The latest Rasmussen poll numbers on the Senate race are insane!
And of course what would a week be without a dumb maneuver pulled by our junior Senator?
Cece brings you the hearing on the constitutionality of CI-97. IMHO, looks doomed, eh?
Kossak sandlapper continues his excellent coverage of Rich’s initiatives, focusing on the recent Montana court decision to throw out the terrible trio.
Ugh. A Ravalli county man is responsible for setting at least 19 Bitterroot wildfires, probably more.
Senator Reid: Specter’s NSA wiretapping bill dead. Good riddance.
Locally owned media does news better, concludes the FCC in a report it tried to hide. Why does deregulation always seem to scr*w the consumer? (Hat tip Granny.)
Bush: “Bin Laden is Hitler. That is, no big deal.”
Bush unhinged by opposition from Colin Powell.
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) demonstrates how to project strength on the issue of national security. Incidentally everything she says is true, which is a rhetorical skill the GOP lacks this election cycle.
Ann Richards tributes: Montana’s Nicole R, Kossak wmtriallawyer, Salon’s Liz Smith and Lou Dubose, the Houston Chronicle’s Kever and Feldman, and the WaPo’s Joe Holley. Good-bye to a true hero of American politics.
New West photo contest winners are posted…some great shots of the West.
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September 15, 2006 at 12:42 pm
I am trying extremely hard to figure out the propaganda machine that is the Democrat party. The tax breaks brought in record money, the economy is soaring, people can afford to drive, and we haven’t been blown up. Yet, the Dems will pick up seats. The Dow Jones is almost at 11,600. The all time high is 11,700, which was artificial because of the tech boom. Oil went to $61 a barrel, and some states gas is $1.90 again…ahhh. Relief. Everything should be sitting nice for the GOP. But they are not. The one successful LIE is people are misinformed about healthcare.
Basically, people are misinformed, but I really need to yell it, NORMAL HEALTH CARE COSTS ARE NOT RISING!!! Let’s do the REAL math. Take a person that does not have any type of health insurance. Okay, take in standard inflation. A visit to the doctors with no treatment costs about the same amount, $75 at the local walk-in clinic here in Missoula to see him. A days worth of work, which is what it used to cost. Okay, let’s say you fell, and you have…a broken leg. When health care was “cheap” they gave you ibuprofen and cheap cast. Which, btw, is cheaper than it was years ago. Now they have MRI’s, 3D X-Rays, etc. But now, they can give you better drugs, better casts, and laser the bone back in place, which is expensive. Health care didn’t go up, people figured out more expensive crap. So health care is BETTER, which costs money. If you want a cheap cast and ibuprofen go far it, not expensive. However, I don’t think people have a RIGHT to get the laser treatment, slap on a cheap cast. It will, and always has: HEALED. It did when my parents were poor when I was a kid. However, if you earn a lot, or CARE to spend savings on the laser, be my guest, but guess what…I AM NOT paying for that as a tax payer. I refuse to pay for fancy treatment for lazy people. Health care in the fancy form like this is not a right of any kind. Sell your SUV, sell your house, I don’t care. But I’m not paying for it. I got normal stitches as a kid; they can too…not some fancy non-scarring glue. You want that…PAY for it. Health-care is out of control, not the cost, but the mentality of people thinking they deserve every new treatment that comes along. I’m not going to pay for a scar removal for a drug dealer. Nor will I pay for plastic surgery or anything else. If a person is sick, heal them. But, health care is not the problem. Its people thinking they deserve this new treatment. Tomorrow, something will come along and make a bone break painless…does everybody DESERVE pain free. What’s next? A free house, car. This makes me ill…I want a tax payer paid for vacation to the Bahamas.
September 15, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Dude, you are nuts.
September 15, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Um, yeah.
I know that when I’m contemplating my next healthcare spending spree, I’ll be using my government-funded national healthcare to buy a pony in an effort to lift my general malaise.
Oh, wait. There IS no government-funded national healthcare for me.
Guess I’m back to deciding which of my family’s chronic conditions we can actually afford to treat this month.
And no pony. Damn.
September 15, 2006 at 1:18 pm
Oh, and, Dude? It’s the DEMOCRATIC Party, for the love of all that is holy.
