I'm excited about it. It will be nice to be able to help people for a living as opposed to deal in widgets. Got it. Yeah, totally agree on that one.
Well Hoo , all is not lost yet. Dad can learn that he need not waste his life with the Jug. He could be that fellow you remember again, all he needs is a little help on the how. If you find he wants some help then you should try really hard to help him find it. It really is possible. I might even help if he wants help.
Today I learned maxiep, papag, hoojacks and myself are all more similar than we thought. Maxiep is pissed because he felt like he couldn't follow his dreams (and others might not have to make the same sacrifice), Papag is frustrated because he didn't follow his dreams, hoojacks is anxious because he might have to give up his dreams, and I am filled with void because I never gave my dreams a real chance. Can I get a group hug? The common denominator as I see it is health care. We all could have probably made it with 1/10 our salaries (except hoojacks cause he doesn't make shit already), I know I could have and I did at one point. Imagine where we all could be if the fear of loosing everything due to illness and lack of health care wasn't one of our core driving concerns? Would our country be better off if we were all contributing to society in ways we loved rather than we felt force into? For just the four of us it probably wouldn't matter much, but on a larger scale imagine how our country would be right now if everyone were allowed this freedom? Imagine how much more entrepreneurship, creativity, personal innovation, and social help people could offer to the greater good if they could cut the corporate health care shackles. Imagine how many more people would be working right now because they got the care they needed or the benefits of having a job outweighed being poor and receiving benefits? Imagine how much more money business would have to reinvest if they didn't have to cover their employee's health care benefits. I'm probably to much of Utopian in this aspect but I really believe health care is an investment in our countries present and future that we need to make. You might say we can't afford to give everyone health care, but I say we can't afford not to. I personally would happily pay 3x the taxes I currently pay if it ensured everyone had this freedom.
My wife is in management for a large HMO, so I have to admit that health care isn't an issue in my situation.
This is awesome and I agree. Studies on productivity routinely show that if you take the concept of making more money out of the equation and make people comfortable, they are more productive and innovative because they have room for experimentation and improvisation. I would argue something like health concerns would work similarly. This reminds me of an awesome vlog brothers episode I saw recently: [video=youtube;R7LF5Vj2n64]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7LF5Vj2n64[/video]
A perfectly fair point. Of course, the rules have changed since 2008. Now sitting on your ass with your hand out is respected.
I'm not pissed in the least. I have had a great life. Of course, I made utility maximizing choices. Where I am dismayed is I'm now being told that people who haven't worked nearly as hard are coming to me with their hands out. I have no problem helping the helpless; I have a real problem helping those who feel they are entitled to what I've earned before they've gotten off their ass. Health care has little if anything to do with it.
Put that way I agree with you then. I don't like it either, but I don't get so upset about it. A certain percentage will always do that, I would rather marginalize their effect on the rest of us and increase the incentives of those who do try. Health care has everything to do with it IMO, its a baseline that everyone should start with. I feel that if you start with a healthy population that gives a shit then your going to max potential. Kind of like employee owned stores, service is always a little better.
3x inflation. Not because of jury awards, and not because of malpractice insurance cost. In California, malpractice insurance costs $22K-$34K per year for general surgeons (about what they charge for one basic surgery), while internal medicine doctors pay $6K. $6K while charging $400/hr. That's the most expensive state for insurance. Malpractice awards total about $4B/year, while health care costs are 17.9% of GDP, or $trillions.
You're missing a whole bunch of other costs. First, the cost of malpractice insurance for the physicians. Second, the cost of unnecessary tests being run simply to protect against malpractice. Third, the cost built into every other device, medicine or service that goes to malpractice. Fourth, the cost of medical school in the first place. And fifth, the amount of money and time spent on non-treatment tasks (insurance, administrative, patient records, compliance, etc.) There's a reason tort lawyers all contribute to the Democratic Party. They make sure the money keeps flowing to them at the expense of the health care industry. What you need to look for is how much non-specialist physicians are netting compared to what they did net even fifteen years ago on an inflation adjusted basis. You can have that question answered by the shortage of those physicians. The growth is occurring in the elective areas, like plastic surgery.
