And the Cherry on Top
As an addendum to Vincent’s post below, I’d also like to note that the Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee is considering reinstating sobriety checkpoints. They’d have to amend the state constitution, requiring (yet another) ballot initiative. That’s because in 1987 the Oregon Supreme Court declared sobriety checkpoints unconstitutional, citing “unreasonable search and seizure” or, y’know, whatever.
Along with the ill-considered bicycle registration idea, Oregon now has a trifecta of completely asinine legislation.
Health care/insurance costs go down
The health care fix is a RFID pushing “information technology to prevent medical errors” scam. I believe the overhaul Obumma is pushing has its roots in the little known and very shadowy entity known as Battelle Memorial Institute. BMI mismanages many of our military government labs. They are a ONAMI “partner”. Some of you will hate this post, others will look up B.M.I.-it is a freaky subject. If I recall correctly our friend Abramoff did some lobbying for B.M.I.-before he got busted. RFID passes the “solution in search of a problem” test. That said, R2-D2 was pretty good at surgery in one of those Star Wars movies. Also, if the government gets involved with “wellness” intiatives the cheesburger police and concentration camps for fat people(along with some extra, punitive taxes) are sure to follow. With Michael Moore dominating the healthcare discussion and the Hilary zombie back on the march we are in for it.
I think one goal is to push preventive medicine. A lot of people don’t go to the doctor until they HAVE to (and then in that case, uninsured people go to the ER…costing the government money). Healthy people who remain healthy can provide a sufficient workforce. Unhealthy people who are in debt due to surgeries, root canals (simple dentist visits can avoid that), disability, etc. can’t work, are supported largely by the government, and don’t stimulate the econonmy.
Small businesses who have lower insurance costs can hire MORE people, giving MORE people an income, and will hopefully encourage MORE consumption of goods.
It’s an inverse correlation. Health care/insurance costs go down — spending goes up.
Michelle:
I’m not sure why you think that I don’t believe that health care in this country should be “fixed”.
I’m merely trying to point out that there’s not necessarily any link between “fixing health care” and “fixing the economy.” No one has yet demonstrated a correlation between the two.
CT – You’re pulling out the old “race-to-the-bottom” argument. It’s a little tired. Anyway, as real wages have basically stagnated, real total compensation including benefits has gone up pretty steadily. Bryan Caplan had some on that in Myth of the Rational Voter, but he and Kling have a lot in the Econlog archive. I am too lazy to look right now.
But, yeah, the way we pay for health costs in this country is a mess. It’s a mess everywhere else too, just a different kind of mess. Grass is greener and all. The biggest argument I see against some kind of socialized system is pretty simple – I can afford, at my salary level, to pay for my own damn health care without getting a government agency involved…so why shouldn’t I? Put another way, if our concern really is the poor and such, why shoehorn everyone into a single solution?
Vincent-
It’s ridiculous you would try to poke holes into other people’s logic without warranting any of your own information. As fluffy as some of these “pseudo-European” ideals may seem, your buzzword heavy generalizations and unwarranted rhetoric, at best, is just as empty.
There are many different policy ideas in hopes of achieving “universal healthcare” or really, just a more cost-effective alternative to the status quo. Using blanket statements in attempt to mitigate the fact that you are saying just as little is unhelpful. It’s like hearing an “nuh uh” to an “uh huh.”
As a student, I would like to see facts and links in your argumentation. You are a member of the Commentator staff, no? I’m not writing this to be a dick or because I’m “progressive.” In fact, I encourage you to rip me a new one, but please be informative.
Well, I’d still say that health care being fixed is a part of the economy being fixed because of the costs that employers are being asked to pay (same with workers). That is definitely wrapped up in my other point about what we think of when we think of working in the US. If healthcare is not something that Americans can expect to have as a part of working their asses off, I think that there is something wrong there. I am not talking about entitlement either. How long, if we insist on driving our jobs to the wage, benefits floor, will it be before Americans leave this country to have better lives elsewhere?
You’re making some kind of moral argument that has little to do with “fixing the economy.”
Of course health care isn’t to blame for what is happening.
My point is that we’re costing ourselves out of health insurance in a lot of cases, and companies who want to start up, continue their existence, or hire new people are all stuck paying more and more each year. Perhaps, this is just a way for work to become more efficient (since one person will have to be doing three jobs’ worth of work at some point), but it seems problematic to me when talking about the current state of the economy. Nationalizing it isn’t part of my point either, ‘fixing’ it somehow is. We can’t keep paying 10-15% increases every year for health care and expect to (A) have healthcare (B) create a lot of jobs
What should people expect out of the ‘best country on Earth’ ? I’d say, better. That is suitably ambiguous and fits the bill in that we’re pretty sad in a lot of areas that we shouldn’t be…for instance, it seems like if you look at healthcare expenditures in the US, Americans are paying a LOT more for a LOT less…yes, even less than those commie Europeans in some cases. Where is the Capitalism in that?
I don’t think there are many who would argue that the way health care is organized in this country is optimal. But health care costs weren’t responsible for the credit crisis, nor was health care behind the massive over-inflation of the housing market.
It’s no secret that “fixing health care” is a poorly-concealed euphemism for “universal health care”, and I fail to see how nationalizing the health care industry, which had little or nothing to do with the economic situation we’re in now, will have any positive effect on the economy. Were that the case, one would expect to see the economies of Euro-socialist states to be booming. They are not.
The proponents of a pseudo-European model in the United States seem not to have noticed that the European model has not in any way spared Europe from the market downturn.
Well, isn’t there something to be said for double-digit % increases in what employers are paying for health insurance? How long is that sustainable? Well, it’s not. So coverage is dropped, halved, etc.
HB 2009 would create an Oregon Health Authority to start making sure we
Yes, because one is a clearly ennumerated part of due process and the other makes you feel good. Completely the same.
It’s funny that they’re going to “contain healthcare costs” while instituting further subsidy. Because that’s TOTALLY how price floors work!
But hey, CJ, the legislature is also working on a number of excellent bills that are pragmatic actions to address our current economic problems and an array of other issues.
For instance, Rep. Tomei has introduced a bill that would make the State of Oregon a marijuana grower/distributor for folks with medicinal credentials, which would raise revenue by taxing the weed at $98 an ounce.
HB 2009 would create an Oregon Health Authority to start making sure we’re doing more with less in financing health care. We can’t fix this economy without fixing our health care system, and HB 2009 is an excellent step forward, as long as it creates an OHA with real authority and maintains the provider tax to cover all children in the state of Oregon. Say what you will about taxing insurance companies, but my take is that if every criminal in this country has the right to see a lawyer, then every child has the right to see a doctor.
They’ve also been hard at work on a variety of other issues like safe routes to schools, health care cost containment measures and economic development.
But yeah, bike registration? Completely absurd.