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  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] cap & trade
  • Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:29:41 -0400



Marie McHarry wrote:
On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 11:45 PM, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
True, and I think that is what a lot of people want to reform. We have
to be more discriminating and make sure that those who are uninsured are
citizens.

In the end, I'm not so sure that making sure non-citizens don't have
health insurance is a smart idea. Personally, I'd like to make sure
that all people who are infected with antibiotic-resistant TB or the
most recent plague (let's say that H1N1 does mutate into something
really virulent, for example). Cutting these people out of the health
care delivery system will seem penny-wise and pound-foolish if an
epidemic hits the country.


First I should clarify that I meant the illegal alien subset of non-citizens. I was not referring to people here legally. Second, I think you make a good point, one definitely worth thinking about. I think some of the 'fear' you see of illegals stems from this very idea, that they do not have proper healthcare and could help spread a pandemic. I personally don't buy into that, because I know the diseases of which you speak are extremely rare. If a pandemic were to strike, it surely would not care who was who and would be an equal opportunity offender-the great equalizer. My former Hispanic coworkers(again, most were here illegally) are really healthy people as a whole, a lot more healthy in general than my American friends. If anything, their great immune systems could weaken a viral plague, so it could work both ways. Additionally, in a worse case scenario like what you describe, it won't matter whether or not they have insurance or not, they will end up in the hospitals then just as they do now, increasing health care costs if they are not insured.



We could cut the flow of undocumented workers into this country if
employers were penalized for hiring them, but that's not going to
happen so long as big business and big ag need cheap labor.

That is the best and easiest way to slow immigration, for sure.


Alot of emergency
care could be eliminated with better education, with parents making
better decisions about their children, perhaps by taking them to a free
or scaled clinic staffed by volunteers instead of to the emergency room
where they charge you for the pillow you lay on.

I agree wholeheartedly with both of those ideas. The penultimate time
I took Jim to the ER, we'd sat around for an hour or so (he was in
moderately severe congestive heart failure) when Jim nudged me and
said something to the effect that we were in the wrong place. Why? I
asked. Well, he said, we didn't stop and get our French fries and
giant cokes before we came in. Darn, if he wasn't right: most of
population of the waiting room were huge fat (I'm talking your basic
300-hundred pounder, minimum), and they all had giant cokes and French
fries. Mostly, their kids were little and still normal size -- hadn't
had a chance to fatten up yet. Nobody looked to be acutely ill, but I
suppose Jim didn't either, except for the funny color of his skin and
that he was gasping for breath.

People get all worked up about the crap on TV, but there are shows, like ABC's The Doctors, that could really use more exposure because they would be great educational tools. Parents need to understand the difference between viruses and bacterial infections. They need to understand why it is important to take all meds to prevent superbugs. Parents need guidelines to follow. My daughter is intelligent and is a vet tech, but when my granddaughter gets sick, she still calls me for advice. Not everyone has that resource, so they err on the side of caution and make a trip to the ER. I think, too, that just for confidence sake, that every parent should know CPR and that it should be taught in schools and colleges. A little knowledge can go a long way.



We have to change the present system if we want to change that. The
most common number I've seen is that paying for the uninsured adds
about a thousand dollars a year to health insurance premiums.

Wow. We pay $175/week for insurance, removed before taxes. $1000 per year adds another $20 to that, and we are already on the ragged edge. My insurance would cost almost as much as my mortgage and that just isn't right.


I apologize for being a smart ass in my other post. Don't take it
personal. I'm just punchy because I don't know where my kid is. He was
in the Samoan region a few days ago ...

Oh damn! I'd be punchy too. I guess no news is good news in this case,
but I can imagine that waiting is not fun. To say the least.
Marie, sending good thoughts out to you and your son

Thanks, since I haven't heard anything, I'm assuming they were at sea. I wonder what a tsunami feels like when you are in a submarine.

Bev

--
Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's depths, MY son is protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently deployed somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean. Go Navy!
EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA





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