Here is my personal list of the top 5 books everyone should absolutely read:
1.The Brothers Karamazov
2.Naked Economics
3.Silent Spring
4.The Omnivore's Dilemma
5.War is a Force that Gives us Meaning
books are listed in no particular order. There are only 5 of them! And all will completely enrich your life.
Runners up: 100 years of solitude, Invisible Man, Genealogy of Morals.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
An Open Letter to Rep. Ron Paul, regarding his July 20 posting “Healthcare is a Good, Not a Right”
Dear Representative Paul,
Your website says, "citizens in countries with nationalized healthcare never would have accepted this system had they known upfront about the rationing of care and the long lines." Having spoken to people who have actually received this type of care, I must tell you plainly that it compares favorably with the type I have personally received under private insurance. We know a national system will not be perfect, however to pretend that our current system is ideal seems disingenuous. Countries with nationalized healthcare, like Canada, spend less per capita on healthcare but with better results.
You say that, "the more money and power that government has, the more power it will abuse." Currently, it is the insurance companies that have all the power and all the money. I cannot, on my own, demand better coverage or prices. Nor can my neighbors. So we are stuck with unreliable coverage.
President Obama's plan gives us a public option, but leaves the private option open. Were I happy with my current coverage, I could keep it. But I ought to have the freedom to choose a public plan if that is what is best for me.
Many Texans need and deserve better healthcare than they currently have access to. Healthcare may be a privilege, but it is one that we are more than capable of extending to all Americans. I think it is about time we tried.
Sincerely,
Rachel Nusbaum
Read Paul's full post on why American citizens do not deserve quality healthcare here.
Your website says, "citizens in countries with nationalized healthcare never would have accepted this system had they known upfront about the rationing of care and the long lines." Having spoken to people who have actually received this type of care, I must tell you plainly that it compares favorably with the type I have personally received under private insurance. We know a national system will not be perfect, however to pretend that our current system is ideal seems disingenuous. Countries with nationalized healthcare, like Canada, spend less per capita on healthcare but with better results.
You say that, "the more money and power that government has, the more power it will abuse." Currently, it is the insurance companies that have all the power and all the money. I cannot, on my own, demand better coverage or prices. Nor can my neighbors. So we are stuck with unreliable coverage.
President Obama's plan gives us a public option, but leaves the private option open. Were I happy with my current coverage, I could keep it. But I ought to have the freedom to choose a public plan if that is what is best for me.
Many Texans need and deserve better healthcare than they currently have access to. Healthcare may be a privilege, but it is one that we are more than capable of extending to all Americans. I think it is about time we tried.
Sincerely,
Rachel Nusbaum
Read Paul's full post on why American citizens do not deserve quality healthcare here.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
I heart socialized medicine.
From John Aravosis, via my ever-lovely google reader:
What I got was a company [Blue Cross] whose left hand doesn't even know what its right hand is doing. A company that can't even tell me if I am or am not covered when I'm in a situation where I have to go to a doctor.
We're to believe that this isn't the equivalent of "socialism," where some faceless bureaucrat rations out care, telling you what you can and can't get treatment for, to hell with what you really need, to hell with any chance of appeal? How could a government plan be any worse? At least with a government plan I can appeal to my member of Congress when the insurance provider starts playing games like this.
For all intents and purposes I have no insurance. I have a crap shoot. Not only are the details of my plan unknowable, but they appear to change with the luck of the draw, depending who answers the phone that day at Blue Cross' 800 number, spin the lucky wheel, headquarters in hell.
Its from a much longer post (http://www.americablog.com/2009/07/blue-cross-tells-me-they-will-then-wont.html) but that part pretty much sums up my own feelings about private insurance...and why we desperately need a public option.
What I got was a company [Blue Cross] whose left hand doesn't even know what its right hand is doing. A company that can't even tell me if I am or am not covered when I'm in a situation where I have to go to a doctor.
We're to believe that this isn't the equivalent of "socialism," where some faceless bureaucrat rations out care, telling you what you can and can't get treatment for, to hell with what you really need, to hell with any chance of appeal? How could a government plan be any worse? At least with a government plan I can appeal to my member of Congress when the insurance provider starts playing games like this.
For all intents and purposes I have no insurance. I have a crap shoot. Not only are the details of my plan unknowable, but they appear to change with the luck of the draw, depending who answers the phone that day at Blue Cross' 800 number, spin the lucky wheel, headquarters in hell.
Its from a much longer post (http://www.americablog.com/2009/07/blue-cross-tells-me-they-will-then-wont.html) but that part pretty much sums up my own feelings about private insurance...and why we desperately need a public option.
Friday, July 17, 2009
I can haz health care?
Health care is one of the most pressing issues facing us today. A few months ago, I was unexpectedly pushed off my parents' plan and forced into the scary scary world of insurance on my own. And what I saw, in the current system, was not good.
Not only are people being denied care today, if we don't fix this thing soon our whole economy could be compromised. You think goldman screwed us? Wait till we are spending one third of our GDP annually on medical care.
Check out this excellent article on care rationing by Peter Singer.
The way we regard rationing in health care seems to rest on a similar assumption, that it’s immoral to apply monetary considerations to saving lives — but is that stance tenable?
Health care now absorbs about one dollar in every six the nation spends, a figure that far exceeds the share spent by any other nation. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it is on track to double by 2035.
President Obama has said plainly that America’s health care system is broken. It is, he has said, by far the most significant driver of America’s long-term debt and deficits. It is hard to see how the nation as a whole can remain competitive if in 25 years we are spending nearly a third of what we earn on health care, while other industrialized nations are spending far less but achieving health outcomes as good as, or better than, ours.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19healthcare-t.html
Not only are people being denied care today, if we don't fix this thing soon our whole economy could be compromised. You think goldman screwed us? Wait till we are spending one third of our GDP annually on medical care.
Check out this excellent article on care rationing by Peter Singer.
The way we regard rationing in health care seems to rest on a similar assumption, that it’s immoral to apply monetary considerations to saving lives — but is that stance tenable?
Health care now absorbs about one dollar in every six the nation spends, a figure that far exceeds the share spent by any other nation. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it is on track to double by 2035.
President Obama has said plainly that America’s health care system is broken. It is, he has said, by far the most significant driver of America’s long-term debt and deficits. It is hard to see how the nation as a whole can remain competitive if in 25 years we are spending nearly a third of what we earn on health care, while other industrialized nations are spending far less but achieving health outcomes as good as, or better than, ours.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19healthcare-t.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
