Obama Health Care Speech Intercepted, It's a Fumble
A disgruntled aide to President Obama has turned over an early transcript of the speech which the President will deliver tonight to a joint session of Congress. It is nothing short of a Hail Mary. To overcome the nation's health care slump, the President proposes to ban football beginning in 2010. Ban Football.
Well, now we understand why Roger Goodell's name showed up on the White House visitor logs so frequently last month.
The President's offensive philosophy is reasoned like this: the injury rate for an average football team over the course of the season is 170% (all figures official O.O.M.A.). If one takes a look at the daily NFL injury report what appears will range from muscle tears, high ankle sprains, turf toes, to groin pulls, hyper extended joints, torn ligaments, broken bones, and concussions. To break it down further, that broken arm will cost roughly $1800 in x-rays, $18,400 for surgery, $4200 surgical prep, $3487 hospital stay one night, $6700 outpatient rehab. So, almost $30,000 of average medical care per 52 man roster plus each scout team and those that were waived multiplied across all the teams in the league,and in college leagues, and in high school leagues, and in Pee Wee. The figure is staggering. The insurance industry spends 16.2 billion dollars annually on football related injuries. Take away this need and there will be more resources for your average car accident or grain hopper victim. In fact the NFL has the highest rate of medical expenditure in the country. Far behind, in second place, is the Blackwater counter-terrorism company. The idea is that if the nation can cut out unnecessary use of medical services, then providers can give better service to those in real need like cancer patients, or schizophrenics.
The aide who turned over the copy of the speech said he was particularly upset by some of the passages concerning America's young men. Obama says,"Change is good. Today's young men who will fight our wars need a different skill set. No longer do they need to run under a heavy pack and grunt, crawl, and claw their way towards an objective. Today's warfare requires finger dexterity, not brawn. It requires quick reactions, not teamwork. Our boys are going to be flying Predators. So I'm asking the parents to take their kids out of football and start a neighborhood Wii league. Go ahead, it'll be a community sort of thing, everybody can play Halo." The aide, coincidentally named John Madden, said, "That's just messed up. Anyways, whats going to happen to my fantasy football league, and I'm doing the lingerie league this year too?"
Representatives from the insurance companies said they had no comments yet. Off the record they admit that this proposal raises all kinds of flags and will penalize them financially. They want to wait and review the speech from the booth at the Capital. Among players and coaches asked for comment, Brett Favre said, "Well I guess this means I'll be retired again at this time next year." Jerry Jones was livid, "I haven't heard anything so sickening since that punt thudded into the TV screen two weeks ago."
Unbelievably Great Music
Showing posts with label President Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President Obama. Show all posts
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sick Joke and Obama's Not Laughing
My guess is that Obama kept a straight face today when he announced that health care leaders are committing to cut the growth rate of national health care spending. But, excuse me, is this some kind of sick joke? This is like the foxes saying they won't eat quite so many hens next year. Sen Ron Wyden even said so. This is no laughing matter, we need to be alarmed. The Department of Human Services estimates that health spending will grow an average of 6.2% a year. I've had enough. I call bull....!
My experiences with the health insurance system are probably much like yours. My first memory is attending a company staff meeting in which representatives from our HMO came in to describe how our premiums were going to increase 8% this year to 'cover rising costs'. We didn't really argue, we were lucky to have a company that provided health insurance. At the end of the meeting the HMO people let us reach into a basket and pick out a refrigerator magnet or children's toy with their logo on it. This was ten years ago. Hmmm, costs still going up?
Well sure they are. I thought HMOs were designed to hold costs down. I thought they were already doing everything they can do to be lean and mean and competitive against the other HMOs. Apparently not. Apparently they are busy committing fraud, collusion, and price fixing. Recently some of the very biggest HMOs have been under investigation in several states and paid fines to get investigations off their backs. I don't need an attorney general to tell me there's a racket here. All I have to do is take my kid to the doctor with a runny nose, fever, and tugging at his ear. I just need someone to look into his ear so they will write the prescription for the dang ear infection. A five minute doctor visit equals $220, HMO integrity- priceless.
And then there are the horror stories. An otherwise healthy college student has an episode of fainting. No insurance, no diagnosis, no recurrence. But for a couple of CAT scans and other tests the bill was $80,000. Really? How much can it really cost to go through that machine? $1,000? What do you need the other $79,000 for? I don't even want to get started on $10 aspirin.
It's the health insurers that are the sick joke here and, get real, electronic records ain't the answer. Here's what I think Obama ought to do. First off, HMOs should never be part of treatment decisions. If the doctor says you need a splint on your toe, it should not need approval by an HMO.
Next, what medical facilities charge for procedures should be made public. We should know how much an X ray, a saline IV, and yes an aspirin delivered by a nurse cost at hospital A vs. hospital B. Lets have medical facilities become transparent about their efficiencies and patient satisfaction surveys. For non-profits and publicly supported institutions this should be mandatory and available on the Internet.
Third, fixing prices for various insurances at differing levels is unfair. X procedure costs X amount for everyone. Back room deals to set 'discount rates' for 'preferred providers' are collusive and socially detrimental. No discount rates.
Fourth, make HMOs compete. These companies need to get lean and mean and fight for customers. HMOs ought to be in the vanguard of developing efficiencies in treatment and care and savings for their policy holders. Instead of denying claims they ought to push hospitals and doctors to improve health care. Think of all those clerical employees that could be hounding hospitals to keep staph off the floors and medical errors corrected.
