Back to the Health Care issue

There has been a lot of press about health care for everyone in the USA. Some are afraid of that possibility and call it socialized medicine using a tone of voice that evokes impending doom or horror. Others are saying 'it's about time' we not only gave serious thought to it but to implement it. Now is the time is the cry of many. It will hit home for many who may have, in the past, been against it as the solid companies they work for drop health care down to a minimum of coverage with most having to pay large out-of-pocket deductibles and ancillary changes.

It has been said by many in the upper income brackets that the USA has 'the best health care in the world' and yet this great health care is not affordable to a very large portion of our population in the 'Greatest Nation in the World'. And those numbers are growing because of the economic downturn (I would use the word "depression" but that seems to be a word out of favor)

There are people who can afford health care but go off to another country to have very expensive procedures or operation because either their own health care wont cover it (an HMO that has deemed it 'experimental' or some other excuse) and the other country will perform it in high quality hospitals with highly trained doctors at a fraction of the cost that an American hospital would charge. Now that is the crux of the real issue of health care in the United States of America. Our health care, no matter if it is a general office visit to your GP or more specialized, has become so outrageously expensive as to become out of control. Why? Well, aren't we a free market system? And since health care has become Big Business then why not charge what the market will bear?

If you are old enough you might remember when a visit to your GP would cost $5 and he would give you some sample medications to tide you over till you got your prescription filled. Now you don't go to a GP anymore, you go to some medical center where 'your' doctor is a part of a larger medical business. You don't really get to know your doctor nor his staff as in the 'old days'.

You can argue that doctors had to do this consolidation to cut their own costs and you would be correct. Their malpractice insurance has sky-rocketed. Several years ago there was an effort to limit mal-practice suit amounts but that failed. There are arguments both for and against that are quite valid. However it is in large part a factor of insurance companies dictating premiums in accordance with their need for a certain profit margin. One has only to look at the past year's issues with large insurance companies and the 'bail-outs' AND the huge bonus programs that these large companies lavished on their executives to know that it was imperative that a large profit margin had to be maintained. And to do that, large insurance premiums had to be charged. After all we are a Free Market System and health care is now a part of that big business. Good health is not a right, it is available only if you can afford it.

Read Michal Kinsley's "Health Care Faces the 'R' Word" and get a view point that rings true.

The cost of health care is out of control in the USA. How does one get control of something that should be affordable to all? I am still collecting data and forming opinions on this. And yes, I am using a lot of data from Germany in forming these opinions because I have had an up close and personal view of that system. It works and it works because it is under control and it is under control because of a long term dedication by the government. All insurance premiums are based on ability to pay. And you, the insured, get access to ALL medical procedures, not just those listed in some fine print drawn up by that certain insurance company. Now there's an inovative thought!

My weekend reading-dollarsign origin?

So, we are having morning coffee and the subject came up - 'What is the history of the dollar'. My passion is origins. Origins of words, of customs or of where did mom get that recipe. So, off I go to the internet to research.

Here are my results from the website - http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/RDavies/arian/dollar.html

The United States Abbreviation Theory

One of the most popular theories is that the dollar sign is derived from the initials of the United States. If you superimpose a capital "U" on a capital "S" then drop the lower part of the "U", what you end up with is a version of the dollar symbol with two strokes. This theory was endorsed by the American libertarian philosopher and staunch defender of capitalism, Ayn Rand, in her novel Atlas Shrugged. Chapter 10 is entitled the Sign of the Dollar. Rand claimed the dollar sign was the symbol not only of the currency, but also the nation, a free economy, and a free mind.



So much for a Sunday morning trivia discussion, eh?