To Your Health October 30, 2008March 12, 2017 DON’T VOTE I can’t imagine you won’t, but this is fun. REDISTRIBUTION Bob Neinast: ‘I’m a Republican, but, as I like to put it, a Republican with a Brain. Clearly Obama is the only sane choice this year. However, his ‘redistribution’ comment is killing him here in Ohio. There really is talk here about ‘socialism’ and ‘communism.’ He needs an ad that asks . . . Were we socialist under Eisenhower in the 1950s? The top marginal rates then were 90%. Under Nixon and Ford in the 1970s when the top bracket was 70%? All Obama is talking about is putting the top rates back to where they were under Clinton/Gore. Were we living under the communist yoke back then?’ HEALTH CARE Douglas Holtz-Eakin ‘speaks with unmatched authority on the economy, globalization and healthcare.’ He ran the Congressional Budget Office. He serves as John McCain’s Senior Policy Advisor – and, according to ABC News, he says workers won’t want to leave their company-sponsored plans because, ‘What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit we’re gonna give ’em.’ Health care reform just screams to be done. Our economic competitiveness depends on it. Earlier this year, I linked to a story about hospital check lists. It described how the B17 – though wildly superior to anything else then flying – crashed on its first test flight because it was just too complicated to fly. So – instead of scrapping the plane – they added the first-ever pilot ‘checklist’ . . . and from then on it performed beautifully and became the workhorse of World War II. A similar thing has happened in hospital Intensive Care Units. Astonishing drops in error rates, costs, and lost lives through the addition of simple check lists. It’s a story that needs to become ‘urgent common knowledge’ so that every hospital quickly adopts this practice. And it’s the kind of smart modernization through which Senator Obama hopes to shave $2,500 off the cost of an average family’s annual health care cost. And we need to find less expensive ways to care for the currently uninsured than the current system of Emergency Room care. CBS ran two terrific pieces this past Sunday Morning. The first is a fascinating 7 minutes (preceded by a 15-second promo) on the French system – ‘Why the French Can Afford to Get Sick.’ The second is on our system – ‘Perils of American Health Care.’ Because health care is so important to each of us . . . and represents more than 15% of our economy (versus 11% in France) . . . it really makes sense to find the time to watch these two pieces. We need to be better informed to participate in the debate. Let’s face it: ours is not the most conscientious electorate. So many people are, well, such idiots – and so quick to attack. To wit (to witless?): This kind of story represents the worst in journalistic distortion of the facts. If you divide the number of people living in France by the 12-14 BILLION dollar deficit for this system, it comes to a mere $201,000 per person!!!! A family of four could insure themselves for two lifetimes with that $800,000. Why is it that you totally evade that part of the equation? Probably because most of the dumb—es in the USA couldn’t begin to fathom the impact on the individual. Ultimately, the French taxpayers will have to pay the piper, just like we in the U.S. will if we wind up with a government system of medical care! Posted by gafilardi at 03:58 PM : Oct 27, 2008 ☞ Note the self-assuredness of the poster. You’ve got to admire such confidence and certainty. This is a guy or gal unafraid to expose the biased, liberal media. Except that $14 billion divided by the population of France (65 million) is actually $215, not $201,000. See the difference? Oy.