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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

framing American Health Care

This is a picture of all the people in support of this health care reform. This picture gives the idea that all these men wanting health care have some sort of stake in this reform and so they would somehow profit from this new health care. The Pharma, unsurers, politicians, business men, and hospital assitants all are laughing and enjoying their new wealth that is spread out all over the table. They take up most of the picture but if you look at the bottom corner, there are people drawn in really small asking "what about us?" Everything that was drawn has a suddle meaning like instead of writing hospital assistant on one man's sleeve, the artist wrote "hospital ass." and this could mean nothing, but since the artist behind this drawing is obviously not in favor of this reform, i would interpret that it has a more than one reason for being written like that. Also, the people are drawn so small to represent that it this reform is supposed to benifit them, but it seems to only be profiting the politicians and insurance workers and so on. This reform that is supposed to be centered on the people for the people, seems to only be good for the people it wasn't designed necessarily to help.

manipulation

Frames are used to shape my issue by cutting out some of the facts this health care reform would lead to financially and ethically. The media only talks about the good things the health reform would bring like how everyone would have health care. They fail to mention that rather then paying for ourselves, we would be paying for everyone, even those who don't even want it or aren't willing to contribute anything themselves.
The public's view of almost everything is skewed in some sort of way so this issue is no different. Everything has some sort of effect on the way people think. The little things people say, or hear, or see all impact a person's views on different topics. When a President promises change, people only think of something different. They don't really consider what that change might be because they are too caught up on the fact that there is going to be change. Now this change doesn't necessarily have to be bad but if people were to study what it is the President is referring to when he says change, maybe they would be able to have facts to back up why they support him or perhaps even loose their support for him. Like this, the Health Care Reform promises change. People are not happy with the health care we have now so they want something new. However, they are not taking the time to do research and study that this change won't be for the best. They think it would be so nice if we could take care of everybody, but they don't know it is their tax dollars that will be paying for everybody else's health care. Their hard earned money will be going towards the people in this country who are not documented or otherwise, here illegally and don't feel the need to contribute to the country they now call home and prefer to live off of the government and basically, the citizens. With all the new's channels putting ideas into peoples heads, it is hard to know what people would think on their own. There are too many other people's thoughts and beliefs cluttering their mind.

What is Freedom?

In today's time, people seem to overlook the fact that we, as Americans have freedom. So many other countries throughout the world have laws and restrictions on many day to day activities that we take for-granted. However, we do have certain rules we have to follow that were established by the government for our own good and protect. This is fine. That is how it should be because some people need those rules so they know right from wrong. This is what our "free" country should be like. With the new proposal for the Health Care Reform, Americans' would lose some of their freedom. They would no longer be able to choose if they wanted health care or not because the Government would be taking control of that choice for us.
Hobbes said that liberty is freedom from restraint. So why then is the government trying to tell us we still have the same freedom with less choices. It doesn't work like that. It should be up to us what we do with our money or our own life according to Hobbes. You don't see the government telling us to shower frequently but, it is something we should know and if we care enough about our hygiene, we will do it ourselves. It is not our job to take care of other. If someone has the means and wants to help someone else out, then great! But other than that, people need to grow up and start being responsible for themselves instead of relying on the government 'bathe' us. Negative liberty is a society that allows people to peruse their own interests.

