Today I had to take my son for his 15 month well visit. All day in the car as I listened to NPR, universal healthcare was the topic. Little did I know I would get a reminder of the problems with our system up close and personal today.
At the doctor’s, my son developed a strong fever. It turns out this was due to a new ear infection. Great. His shots would have to be delayed another few weeks and we’d have to give him a course of antibiotics. All of this would be handled well by my insurance. The full course, between generic substitutions in pharmacy and our family’s insurance coverage, would run me $12. No sweat. With a $15 copay my running total so far was $27.
But there was a problem.
My wife was concerned with the wheezing she still hears in my son’s breathing at night. My doctor was as well. She prescribed a 30 day supply of Pulmicort, an asthma treatment medicine. Since there are no generic substitutes, I have to pay full boat with my plan reimbursing me for 60% of the cost. And that cost? $365!
Now I don’t know about you, but how is a person with few means supposed to shelve out that kind of money on a monthly basis to treat their child? First you have to have the cash on hand or the credit to shell out what amounts to a car payment. Second, you’d have to be able to afford the 40%, or $146, you’d be responsible for if you have insurance. What happens if you are one of the 47,000,000 people who don’t? What’s wrong with this picture?
Truly, when I think of folks defending our healthcare system, esp. with regard to the pharma companies, I find it hard not to think of the phrase “full of shit.”
UPDATE: I can’t really take credit for the title, it was from a teacher and mentor who corrected me when I mentioned that the UK’s universal healthcare system was socialized medicine. She said, “No, it’s civilized medicine.”
Author: Robert Barrimond
Going Strong on the Wrong Message | The American Prospect
Going Strong on the Wrong Message | The American Prospect:
“But what every one of the 68 percent of Americans who are not both white and male saw, once again, was the deep well of outrage at discrimination that Republicans seem only to summon when it’s a white guy who got the short end of the stick.
The fact of the matter is that a party that builds its foundation on the racial grievances of white men is doomed to defeat after defeat.”
(Via The American Prospect.)
I think the GOP leaders really showed their true colors (no pun intended) on race. It makes Steele look like a straight token and nothing more. It kills any credibility in the claim that the party is not racist. They just can’t seem to help themselves.
YouTube – President Barack Obama addresses the 2009 NAACP Convention
Rational Markets
Justin Fox | The Daily Show | Comedy Central:
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Justin Fox
Daily Show
Full EpisodesPolitical Humor Economic Crisis
(Via The Daily Show.)
Why regulation, but not regulators, is necessary.
Does Franken Solve the Filibuster Problem? | The American Prospect
Does Franken Solve the Filibuster Problem? | The American Prospect:
“For Democrats, the 60 votes will be a curse as often as it is a blessing. While it gives them enormous flexibility to move important legislation, it also turns every Democratic senator into a kingmaker or a deal-breaker, and that is a recipe for chaos.”
(Via The American Prospect.)
We already see that now. The pork is just bluer this time around.
Reading the Employment Report: Focus on Hours, Not Heads – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com
Reading the Employment Report: Focus on Hours, Not Heads – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com:
“Any evidence of ‘green shoots’ appearing in recent months disappears in this broader measure. The recession continues apace. If current trends continue, we are in for a frightening time.”
(Via Freakonomics Blog.)
Subprime Thinking
Did Liberals Cause the Sub-Prime Crisis? | The American Prospect:
“It’s telling that, amid all the recent recriminations, even lenders have not fingered CRA. That’s because CRA didn’t bring about the reckless lending at the heart of the crisis. Just as sub-prime lending was exploding, CRA was losing force and relevance. And the worst offenders, the independent mortgage companies, were never subject to CRA — or any federal regulator. Law didn’t make them lend. The profit motive did.”
(Via The American Prospect.)
The White House – Blog Post – Celebrating LGBT Pride Month
Michael Jackson’s Mirror. – Ta-Nehisi Coates
Michael Jackson’s Mirror. – Ta-Nehisi Coates:
“I think, despite the jokes and the sarcasm, we all knew what the plastic surgery was about. There was the stuff that MJ did that we joked about because it was weird, and there was the stuff he did that we joked about because it made us uncomfortable, because it told us something really ugly about the way things are and about ourselves too–I’m not talking just about white people, it’s 2009 and ‘good hair’ hasn’t gone out of style quite yet. I think things are different from the way they were in Jackson’s heyday. But not so different that it’s funny.”
(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)
Wall Street and the Third World | vanityfair.com
Wall Street and the Third World | vanityfair.com:
“The former Communist countries generally turned, after the dismal failure of their postwar system, to market capitalism, replacing Karl Marx with Milton Friedman as their god. The new religion has not served them well. Many countries may conclude not simply that unfettered capitalism, American-style, has failed but that the very concept of a market economy has failed, and is indeed unworkable under any circumstances. Old-style Communism won’t be back, but a variety of forms of excessive market intervention will return. And these will fail. The poor suffered under market fundamentalism—we had trickle-up economics, not trickle-down economics. But the poor will suffer again under these new regimes, which will not deliver growth. Without growth there cannot be sustainable poverty reduction. There has been no successful economy that has not relied heavily on markets. Poverty feeds disaffection. The inevitable downturns, hard to manage in any case, but especially so by governments brought to power on the basis of rage against American-style capitalism, will lead to more poverty. The con?sequences for global stability and American security are obvious.”
(Via Vanity Fair.)
Great and succinct critique on market fundamentalism (“free markets can solve any problem”).