When the first HMO fires half of it's administrative support staff, stops sending out forms in triplicate that say "this is not a bill", and actually tells hospitals to quit charging $40 for a gown that doesn't close in the back, then I'll start believing we're getting some real health care reform. Until then, no one's laughing at this sick joke.
www.aratunes.us
My experiences with the health insurance system are probably much like yours. My first memory is attending a company staff meeting in which representatives from our HMO came in to describe how our premiums were going to increase 8% this year to 'cover rising costs'. We didn't really argue, we were lucky to have a company that provided health insurance. At the end of the meeting the HMO people let us reach into a basket and pick out a refrigerator magnet or children's toy with their logo on it. This was ten years ago. Hmmm, costs still going up?
Well sure they are. I thought HMOs were designed to hold costs down. I thought they were already doing everything they can do to be lean and mean and competitive against the other HMOs. Apparently not. Apparently they are busy committing fraud, collusion, and price fixing. Recently some of the very biggest HMOs have been under investigation in several states and paid fines to get investigations off their backs. I don't need an attorney general to tell me there's a racket here. All I have to do is take my kid to the doctor with a runny nose, fever, and tugging at his ear. I just need someone to look into his ear so they will write the prescription for the dang ear infection. A five minute doctor visit equals $220, HMO integrity- priceless.
And then there are the horror stories. An otherwise healthy college student has an episode of fainting. No insurance, no diagnosis, no recurrence. But for a couple of CAT scans and other tests the bill was $80,000. Really? How much can it really cost to go through that machine? $1,000? What do you need the other $79,000 for? I don't even want to get started on $10 aspirin.
It's the health insurers that are the sick joke here and, get real, electronic records ain't the answer. Here's what I think Obama ought to do. First off, HMOs should never be part of treatment decisions. If the doctor says you need a splint on your toe, it should not need approval by an HMO.
Next, what medical facilities charge for procedures should be made public. We should know how much an X ray, a saline IV, and yes an aspirin delivered by a nurse cost at hospital A vs. hospital B. Lets have medical facilities become transparent about their efficiencies and patient satisfaction surveys. For non-profits and publicly supported institutions this should be mandatory and available on the Internet.
Third, fixing prices for various insurances at differing levels is unfair. X procedure costs X amount for everyone. Back room deals to set 'discount rates' for 'preferred providers' are collusive and socially detrimental. No discount rates.
Fourth, make HMOs compete. These companies need to get lean and mean and fight for customers. HMOs ought to be in the vanguard of developing efficiencies in treatment and care and savings for their policy holders. Instead of denying claims they ought to push hospitals and doctors to improve health care. Think of all those clerical employees that could be hounding hospitals to keep staph off the floors and medical errors corrected.
When the first HMO fires half of it's administrative support staff, stops sending out forms in triplicate that say "this is not a bill", and actually tells hospitals to quit charging $40 for a gown that doesn't close in the back, then I'll start believing we're getting some real health care reform. Until then, no one's laughing at this sick joke.
www.aratunes.us
Sunday, April 26, 2009
GOP Slams Leaked TARP Theme Song
GOP leaders are sounding a chorus of sour notes at the latest news that the TARP fund has commissioned an official theme song. On Capitol Hill it has leaked that President Obama will unveil "According to Murphy" during his upcoming prime time address. Some are questioning why taxpayers may be asked to pay for an official slogan song for the TARP fund even if it is "peppy and uplifting."
Officials who agreed to speak off the record explained the genesis of this strange promotion. Apparently Larry Summers is a big country music fan and while he prefers music performed on the boxcar kazoo (an instrument made popular during the Great Depression) he enjoys the rollicking piano solos performed by Ara Eissler, an obscure country musician. So as part of the TARP mission to get the economy firing on all cylinders he asked the President's HOPE committee (Hobbies, Organisations, Pastimes, and Enrichment) for some ideas.
Their recommendations were twofold. Because of the current state of poor copyright enforcement, musical artists are unable to protect their creative property. The "every one's doing it" mentality leads some to believe music must be shared for free in the new business model and this directly affects Uncle Sam. Because artists aren't paid, they don't pay taxes on royalties. The US government loses 1 billion dollars a year in uncollected taxes on royalties from musicians and studios. The taxpayer picks up the slack to make up the difference. So if the TARP fund chooses to pay Ara Eissler for his song and he generates income from his intellectual property rights it will actually benefit the government come April 15th.
Furthermore, according to Michigan State's American Radio Survey Encyclopedia the majority of music (71%) is listened to by automobile travelers. So anything that promotes good music for the automobile consumer just makes good economic sense for manufacturers such as General Motors and Chrysler according to Mi.ARSE.
Or one could look at it as this is just another in the panoply of shovel ready projects America could invest in.
Officials who agreed to speak off the record explained the genesis of this strange promotion. Apparently Larry Summers is a big country music fan and while he prefers music performed on the boxcar kazoo (an instrument made popular during the Great Depression) he enjoys the rollicking piano solos performed by Ara Eissler, an obscure country musician. So as part of the TARP mission to get the economy firing on all cylinders he asked the President's HOPE committee (Hobbies, Organisations, Pastimes, and Enrichment) for some ideas.
Their recommendations were twofold. Because of the current state of poor copyright enforcement, musical artists are unable to protect their creative property. The "every one's doing it" mentality leads some to believe music must be shared for free in the new business model and this directly affects Uncle Sam. Because artists aren't paid, they don't pay taxes on royalties. The US government loses 1 billion dollars a year in uncollected taxes on royalties from musicians and studios. The taxpayer picks up the slack to make up the difference. So if the TARP fund chooses to pay Ara Eissler for his song and he generates income from his intellectual property rights it will actually benefit the government come April 15th.
Furthermore, according to Michigan State's American Radio Survey Encyclopedia the majority of music (71%) is listened to by automobile travelers. So anything that promotes good music for the automobile consumer just makes good economic sense for manufacturers such as General Motors and Chrysler according to Mi.ARSE.
Or one could look at it as this is just another in the panoply of shovel ready projects America could invest in.
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