Dylanism of the day:
Bonjour means hello on the bench!
(He wanted an explanation of "Bonjour, Eloise!" while reading Eloise, and slightly misheard the answer...)
I'm hearing more about the 9-12 protesters. Man there is a lot of talk about revolution and stuff. I wish elected officials didn't stoke that aspect, not that all of them do.
I do think there is a legitimate concern of the increase in debt and to some extent this is spectacularly bad timing for health care reform, even though I have respect for Obama trying to tackle the issue instead of putting it off.
I'm not a fan of some of the spending, but TARP seems to have worked. However inefficient it might be, the financial system didn't collapse. The stimulus package is still up in the air, but there is no longer talk of another depression and of course there a big chunk of it was tax cuts, not spending. The economic condition has a huge part to play in the deficit as well. I kinda wish Obama could have a major speech to talk about the deficit and debt.
The cold hard facts are that there is no solution that isn't going to hurt. I don't know enough about the drivers of health care costs to know what the solution is there and that's the biggest problem. Spending less on the military is probably needed. Raising the cap on the social security tax is probably needed. After those areas, there isn't a lot out there to do aside from cutting back on Wic and food stamps or eliminating the department of Education.
My desire for reasoned debate is probably a pipe dream.
I actually think this is a perfect time for addressing health care. So many people are without employment (and therefore insurance) there are likely to be more people it affects.
From a practical sense, I think it's a good time, from a political sense, I think it's a bad time.
from a political sense, I think it's a bad time.
I honestly don't think it will ever be a good time politically. It's possible that there could be gradations of less-bad, but honestly, it might as well happen now, because it's never going to get any easier while Obama's in office.
The one thing that concerns me about any healthcare reform that leads to coverage for everyone (which I 100% believe should be a basic right all people have) is that, right now, there are not enough doctors to start treating an influx of newly covered people.
That's something that can be dealt with, but assuming some form of coverage for everyone gets passed, it's going to be a huge traffic-jam clusterfuck for a while.
Don't forget, with all the ERs unjammed, there should be some spare doctors around. Plus a whole lot of preventative/minor care can be shifted to physician's assistants. Which reminds me that I have to do something about switching my health insurance coverage around today....
There was a scene in Kings, where the princess had gotten healthcare reform passed, and they were in a hospital, and it was insanely over-crowded, and she asked a staff member why, and they said it was because so many more people could get care, so it made a lot more work for them. And then added that it was a good thing.
PCPs, especially, are already in short supply. But I'd rather live with that issue to deal with.
The one thing this timing does is demonstrate the President's seriousness about the issue, that it was the first big thing after putting out the fire that is/was the economy.
I honestly don't think it will ever be a good time politically. It's possible that there could be gradations of less-bad, but honestly, it might as well happen now, because it's never going to get any easier while Obama's in office.
Oh, I think it will always be hard, but an expensive program in the middle of a horrific deficit situation is a hard sale for conservative dems.
