these people just looked at their outlays as independent polling did at random from the phone book, nearly everyone of them had HBO/Cinemax, drove a car that was less than 5 years old, ate out more than four times a week in some manner, and had seen a movie in the theaters in the last two weeks. In other words they Dems wanted to extend this to people who could already afford it. The Dems did it so they could portray Bush as a baddie on children. Farthest from the case. It was an attempt on their part to do the usual set up and that was that it was trying to back door UHC. UHC is very, very likely going to bring up a constitutional trial if its implemented along with the "Entitlements" programs. Entitlements are not in the Constitution and like the WPA might be struck down. The entire slop and glop along with everything might get struck including Social Security. Medicare and Medicaid, all of it.
The Dems are not smart enough to realize that this could indeed happen and then what? I dont know but pushing the limit from just under 35,000 a year to 82,000 a year and having someone else pay for it isnt going to work and it never would. Only 1/3rd of the nation makes more than that and 1/3rd cannot support 2/3rds any day of the week. Children SHOULD be on this program because we will need nice little taxpayers in about 15 years. The first boomer started drawing S.Security payments this week and they will add 10,000 a day from now until 2020. By then the system which is already broke will have to be funded by massive tax increases and inflation will be off the scale. They will have to tax Social Security payments just to pay the bills for social security. Paper chasing paper... financial system collapse?
Our own system has ensured the failure and likely default of that system. Its okay to steal from Social Security to pay for Vietnam, Bush is paying for Iraq via bonds. Sooner or later one weighed in and Iraq will start to weigh in and end the war. Vietnam on the other hand we are still paying for.
The estimate is that arguably we have about 38% as taxpayers in our pocket right now after taxes and living expenses are paid as disposable income. That number goes down to 23% to as little as 15%, both arguable numbers. Thats a very shallow number for being able to buy things and keep a economy going under UHC. It will push many over the edge. Cradle to the grave might be hastened under UHC because even though they are covered the economic situation becomes more bleak. They cant get a job, the system reels under the weight of the taxes required to do UHC and if we were going to put it in, it should have been done in the 60's. There is no adjustment time. Besides, those boomers are already covered starting this week under Medicare. We dont need a UHC to cover UHC.
Here are some interesting things
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/26/nhs26.x…
Privatization of nursing in UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/17/nhs117…
Health tourism because they cant get care in the UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/15/ncancer…
Hey you cant pay for your own cancer drugs in the UK, even though they know they are better than what they are using now. Too expensive.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/23/ndent23…
Dental care? Forget it. You break a tooth off and its sit back and wait folks.
Of course I could go on and on. Its just as screwed up as private health care and insurance companies. Everyone wants something for nothing (or the perception of it). One thing is very apparent.... it is indeed a service and not a right. If you had the right to healthcare in the UK you would be whisked away in a chopper to get your choppers fixed. Or how about that pancreatic cancer that you cant get the latest drugs to treat. If you want to opt out and fund your entire treatment with these drugs then fine, do so but its out of your pocket. You dont even have the right to sue the government if you or your loved ones die waiting for that healthcare that will never come. Nice system. I think that all Martians should adopt it.
Randy: Except that few of what you say are facts. They are Republican talking points. Like the $82K. Etc. Do you know how long it takes to get an appointment with a doctor in many places here? I asked to get one with my primary care guy and I got one. February 19. Dermatologist? Forget it. 4 - 6 months. Of course you need insurance. If you don't have it, you don't get any appointment. I don't want something for nothing. I want something for my tax dollars instead of a government that wantonly kills innocent people and with the money they spend doing it could provide health care for all our children.
With all due respect Revere.... 250% above the poverty line and its always that line that defines is back door UHC.
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/10/22/gvsc1022.htm
From Red Orbit-
"So where in the world did Bush and his fellow Republicans get that number? I asked Tony Salters of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers SCHIP.
"That $83,000 was part of a waiver for a family of four in New York state, and that was denied," he said. "I think that's the $83,000 number he was using."