Democrat = Noun
Democratic = Adjective
September 16, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Maybe I’m nuts too, I thought the guy at least had some valid points. The main area where he and I are in disagreement is the fact that he blames the situation on the Democrats, let’s not forget which party it is that most generally stands idly by while big money businesses rape consumers and make enormous profits. Like it or not, health care in this country is big business, and especially the insurance end of it.
I’m not a big fan of government sponsored health care, I think that it’s just exponentially increasing taxes and steady degradation of health care standards waiting to happen. What I would like to see however, is the government step in with some consumer protection laws that apply to health care.
For example, why is it that the same medical procedure costs substantially different amounts depending on one’s insurance status? If the prices were standardized and openly available then at least people would know what they were getting themselves into before they made an appointment, like they do with almost every other even mildly substantial expenditure on the planet. If you asked the price of a gallon of milk and the clerk in the store said “Oh don’t worry about the price, what we need to worry about is the fact that you’re thirsty. We’ll worry about the price later”, would you take your chances on the price of that gallon of milk? Hell no. At a typical doctor’s office or ~gulp~ the emergency room, you don’t have a choice because nailing anyone down on a price beforehand is next to impossible. I’m the type that asks, and I get looked at like I’m nuts every time I do it.
Why is it that if someone takes their car to a mechanic for a specific problem, and the mechanic doesn’t fix it, that person is not legally obligated to pay said mechanic unless the problem is fixed, but if I go to the doctor I have to pay him even if he shrugs his shoulders and says “I don’t know what’s wrong with you”, or worse yet causes more harm than good? I’m just out the money and now I have to start all over with a different doctor. It wouldn’t fly with any other business in this country, why do doctors get away with it? Why do they get paid even if they don’t do their jobs? Why isn’t anyone but me pissed off about it? How the hell did we get on this subject in the first place? Was there any of your links that had anything to do with health care or the government funding thereof? Why am I still typing on this comment since it has nothing to do with the post? Why doesn’t George Bush take some time off . . . . . and then quit? Why isn’t . . . . . ;)
September 17, 2006 at 8:25 pm
Justin, are you a doctor? Are most Americans doctors? Do you really think that everyone has the expertise to decide what procedures are worth the money and what ones aren’t? You mention the emergency room – what if you’re unconscious? Making smart consumer choices when it comes to health care is a lot more complicated – and has a lot more imediate and bigger consequences – than going to a mechanic.
And if you’d take a look at other industrialized nations with nationalized health care, you’d see that their standard of care isn’t any worse than ours – it is, however, ridiculously less expensive.
September 17, 2006 at 11:40 pm
Um, Sara, I’m glad to see that you believe all of that crap that doctors tell you, I’m sure they are too because as long as people keep believing it, they’ll keep making a fortune whether they’re competent or not. Upon questioning a doctor one time as to why he charged me $300 for an annual checkup, he actually told me that he did, after all, go to school for twelve years, as if that made him somehow better than me or something. Oh, OK, so in other words you have enormous student loans and that’s my problem how?
I may not have the expertise to decide which procedure I need, but I do have the expertise, if that’s what you’d like to call it, to call BS when I see a doctor for fifteen minutes and get a bill for $300. That’s $1200 an hour, I don’t care if my life DOES depend on it. If I were on trial falsely accused of murder and facing the death penalty, I couldn’t afford a $1200 an hour lawyer, so why should a doctor be so different? I just find it difficult to feel sorry for someone making $1200 an hour when from time to time somebody doesn’t pay him.
I really don’t know what you mean when you refer to my referring to the emergency room. If I were unconscious and they had to revive me somehow, then I should be charged the standard rate for reviving unconscious people, regardless of who my insurance company is or whether I even have insurance. They could even tack on a surcharge depending on how many pitchers of ice water they had to dump on my face before I came sputtering back to life. Hell, maybe even give a discount like ten bucks each for the first five pitchers, the sixth one’s free or something, as long as they charged the unconscious guy in the next cubicle the same price.
As far as the other industrialized nations, I’m assuming that you wouldn’t consider a six month waiting list to see a general practitioner a lower standard of care? I’m also assuming then that you wouldn’t consider taxes in those industrialized nations to be somewhat higher? It isn’t any cheaper, trust me. What difference does it make if they send you a bill or take it out of your paycheck as taxes? It still costs the same.
