Talk about a shock to the system. Has anyone bothered to notice the radical changes that John McCain and Sarah Palin are planning for the nation’s health insurance system?
Uh, yeah. Me. Like 3 months ago when I wrote about it here.
New York Times, Tuesday:
For starters, the McCain health plan would treat employer-paid health benefits as income that employees would have to pay taxes on. "It means your employer is going to have to make an estimate on how much the employer is paying for health insurance on your behalf, and you are going to have to pay taxes on that money"
Me, 3 months ago:
If you believe irony is the best medicine, than the McCain plan is for you. Why? Because it's actually a huge tax increase!.... I'll have to get a little wonky to explain how. Stay with me. First, McCain would end the tax break currently in place that lets you exclude the value of an employer-provided health care plan from your wages.
Wow. That just totally sounds like two different ways of saying the same thing. Except I said it first. And the guy who said it second gets paid a lot of money to type his words. And I type mine for free. And First.
Not that I'm bitter. Not that this is the first time the Times has taken their cues from me. I shall rise above it however, because there is a more important question. To quote one paragraph in the article that wasn't directly plagiarized from my work:
You may think this is a good move or a bad one — but it’s a monumental change in the way health coverage would be provided to scores of millions of Americans. Why not more attention?
Well duh. Because we haven't gotten to the bottom of the lipstick and pig issue yet. Not to mention moose field dressing.
So anyway, John McCain is proposing a huge tax increase to completely tear down the employer-based health-care system you probably rely on and replace it with something akin to the naked capitalism that served Lehman Brothers and AIG so well. I'd feel really secure if AIG was in charge of my health care right now. Especially if I were paying a lot more in taxes on top of AIG being in charge of my health care.
Not that you didn't already know this if you're one of my regular readers. Look for the Associated Press to break the story sometime next month.
9 comments:
So, when this new snarky 'proposed' healthcare system hits the skids...all those who decry national health insurance blame the snafu on the democratic party and ask, no, demand and expect, the feds (meaning 'you and me taxpayers') to go around back and clean up?
It seems to me, that it might be best to consider what may be most effective, expedient, and best for the majority AND plan for it ahead of time e.g. some kind of universal, uniform national health coverage? Instead of the bits-n-pieces approach that favors one special interest group over another one after another after another.
hey drugmonkey,
on the topic of the free writing and opinion you provide us on your lovely blog, i have a drug question completely irrelevant to the elections. i was wondering what your thoughts are around prescription amphetamine use (aka adderall), specifically as a "study aid"? would you ever take adderall if you had a legit prescription for it?
Anyone still believe that government issued health care couldn't possibly be more efficient than the private sector?
For the love of God or whatever else you believe in, please read this book.
Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Healthcare is Better Than Yours. Published 2007.
Hmmm, might have something to do with the fact that they actually use pharmacists at the VA....
McCain could propose all these healthcare changes, but isn't it up to Congress to decide whether to pass this change? This would only give McCain veto power over the change. Moreover, the Congress can override a veto. So really, doesn't it come down to your representatives to decide the change in healthcare?
you are awesome and always first with big news and you never complain that people don't donate money to you. you just give us all this info for free, you are my hero and such a better blogger than me.
all I do is post pics of hannah montanna and hope pedophiles take a shine to me and give me money, but chomos are cheap. they steal pics on the net and and never give money to anyone. they save all their money so they can pay rent and live at grandpa's basement.
I have no buisness sense at all.
jpl,
I am a VA doc and let me tell you about some of its world class care. It takes us two weeks to get an ultrasound,three months to get an MRI, and there is a two YEAR wait list for joint replacements in this large metropolitan area. There is a four month wait just to get in to see me as a PCP.
Thank god I am done with primary care in 49 days.
Anonymous,
I am not sure what metropolitan area you are from, but your hospital sounds like a far cry from the three major metropolitan areas I've been in within the past 5 years. I'm not necessarily pointing my finger at you, but many times physicians (esp. younger ones) seem to order unnecessary tests. I've never had a patient wait longer than a month for an MRI or 6 months for a joint replacement. As for a four month wait for an appointment with a primary doc, are your patients able to see a NP or pharmacist? Do you work in NY? That might have something to do with it.
I know the New York Times blurb looks like what you posted, but it is possible for 2 separate people to come up with the exact same idea.
We all know what happens when one person thinks up a great invention and doesn't follow it through. Someone else also comes up with a similar or even the exact same invention, gets it patented, and makes big bucks. If you want to be heard and be paid, find a newspaper (heck, write to the New York Times) and ask for an editorial position.
I also tried to figure out your other claim to being ripped off, but I didn't follow your posts too well. You may want to make the linking more clear.
anonymous #4,
Tongue in cheek. Look it up and get back to me.
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