state of the union adress... weak on health care

[Guest justanotherpremed]

judging from the state of the union adress... bush puts little priority on health care

what does this mean for canada (affectionately referred to as america junior). :hat :smokin

[Guest Ian Wong]

Could you be a little more specific? I thought you actually had a real beef looking at the subject heading...

 

Ian

[Guest moo]

Uhh... Bush did address health care. Quote from AP:

 

[bush] urged major league sports leagues and athletes to end the use of performance-enhancing drugs, to set an example for young people. Their use by even a minority of elite athletes sets a dangerous example for the millions of young Americans, encouraging them to take dangerous risks with their health and safety, Bush said. He also proposed doubling federal spending on programs to promote sexual abstinence among teenagers.

 

These are important public health initiatives put forth by Bush.

 

Bush urged Congress to address the rising costs of health care with tax-free savings accounts for medical expenses, tax credits to pay for insurance and ceilings on medical malpractice damage awards.

 

Reviving an old proposal, Bush called on Congress to overhaul Social Security to allow workers to invest some of their payroll taxes in private retirement accounts. He also renewed proposals to help Americans cope with the rising costs of health care and to make tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 permanent.

 

I'm not a big fan of Bush, but I don't know what you are saying here either? He talked about health care, maybe not to the extent that you'd like him to (and what does his speech have to do with Canada anyway).

[Guest justanotherpremed]

MOo:

 

It was such a phenomenal afterthought. Yes, we'll do this, this, and this, and this, and if we have time we will look after the health of the senior citizens. Oh, and a public system isn't the answer... the united states system is the best health care in the world (based on what?).

 

My post was a question... what do you think this has to do with Canada's future? :hat :smokin

[Guest moo]

As far as I know, this has nothing to do with Canada's future. Canada is an autonomous country, with a different mindset than that of America. Culturally Canada may be influenced by America, but just look at the differing ideologic values on gay marriage, health care, etc.

 

And I don't believe a word Bush says either. The health care system will continue to suffer as long as he's in power.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Hmm, let's see what Bush's health care "policy" entails, based on what moo has given us (I missed the speech - on call for psych)

 

1) Athletes should stop doing drugs. Drugs are bad. Anyone else think this sounds like that guidance cousellor from South Park?

 

2) The US will be doubling funding to abstinence programs that probably never did much anyways. Let's see 2 X 0 = more 0. Great improvement. Oh, and he probably forgot to mention the money to pay for that will come from slashing free contraceptive programs. . . which actually prevented teen pregnancy and STDs.

 

3) A "tax free savings account" so people can pay for health care! What a great idea! That way the people who could already pay for their own healthcare get to turn that privelege into another tax cut and bilk the system of more money, whereas the people who couldn't pay for healthcare are left in the same place. . . and miss out on yet another Bush tax cut for his rich buddies in disguise.

 

4) "Overhaul Social Security to allow workers to invest some of their payroll taxes in private retirement accounts." Actually, that one is not bad. As long as you have a job to pay payroll taxes on that can then go to healthcare. Once again, the poor are screwed.

 

5) "He also renewed proposals to help Americans cope with the rising costs of health care and to make tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 permanent." Renewed proposals = BS politicalspeak to keep the middle class in line. Making the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 permanent = continuing to let his rich buddies not pay taxes, inflate the deficit, which in turn can be used to block any moves to increase spending on healthcare.

 

Isn't amazing how brilliant modern political speech writers are? In particular, the ones writing for Bush? (The Republicans might have been willing to nominate a moron for president, but they weren't going to let nincompoops write his speeches.) Bush needed something in the address to make it look like he was doing something for health care. . . his writers were able to take policies that would hurt joe average american in terms of health care, and spin them to look like they were improving health care!

 

The scary thing is I can't see John Kerry beating Bush, nor John Edwards. Maybe Howard Dean or Wesley Clark, but I'm seriously worried Bush might be in power until 2008, giving him the chance to declare war on the other half of the world's nations the US isn't currently fighting.

 

If only someone could move the tectonic plates and reposition us beside Scandinavia. . .

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi,

 

If only someone could move the tectonic plates and reposition us beside Scandinavia.

 

I love it! Serious laughing out loud on this end of the board. Can I ask though, what features of the Scandinavian system do you think would work well here? The two tiers? Having a Karolinska Institutet nearby? Something else?

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest UWOMED2005]

The tall long legged blonde nurses.

[Guest justanotherpremed]

hahaha... good stuff

ya, i was left a lot like ted kennedy after the address was over... shaking my head.... pretty much every word about health care was pure rhetoric :hat :smokin

[Guest DonaldKaufman]

Cutting the homeland security budget, No Child Left Behind still not being funded to the levels promised LAST YEAR, $1.5 to promote marriage (gay marriage, though?? of course not!), proposing making the tax cuts permanent despite a record deficit, plundering Social Security to keep the deficit from further escalating, keeping 10 times as many troops in a country with no proven terrorist ties as there are in a country that is thought to be the home of the world's foremost terrorist mastermind.....it's not just the health care system that is shortchanged...