A very wise man once said, “If you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait until the government is paying for it.” These are the people that will pay hundreds of dollars for a toilet seat we’re talking about here. What the hell do you think they’d be willing to pay for an X-Ray? ;)
September 18, 2006 at 9:37 am
Well, Justin, one of the main reasons doctors’ visits are so high is not because of their student loans, but because of their insurance and administrative costs. Doctors in standard private practices — i.e., not specialists — have a very difficult time making a profit. You’d be surprised how little they make.
The reason their administrative and insurance costs are so high is because of the insurance industry, the way they try to discourage claims and the non-uniform bureaucracy associated with the dozens of companies.
I agree with Sara. You are not qualified to make medical decisions other than your basic I-need-stitches, I-need-antibiotics diagnoses. Yes, that’s most of our medical needs, but — God forbid — you get something more serious, early diagnosis is more likely to not only save your life, but save your money.
Finally, the most efficient and best health care in this country comes through the VA system. That is, a government-funded system. They have excellent health care and the costs of treating patients is a fraction of what it costs in the private industry.
Also, the care in other countries — France, Canada, Spain, Germany — are superior to ours and cost less. All government-funded.
As someone who’s worked for state government, government contractors, and private industry I can testify that efficiency seems to have little to do with who’s doing the work, but how much money they have. The more money, the less efficient. The worst place I ever worked was a government defense contractor, which had waaaaay too much money. There was a form for EVERYTHING! I got paid too much, sat around too much, and and everything I could possibly want…desk…office supplies…I was a PROOFREADER!
Don’t buy into the spin, my friend. We need real solutions for everyday problems. I don’t think profit should be the driving force behind our health. I don’t think families should go broke paying for their children’s health care. If we can make health care better and more affordable…why don’t we?
September 18, 2006 at 1:00 pm
This is one of those subjects where we best agree to disagree and let it rest methinks. I will say however, that I don’t think I’m the one buying into spin here. I don’t know a single vet that would agree with you about the VA, I know single moms on Medicaid that take themselves and their kids to the doctor every time they get a hangnail because it’s free, (can you imagine what the annual doctor bill for the entire nation would be if everyone had “free” health care?), I’m sure that a lot of the money that I pay to doctors doesn’t go directly into their pockets but the Hummer H1 parked outside their office tells me that a lot of it does, and pardner, I do lots of stuff every day that you probably wouldn’t think I’m “qualified” to do. The only difference between me and a “professional” is a license and a little education. Education is free if you know where to get it, and I could give a rat’s patooty about a license. I’m not saying that I’m a doctor, but according to you I’m probably not a plumber, gunsmith, mechanic, welder, electrician, carpenter, or pilot either but I’ve done all of those things and more without the benefit of a license or certification, just knowledge. If you look at it that way, the only thing that I am “qualified” to do, is drive a truck. I’d be one sad example of a human being if that were the case. Stand back, I have a brain and I’m not afraid to use it! ;)
I agree with your last statement 100% however, profits shouldn’t be the determining factor on how healthy we can be, and if we can make it more affordable we should. I just don’t think that having the government pay for it is the answer. Regulate it perhaps, regulating frivolous law suits would be a good start to bringing down insurance costs for example, but having the entire country lining up at the doctor’s office every time they get a sniffle is most definitely NOT going to be “cheaper”. The example you gave of your government job is just that much more proof of why it won’t be “cheaper”.
Speaking of which, are they hiring? ;)
September 18, 2006 at 1:31 pm
I guess I should have mentioned the internet startup I worked for, too, that had more money than it knew what to do with. We had takeout for dinner every night (all 50 of us), we did weekend trips to Vegas, and the CEO “loaned” himself money from the company to refurbish his downtown apartment, than “forgave” himself the loan.
The place went out of business when investors realized we weren’t going to be making a profit anytime soon.
Other private industries were the same. One place cut all bid-writing out of its budget to boost its profits and stock price for a planned merger, sacrificing all of its future business for like the next five years.
Another place drove all the efficient and hard-working employees away because they expected higher salaries; turnover was high, client relations was disasterous, and they couldn’t finish any projects. But, hey! They saved money! Thanks to the companies monopoly on the one product they did make, they stayed afloat.
On the other hand, the most efficient place I worked for was probably the university.
I highly doubt people will flock to the doctor’s office for free health care when they get. Most will go when they need to. And you’ll catch a lot of stuff before it develops seriously.
Of all people, I don’t doubt your ability to learn on your own, Justin.
But, yeah, we can disagree on this…