New York did, indeed, seek to hike the income level because the cost of living is higher there. The Bush administration denied that request, but the White House warned that the plan to expand SCHIP would allow a future administration to grant the request.
Bush, however, did not say during his visit here that his administration has granted similar waivers in the past, to 17 states. Among them is New Jersey, which has set its income limit to enroll in SCHIP at $72,300.
That fact, of course, has placed a lot of House members in a pickle."
So we see a divergence of the "Poor South" to the "Poor North" in coverage of children based upon income. Income rises to accomodate rising costs, rising costs give way to a raise in the poverty level. The number of people that become covered rises, then the costs rise with it and the upward cost spiral begins as the costs in taxes require raises in the tax rate to accomodate the coverage. Then when they see you cant get blood out of the turnips, the economy starts to tank sending people downward into the coverage area thus raising the costs yet again. Then taxes have to rise or coverage limitations and services. End result is healthcare rationing and poor service. The UK found that out in a hard fast hurry when they "improved" their waiting times requirements. That improvement went from 5 hours to be seen to 2 on average. It cost them some 500 million and then because they couldnt afford it the health minister came right out on TV and said we are going to have to start rationing it. So much for free choice huh?
UHC will be a bigger disaste than Iraq ever would be. At least we can leave Iraq when we want. You cant go to private healthcare in the UK for cancer treatment even when known results are better. That is unless you want to pay for it en toto. My friend who has cancer has a bill from her hospital for 250,000 bucks for just chemotherapy, and oncological exams. AND we are too old for this. We cant saddle our kids with the taxes that will be needed to pay for our care. WE just have to bite the bullet and shuffle off. We are all near the end of our productivity cycle anyway. The upheaval for the US if this is implemented would be fast and furious and it would be dumped almost the minute the first bills start coming in to Congress. The above from the original post is/are real life adventures and YOU get to pay for someone else to go to the doctor with someone ELSE asserting that they will be paying for you. Its a bait and switch. It isnt free. SOMEONE has to pay for it and it would empty the Treasury within 5 years. Social Security will do that on its own.
Since Tennessee dumped its TennCare the previously 500 million in the hole per year state budget is now a 750 million a year surplus. Thus allowing for the coverage of the totally indigent and uninsurables. Those people should be on a UHC and we can afford that. On the other hand, putting EVERYONE onto the government dole is communism Revere. Why should anyone veil it as socialism with a different name?
As for Iraq. Well regardless of anyones position on this and the war on terror there is one point that is irrefutable, undeniable, and cant be put on the spin machines. That is that we have to have domestic and international security or all of this above is nothing but hype. If buildings are being knocked down and terrorism comes into the US in a Israeli type of way then all things as we know it will stop. You dislike Bush. Okay, you are entitled. But the neocons as you put it are out there that are far worse. We get attacked and the move to the extreme right comes in. In other words there are far worse things that could happen.
You accuse Bush of many things and some of that mud does stick when its thrown. But the overall message is that we should just get out of Iraq and leave them to their devices. Their devices are a unified Muslim state running for two or three thousand miles in any direction. You are a enviro guy. Want to see us drilling for oil off the coast of New York? No? Okay then. The effects on a world economy and extremists of any kind on the valves for delivery of oil pose too great a risk to the status quo. Every time its come down to that EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE has demanded that WE do something about it. That requires money, that requires commitment and because we really are a nation of states, those states require us to DO something along with our EU wussies. I categorically exclude the Poles, Czech's, Italians and of course the Brits. They ponied up with what they had at the time. It wasnt a bad idea to go to Iraq. It was inevitable. Just as Iran will be. Forget the oil for right now and just think nukes. Three countries in range of each other, two in very close range and what in Hell is Syria doing and what do they have in their backyard? We now know where the goddamn VX and WMD's went.