Secure Outcome

What does a "secure" outcome look life for the American Health Care Reform look like? Well in order to answer this question, we must first know what a secure outcome is. There are many different takes on what security for a person could be. Aristotile had one view saying that it is the role of the government to promote virtuous behavior in its citizens and therefore, in this issue, it would be the government taking control over our health care in order to make us be more protected in case of an emergency. This option would be the logic of the polis. The other choice is J.S. Mill's take on what a secure person is. Mill believed that it was in individual's job to determine what would make them happiest and it was the government's job to stay away so people can create their own happiness.
Using Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, it is easier to determine what determines a person's security/happiness. A person obviously needs the basic necessities of life such as air, food, water, etc., but after that, things become more of a debate. We need all of the following but the amounts of them are different for each person. Humans were built to interact with each other and therefore, we need a sense of love and belonging that friendship, family, and relationships bring us. Heading more towards my issue, everybody needs some sort of safe feeling which can come from numerous things like health, property, morality, employment, family, achievement, and more. As much as i dissagree with this, the goverment feels it is their duty to help those people who don't have, for whatever reason, health care. A secure outcome for my issue would be for the government to just spend all their money to make sure every person in the US is safe and has a feeling of security while here. This might bring more debt to the government, but that would be o.k. because it would be giving all the people who reside in the US a form of health care that would always be there in case of an emergency. This might not be good for those people who, in order to feel secure, have to have that feeling of achievement when they work hard to earn money to pay for their own health care and other things in life. Overall, the government would need to take control over America's health care in order to give everybody a sense of safety rather than just letting people take care of themselves. This is how Aristotle would have seen it best...the logic of the polis.

Efficient Outcome

An efficient outcome to put Obama's heath care reform into action is there isn't one. His plan would take $500 billion dollars from medicare to pay for the people who aren't paying for their own healthcare and the illegal immigrants. The less money medicare has, the less money there will be for those people who have spent their whole life putting money into it. This is not fair at all. If there was some way to enforce people to pay for their own health insurance, then everybody would be in a better spot. The hard workers would not have to pick up the slack of any people who choose not to have health care. instead, they money they put in would go back to themselves. In a perfect world where everybody lived by the law and paid their taxes and put something in to receive something, this health care reform might work disregarding the fact that it is taking away one of our choices...a freedom we have. Even if people could not contribute a lot, it would still be something and there would be more for everyone.The people that pay for their health care choose their healthcare provider. If they are not happy with their provider, they can change the carrier. If this act is passes, there will be nowhere to go. People will not have another choice because the government would be busy controlling it for us. Although we need health reform, not socialized health care, this is not the way to do it. Government intervention= a loss of freedom. This is definitely a market situation rather than a polis one. The community and government can't do everything for us. People should try to be more self sufficient.

Fair Outcomes?

What would be a fair outcome to the huge debate going back and forth between people about the Health Care Reform Obama is trying to put into action? Would it be just giving everyone the same insurance having the government pay for everything or is it having people pay for their own health insurance? I feel like the only way to create a fair opportunity for everyone would be to let the people do their own things. It is not the governments job to pay for everything. This is the land of opportunities and in order to obtain these opportunities being presented to us Americans, we need to work hard and to better our lives. There are some less fortunate than others but everybody is given the same chance and it is what a person decides to do with those chances that determine how far they get in life. While, in a Utopian society, it would be amazing if everybody worked hard and we could all help each other out and everybody could have what they need, society doesn't work like that. unfortunately, too many people in this world expect everything to be given to them and when they get it, they don't see the point in ever having to work for it. it is a laziness this country has and unfortunately, it is not those hard workers' jobs to pay for the other people that just don't feel like earning their own. we already have a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009 and several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade. our country cannot afford to help those who aren't helping our country.
The best way to achieve fairness would to have everybody in this country pay their taxes. Many people move to America illegally and therefor are not citizens and do not pay taxes. However, they still get the same rights as the hard working citizens in this country. This is not fair that the people who work hard are paying for others to live here and if this goes reform goes into action, then also for their health care and all medical needs. this country doesn't not need any more debt and with all these incentives for the non-citizens to live here, why would they want to change anything. they love the free health services and all the government aids. its not their country and if it was, they would care more about what is happening to it. they would work hard to get citizenship here and help contribute to this land that so many people are abusing. In a perfect world, this would definitely be the polis because it should be driven by communities acting in the common good. however, when the whole community is not willing to do so, we must adjust and therefore, the only fair way to do this would be the market where individuals act to maximize their own self-interest. This way generally works better for societies in the long run.

Hi! My name is Ashley and here, I'm going to be talking about my feelings towards and any knowledge i have of the Health Care Reform that President Obama is trying to pass this year. Hope you enjoy.