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Healthcare Plan: A new idea September 15, 2009

Posted by shwaldman in Politics, Society.
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While on my lunch time jog to/thru/from a nearby park, I came up with a “new” idea for the healthcare debate. I was thinking about how our society has become a bit of “us vs them.” The political environment is Republican vs Democrat, our economic world is rich vs poor…. how can we come up with a solution that meets everyone’s needs.

So, here it is. We need to change our tax approach. Clearly this would be harder and more expensive to implement than what we already have, but it would reduce the strain on those people who think we don’t need higher taxes while still supporting the services that other people do need. I will call it Vested Taxes. The new system would allow people to opt out of certain taxes. However, by doing so, they would be opting out of the services that those taxes support. At the local level, people could opt out of supporting the library, however if they went to use the library, they would pay a premium (more than $0) to utilize those resources… obviously, this would require more system integration to allow instant information to the services on every individual, but the Patriot Act already opened the door to this possibility.

At the national level is where we find health care, and social security high level examples. I really do not like the idea of having to do this. But I certainly like it better than where we are headed… talk of states succeeding and individuals saying, “if you don’t like it, why don’t you move?” We don’t want to divide our nation into classes, but look at us now.

The vesting comes in if individuals suddenly need help and change their minds. The government response can then justifiably be, “sorry, you haven’t been contributing, so we have to deny you.” Everyone gets what they want!

Healthcare Plan in the News September 8, 2009

Posted by shwaldman in Society, Technology.
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I am not sure if you have heard, but there is talk in the US of health care reform. Yes, a little sarcasm, but look what this article has to say about how well the INFORMATION is being report…. 8% – that is pathetic. We should be having town hall meetings to discuss how poorly the news media is serving us. Unfortunately, it is all about the ratings and sensationalism and very little to do with the facts.

Quality News Reporting,… NOT!

Equally disturbing to how this debate is unfolding is how little concern some people have for the well being of others. I really do not understand how people think the whole “death panel” was a real thing. Some people are either too gullible or just plain ill-informed. We watched a moving real-life story about Nathenial Ayers last night. The movie is called “The Soloist” and starts Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx… two of today’s best actors, for sure. Anyway, Ayers life was spent mostly as a homeless man in Los Angeles. Watching this film really brought home the problems we have in our society. Seeing the living conditions of the people on the streets – and they were lucky, living in such a mild climate like LA – shows our society can be so inhumane. Because we don’t know what to do, we do nothing. That is unacceptable and that seems to be where this debate on healthcare reform is going.

Why are we so stubborn? A Case for Universal Healthcare February 11, 2009

Posted by shwaldman in Politics, Society.
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In my last post, I talked about how it took Americans sixty years to abolish slavery after it was made illegal in Britain. It was the right thing to do, but why did it take so long and why did it require a Civil War? Obviously, the Civil War had so much to do with agriculture and the industrial conditions in what was still a relatively new system. Compared to European nations, America is still a baby.

And yet, or maybe because of this, it seems like Americans refuse to look at the way things are done in other countries and seem to find their policies deplorable. I am thinking mostly of universal healthcare. This issue seemed so divisive in the last election. And it seems like the our legislature is so wrapped up in big business lobbyists, there is no chance it would come from them. By becoming an federally elected government official, they are guaranteed healthcare for the rest of their lives. And yet all the people who elected them have to fend for themselves.

There is no reason in one of the richest, most sophisticated countries in the world should cause people to go bankrupt because they can not afford basic medical treatments. I am quite surprised that in all this economic stimulus package that is being discussed, there is no revisiting of bankruptcy laws. During the Bush Adminstration, there were some major changes to the laws that did not help the individuals.

President Obama has said all along that he wants to move toward digital medical records and is backing that up by ensuring it is written into these stimulus packages. I think that is the first step in centralizing our system. By requiring our medical institutions to communicate in a common system that allows them to pass patient data back and forth, we can move to a system where the patient is the most important factor. Until we can remove the money hungry health insurance companies out of the picture, we are not taking care of our people.

Being sick September 13, 2008

Posted by shwaldman in Family, Society.
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After 35 years of experience, I have come to understand my own body and when I am not feeling 100%. How can you tell when your children are not well. Alec’s eyes are hurting and he is blinking frequently. Ian had a running nose and a nasty cough this week. On Friday I took them to the doctor and Ian has an ear infection and Alec seems to have nervous tick (or just very irriated eyes).

Treating Ian at 3 months with antibotics is concerning. I hate he is already on medicine… just like Alec was. If nothing else, I want them to be strong kids, but I am fearful that these medicine will weaken there immune system in the long run. There are so many bad things in the environment these days, how do you protect you kids? They are developing so fast and there bodies are vulernable that I feel like we need to watch everything that they encounter.

And now Alec has another running nose… it ALWAYS leads to another infection! We just can’t keep him healthy! What is going on?!!? We had a great, healthy summer, but now… not so much.

What is the USA becoming? December 7, 2007

Posted by shwaldman in Politics, Society.
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It has been over a year since my last entry. I seem to only make time to add something when I come across something truly thought provoking. Tonight, I finally watched the Micheal Moore movie “Sicko.” It is an amazing,eye-opening film. Whether you believe him or think it is propaganda, their are some obvious facts in the movie that can not be disputed. Get rid of the very specific detailed facts and think about the things are can not be questioned. The Health care industry is making millions of dollars and there are still millions of people that are refused coverage and care. If you don’t believe that your head is in the sand, or you are rich enough that you can ignore the facts. Every day people make decisions that we don’t know how things are going to turn out, but sometimes there just some obvious things happening that have to be fixed. Health care, education and the government all need to be fixed in the US.
 
It does make one consider moving to another country. I just left a well paying job at a large consulting firm for a decent paying job withing the local education system. I did it so I wouldn’t have to travel and my family could be closer to other family for support. Does it have it’s down sides? Sure. But there are just some basic needs that have to addressed before all else.
 
I think the biggest problem we have in the US is that the rich have too much power and influence. It is quite clear that greed runs this country, not what is best for its people. One of the subtle points that Moore makes in his film is how the community will come together to help people in need. But “we” are so fearful of paying higher taxes to take care of the people in need. We wouldn’t have to have fund raisers all the time if the government was doing its job and taking care of those in need.
 
Would people take advantage of the system? Sure. But would the system take care of that? Absolutely. I realized when I was first out of college, in a great job, living in a downtown apartment that if people need things they are going to take them. So when my apartment was broken into and $700 or $800 dollars worth of “stuff” was taken from me, I could afford to use insurance (and my regular paycheck) to buy them back. The person(s) that stole from me probably don’t have the luxury.
 
The middle class is disappearring and we are developing such a large lower class because the rich are getting richer and greedier and more powerful. Just ask Congress, if you work in a job that you approve your own salary increases, how hard it is to make yourselves rich? We need to find away to make our government accountable and honest. The jokes about not being able to trust a politician are not funny anymore.