So healthcare for children is a concern and it should be implemented as it is here for all children whose parents wish to sign up... period. Coverkids under our Democrat Governor who is a centrist for the better part covers all kids 18 and below AND pregnant mothers. That means they dont have to pay anything more than a small co-pay if anything. I hear its 5 bucks for anyone under 25,000 per year and single mom/dad. They recieve pretty good care and they are not tanking the ER's as they were under the UHC plan that Gov. Ned McWorthless (scuse me) McWhirter put in. Doctors, hospitals both quit taking UHC as the paperwork was too large, the benefits too small. It ended with only one hospital for 200 miles taking the patients. They ended up writing off some 400 million at that one hospital to unrecoverable from the state. Thats that single payer plan for you.
Say what you want Revere. Facts are published each day about it from the UHC countries and they would dump it in a minute if there was something to dump it to. It goes with the first premise.... Health care is a right? Health care is a service? When government starts dictating what you can do with your health then they have you pure and simple. You wont receive the care you would have had the option to get if it were a service, and they will prosecute you in the extreme if you try to circumvent their newly found cash cow. They cannot legislate the costs, only the final outcome and the outcome is based in how much money they want to drop into an endless pit. Dump all money into government and we will take care of you is the premise. You wont have any spendable income, you will be taxed (stealing by legal means) to pay for healthcare of your fellow Americans. Hospitals will now be points of entry to the tax system. I dont think I missed a thing here. Each time it comes up, I will send the information from where the disaster has already happened... in the UHC countries.
Cover the kids and let moms and dads fend for themselves.
Secession might be in the future as NE mandated requirements are placed upon the South and Southwest. Destruction of the US from within.
With all due respect Revere.... 250% above the poverty line and its always that line that defines is back door UHC.
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/10/22/gvsc1022.htm
From Red Orbit-
"So where in the world did Bush and his fellow Republicans get that number? I asked Tony Salters of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers SCHIP.
"That $83,000 was part of a waiver for a family of four in New York state, and that was denied," he said. "I think that's the $83,000 number he was using."
New York did, indeed, seek to hike the income level because the cost of living is higher there. The Bush administration denied that request, but the White House warned that the plan to expand SCHIP would allow a future administration to grant the request.
Bush, however, did not say during his visit here that his administration has granted similar waivers in the past, to 17 states. Among them is New Jersey, which has set its income limit to enroll in SCHIP at $72,300.
That fact, of course, has placed a lot of House members in a pickle."
So we see a divergence of the "Poor South" to the "Poor North" in coverage of children based upon income. Income rises to accomodate rising costs, rising costs give way to a raise in the poverty level. The number of people that become covered rises, then the costs rise with it and the upward cost spiral begins as the costs in taxes require raises in the tax rate to accomodate the coverage. Then when they see you cant get blood out of the turnips, the economy starts to tank sending people downward into the coverage area thus raising the costs yet again. Then taxes have to rise or coverage limitations and services. End result is healthcare rationing and poor service. The UK found that out in a hard fast hurry when they "improved" their waiting times requirements. That improvement went from 5 hours to be seen to 2 on average. It cost them some 500 million and then because they couldnt afford it the health minister came right out on TV and said we are going to have to start rationing it. So much for free choice huh?
UHC will be a bigger disaste than Iraq ever would be. At least we can leave Iraq when we want. You cant go to private healthcare in the UK for cancer treatment even when known results are better. That is unless you want to pay for it en toto. My friend who has cancer has a bill from her hospital for 250,000 bucks for just chemotherapy, and oncological exams. AND we are too old for this. We cant saddle our kids with the taxes that will be needed to pay for our care. WE just have to bite the bullet and shuffle off. We are all near the end of our productivity cycle anyway. The upheaval for the US if this is implemented would be fast and furious and it would be dumped almost the minute the first bills start coming in to Congress. The above from the original post is/are real life adventures and YOU get to pay for someone else to go to the doctor with someone ELSE asserting that they will be paying for you. Its a bait and switch. It isnt free. SOMEONE has to pay for it and it would empty the Treasury within 5 years. Social Security will do that on its own.
