Monday, December 7, 2009

Rights

Americans are given the right to freedom of choice. We have the choice to decide what we think is best whether it be what you want for dinner or how you want things to be done. We all have a say. However, The Health Care Reform will slowly start taking away rights from Americans. Limiting our choice and forcing those who don't want health care to get it, puts us at the mercy of our government. Our constitution gives us the freedom. That is the idea this country was founded on. We get to choose our own religion and how we live our lives so why should the government step in and take over. Giving them more rights, just take away from ours.
Everyone thinks that we should have the right to freedom; however, some people don't see this issue as the government taking away anything important. They think it will help those people without health insurance, which it very well may. But they overlook the issue of everyone else. What about the people who don't want it? What about the people who are happy with their own health care? what about the people who can't afford to pay the fee that will be imposed if they choose not to take advantage of the government option? All these things and more are being overlooked. It would be wonderful if we could help everyone with everything, but people need to start being responsible for themselves. Obviously, there are times when help is needed, which i totally understand, but those who take advantage of the government and abuse the rights they give us are causing everyone who does things how they are supposed to to suffer.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Facts

What is a "Fact" on the issue you are studying? In what way is it a fact? How do you know it's true?

Facts? it is hard to know what is truely a fact when it comes to policy issues. people misconstrue feelings and morals with equality. so, is there really a truth? we know that some people fully support the health care reform. some of those reasons are the exact opposite of why others completely disagree with the reform. so do we just agree to disagree? honestly, i think a lot of people agree and so we should be able to call this a fact that our health care system is flawed. in some way or another, we don't like how the government is doing something.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Improving the Outcomes

The Health Care Reform is a good idea...sort of. It is more of the idea of a reform that is a good idea. The was the current administration is going about trying to fix the current system is not going to work. Spending more money then we have, further bringing us into a deficit, will only cause more problems. People are scared because there is a thousand plus page health care takeover bill that not that many people are taking the time to read and it is being pushed through the House. It will cost a ton of tax payer money that isn’t available. The idea of a reformed health care is needed, however its not fair for private companies to compete with a government option that can run at a loss until all other options are forced out of business. All that we will be left with is single payer. Forcing the media to tell the truth when they report about this reform would help the people who don't always take the time to read what they are voting for, to realize what they truely need. The media is often bought out by someone so it is very one sided. Most people are ignorant to the fact that there is another side to every story.
Inducements are knowing of a penalty or rewards which cause people to act differently then they might have acted without this knowledge. Sanctions is support or encouragement. i belive sancions would be better for this issue because using inducements wont work because that is what they are trying right now just to get the reform passed. they are trying to tell people they will give them benefits if there is a health care reform when in reality, it will just worsen the economy and cause more distress.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

targets

Targets are constructed through the use of the media and just the lack of information out in the world for people to see. So many people are blinded by the idea of change that they are unable to recognize a bad change. The media provides information that caters towards the people that are easily influenced. They give one sided information only relaying the positive aspects of the issue rather then the whole truth. Afraid to offend anyone that they might be considered as the type of person who doesn't care about their fellow Americans or racist towards anyone that isn't in the same class, status, or race as them. This affects this policy issue dramatically. The population is misguided and doesn't understand the full issue but the problem is...most of them think that they do.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

involved inerests

This issue effects us all. Therefore, we should all be interested in it. If people live in America, they should be concerned about their rights. When their rights start to diminish or they are given reason to believe that they may be taken away or lessened, then they should start to show interest. This is their lives. The less they know, the less they can blame others for what they don't like that is going on in the world. Most people just aren't interested in what's going on around them, especially at this time in their lives. There is so much going on when we are in college that most people don't have time to be concerned with stuff that "doesn't directly concern" them.

Monday, October 26, 2009

casual stories

There are numerous stories that can be told about this issue. There could be one supporting the reform that talks about a single mother who cannot support her family let alone pay for health care. There are also the stories of people coming to America illegally just to take advantage of the benefits of our health care system. As I've talked about in the past weeks, I agree with the second option. I know a lady who lost her husband a few years ago and has no other family except for the two kids she is raising on her own. She worked hard in life to be able to pay for everything she needed to like health care which payed off because a year ago she got sick with cancer. Because she was smart with her money and saved when she could, she was able to get through those hard times. These are the types of people our government should be helping. The ones who have worked hard and did all they could but maybe still need some help financially. However, our government sees that as unfair when they decide to help the citizens who need it and not all the residents that do. Just because you live in America, does not mean you get all the benefits. To get the benefits, you have to be a citizen, paying into health care, medicare, medicaid, and so on. Not all people see it like this but they should. In case people didn't realize, this country has a huge debt that needs to be paid off. This will never happen if we are constently paying for members of other countries' health care.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

ideal policy outcome through data

"In the case of Medicare, this means expanding a program that is already going broke. Medicare reimburses doctors and hospitals at rates 70% to 80% below those of private insurers, which means below the actual treatment costs in many cities and regions. Providers either eat these losses—about half of U.S. hospitals are running a deficit or close to it—or they raise prices for private payers. This cost-shifting isn't dollar for dollar, but all empirical research shows that it adds tens of billions of dollars to consumer health bills, and this will accelerate if several million new patients are added to Medicare. That means higher prices for health insurance." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514404574587981316751944.html

This paragraph is summed up in the last sentence. basically, this piece of data tells us that the cost of health insurance is going to keep rising if the bill is passed. This is beneficial to the point i am making in saying that we need to not pass this reform bill. More debt is not what this country needs.