Health Care Debate

Thought I'd copy over a little face book back and forth on health care. I think I make a pretty good point about public option and have no idea why it is so controversial. I'm no expert, which is obvious, but I don't think this is so complex that ordinary people can't understand it. What is ridiculous in this country is that 50% of all bankruptcies are because of illness. That isn't just immoral, it hurts our productivity and our country.

Douglas Garnett-Deakin In a recession, double digit health care premiums in 11 states (not just California) from a company that has had 27 multimillion dollar junkets in one year. Solution? Competition, pure and simple. Let all companies sell in all states. AND start a Public Option. Two huge ideas from each side, both will drive down prices like the price of my house last year.
11 hours ago · Comment ·LikeUnlike
Elizabeth Halstead Oxendine likes this.

Douglas Garnett-Deakin
Ideas from both sides! Are you a commie?
11 hours ago ·

Acie Slade
I'm definitely onboard with competition. Which doesn't mean that you aren't a commie
11 hours ago ·

Douglas Garnett-Deakin
Public option is great competition. So's removing anti-trust protection. So's me opening "Doug's house o'health care". We shall fix you with beer and crab cakes.- Stalin out
11 hours ago ·

Chris Massey
Public option os not a competition. No one would be able to compete with either the cost of capital (though with these deficits that might be changing!) or the ability to change the rules of the game through new or different laws. Public option = nonstarter for real progress. Your other ideas are spot on though.
2 hours ago ·

Douglas Garnett-Deakin
Hmm.. 3 examples off the top of my head- 1) pre-k through post doctorate educational system, 2) public transportation, 3) roads, d) libraries (I have problems counting from our public education system). All three have private and public options in vastly varying degrees. Private schools do great and have a great niche even though k-12 is pretty ... See Moremuch 100% public funding. I love my library, but buy books, CDs, movies, etc. I love a good toll road if it gets me there faster. The bus sucks, but does the job sometimes.
2 hours ago ·

Douglas Garnett-Deakin
As for health care public option, as a private business owner and long time consumer of Anthem, there is about a .001% chance I would change my company to a public option even if the cost was 25% lower. I am absolutely serious about that. Can you imagine what my professional employees would think? But I do think it would curb those massive rate hikes I see each year completely out of tune with the economy.
2 hours ago ·

Douglas Garnett-Deakin
Oh, jeeze- US postal service vs. Fed Ex or UPS etc. I use them both all the time. They each have their place and work reasonably well.
2 hours ago ·

UPDATE: Some feedback from mom.


Carol Rogers
education, most roads, libraries are local or state rather than federal and eliminating Dept of ed would save a lot. Postal Service is private now except when they continue to lose $. competition over state lines by private cos. is great idea. down right conservative
3 hours ago ·

Douglas Garnett-Deakin
hmm.. highway system is 90% Federal if I'm not wrong. To argue state is better than federal for no other reason than that it is local is to ignore that our population is much more mobile than it was 30-40 years ago. But this is about health care, and to say a public option would not work is to ignore many, many public/private options that are out ... See Morethere- bet they county funded, state funded or federally funded. They work. The postal service is funded by the fees we pay to the publicly owned postal service- how is that different than paying to buy publicly owned insurance service? Student loans have that option- Sallie Mae, Dept. of Educ, or private. Both work great.
2 hours ago ·

Douglas Garnett-Deakin
And our last "Conservative" President came out with No Child- Federally mandated state level unfunded program.
2 hours ago ·

Douglas Garnett-Deakin
I do agree with limiting tort lawsuits, but I think people who favor it may not have thought it through. But as part of fixing the entire system, I'd be for it.
20 minutes ago ·

John Balthis
preach on brother!
14 minutes ago ·

Train trip postponed to March 12!

Rats, foiled by snow. Ah well, it'll be nicer weather anyway. And we are still going.

Other travels coming up: heading to Georgia for great Grandpa Garnett's 95th birthday at the end of March. Going to DC for a Nats game with the kids in either April or May.

A Man's A Man For A' That

1795
Type: Song
Tune: For a' that.

Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an' a' that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that.
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.

What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that:
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, an' a' that;
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.

Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.

A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that;
But an honest man's abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their dignities an' a' that;
The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth,
Are higher rank than a' that.

Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.

Testing the rails

My daughter and I will be trying a weekend experiment where we catch the Amtrak Cardinal in Prince West Virginia on a Friday night and ride to Chicago. There, we’ll simply waste a few hours hunting White Castle hamburgers, seeing the Sears (Willis) tower “lose your lunch perch” and finally hop back on board for a return trip with some deep dish pizza. Why? To get to the other side, of course.

I originally had an idea to walk out of our house in Blacksburg, Virginia and see how far we could get over a long weekend. In the dead of winter. It seemed like a simple plan, or not even a plan, just a gesture from a seed planted by authors like Edward Abbey, Muir, even Henry Miller. Go. Wander about. Open one’s eyes. See what one sees and maybe tell others one’s experiences. Well, not to be overly romantic about it, but it is a simple romantic idea. Maybe just because it isn’t done. We drive places to do things, you see. We are Americans.

But that idea is going to have to wait for another weekend. We’re going to do it and I relate it here just because it lead to the idea of hopping a train to Chicago and coming back for kicks and no other reason. We can’t do our simple walk out just because we lost our 4 day weekend in March when it was feasible. So we’ll drive to Prince, West Virginia (we are Americans, you see, we drive) and catch a train. Not a bad compromise given that when I talked to Aran (daughter) about a walk out it went: around the corner, down Airport Rd. to the Blacksburg Transit stop, to my office where we catch the regular commuter bus to Roanoke, to a Greyhound bus there, to Charlottesville, to the train and on to Chicago, or however far we thought we could make it. Deep breath.

Would it be cheating to walk out the same way and then catch a plane in Roanoke? “Next plane leaving for…?” Or does that land you in jail these days? I might just have to find that out. How far can you get from your front door in two days with no car and no plan?

Another time.

For now, Chicago and the rails. I have had one out of five good experiences on Amtrak, as an adult. I had a wonderful trip as a child, but from my Mother’s memories, I’m not sure that was actually a good trip. We want desperately for Amtrak to be better this time- I feel almost like I can wish them into being more like European train service. Just to be somewhat on time, instead of 4 hours late with my last trip. For meal service to be more than a $6 micro waved stale cheeseburger. For more atmosphere than clunking over freight tracks at half speed.

So we’re going to test the rails, for now.