Since Tennessee dumped its TennCare the previously 500 million in the hole per year state budget is now a 750 million a year surplus. Thus allowing for the coverage of the totally indigent and uninsurables. Those people should be on a UHC and we can afford that. On the other hand, putting EVERYONE onto the government dole is communism Revere. Why should anyone veil it as socialism with a different name?
As for Iraq. Well regardless of anyones position on this and the war on terror there is one point that is irrefutable, undeniable, and cant be put on the spin machines. That is that we have to have domestic and international security or all of this above is nothing but hype. If buildings are being knocked down and terrorism comes into the US in a Israeli type of way then all things as we know it will stop. You dislike Bush. Okay, you are entitled. But the neocons as you put it are out there that are far worse. We get attacked and the move to the extreme right comes in. In other words there are far worse things that could happen.
You accuse Bush of many things and some of that mud does stick when its thrown. But the overall message is that we should just get out of Iraq and leave them to their devices. Their devices are a unified Muslim state running for two or three thousand miles in any direction. You are a enviro guy. Want to see us drilling for oil off the coast of New York? No? Okay then. The effects on a world economy and extremists of any kind on the valves for delivery of oil pose too great a risk to the status quo. Every time its come down to that EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE has demanded that WE do something about it. That requires money, that requires commitment and because we really are a nation of states, those states require us to DO something along with our EU wussies. I categorically exclude the Poles, Czech's, Italians and of course the Brits. They ponied up with what they had at the time. It wasnt a bad idea to go to Iraq. It was inevitable. Just as Iran will be. Forget the oil for right now and just think nukes. Three countries in range of each other, two in very close range and what in Hell is Syria doing and what do they have in their backyard? We now know where the goddamn VX and WMD's went.
So healthcare for children is a concern and it should be implemented as it is here for all children whose parents wish to sign up... period. Coverkids under our Democrat Governor who is a centrist for the better part covers all kids 18 and below AND pregnant mothers. That means they dont have to pay anything more than a small co-pay if anything. I hear its 5 bucks for anyone under 25,000 per year and single mom/dad. They recieve pretty good care and they are not tanking the ER's as they were under the UHC plan that Gov. Ned McWorthless (scuse me) McWhirter put in. Doctors, hospitals both quit taking UHC as the paperwork was too large, the benefits too small. It ended with only one hospital for 200 miles taking the patients. They ended up writing off some 400 million at that one hospital to unrecoverable from the state. Thats that single payer plan for you.
Say what you want Revere. Facts are published each day about it from the UHC countries and they would dump it in a minute if there was something to dump it to. It goes with the first premise.... Health care is a right? Health care is a service? When government starts dictating what you can do with your health then they have you pure and simple. You wont receive the care you would have had the option to get if it were a service, and they will prosecute you in the extreme if you try to circumvent their newly found cash cow. They cannot legislate the costs, only the final outcome and the outcome is based in how much money they want to drop into an endless pit. Dump all money into government and we will take care of you is the premise. You wont have any spendable income, you will be taxed (stealing by legal means) to pay for healthcare of your fellow Americans. Hospitals will now be points of entry to the tax system. I dont think I missed a thing here. Each time it comes up, I will send the information from where the disaster has already happened... in the UHC countries.
Cover the kids and let moms and dads fend for themselves.
Secession might be in the future as NE mandated requirements are placed upon the South and Southwest. Destruction of the US from within.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand -- UHC vis a vis a crappy manmade frackup fondly known as transgenic pathogen H5N1...
Are little Aussies from poor homes gonna die from a lack of antivirals!?! Well, the answer is not bloody likely due to the fact the people (((ARE))) the government and won't stand for the violent crap Americans do to one another in the name of "democracy"!
The following is sarcasm from an Aussie perspective...
What!?! Are all of America's kids and teens living below poverty gonna have to form a union and bulk-purchase cheaper antivirals from Canada!?! Oh, and would this hypothetical generational-based union cover dental (snigger)!
"Really free, aren't we!?!"
Its okay Jonny. No, I think the Aussies will fare better than some, worse than others because of the isolation of the outback. The outlanders will likely never see it unless something infected comes up into their yards. N. Zealand too.