Freedom.
Earlier this week, I found out that a friend of mine left an upper management position to take a less-busy position with another company so that she could be with her family more. So she could have more control over the structure with her family life in general.
::applause for the bold move::
And then yesterday, during the 5 minutes of GMA that I happened to catch, I saw this report. Now, I realize that a lot of the flex-time that employees are able to use these days is thanks to the increase of viable communication outlets through web-based services. And fast internet connections. iPhones and Blackberries. Web conferencing. Etc. 30 years ago, flex-time wasn't this doable of a thing. Now, some companies are taking advantage of this new freedom. And good for them if they can do it! And it got me to thinking and thinking....
I also just finished reading the latest Imprimus issue that Hillsdale College puts out. And that got me to thinking some more......
Obviously, freedom has limits of rational sorts. For example, I wouldn't be terribly interested in a doctor or a dentist who wanted to provide his or her services via web conferencing. But as our world changes, so does the way we provide goods and services to each other.
Yay! This is a good thing!
As long as WE are the ones doing the providing. There is not one person out there who thinks that the government is going to be better at running GM than the GM execs were. And look what a mess THEY made of things. If you really, really want to be sure a package arrives on time - are you going to send it via USPS or via UPS or FedEx? Honestly? How often do you choose government services over private services, when a choice is available? Be honest with me - if you could choose between a "free" clinic and a private doctor, who are you going to choose? Why?
But, yet, there are so many people who genuinely believe that having the government involved in our private health care decisions is a good idea. And, I'm not even talking specifics here. I'm talking about the broad idea of freedom. To have the government "do it" for us will mean less money in our pockets. That's less freedom. It will mean less choices regarding what we can and can't do. That's less freedom. It WILL mean someone else gets to make decisions for you, even though you are perfectly capable of making those decisions yourself. That is less freedom.
I will admit, unhappily, that there are those who don't care much about freedom. Because, with freedom comes extra work and responsibility, and they don't want it. And I'm sorry for that. But, please everyone, please think about what freedom means. For a lot of working women, it means the opportunity to live their lives as completely as they want. They can run a major company and still be able to be attend school functions with their kids. Technological freedom is making it more possible. But the minute we give up our freedom to make decisions, even the hard ones, then we give up our freedom to manage our own lives. I know there are a lot of "things" to consider about how "everyone" can have access to good health care. But having the government decide the who's and the how's and the why's is just NOT gonna work. I mean, come on.
We can't bring everyone's quality of life to the same common denominator. Unless everyone goes down. We can not create a classless society. Matthew 26:11 doesn't talk about this exactly, but it does bring up a point that we can't avoid.
I just want to urge anyone who is on the fence about this kind of thing to think about the ramifications. Please. Taken from Mark Steyn's Piece:
If you're a business, when government gives you 2% of your income, it has a veto on 100% of what you do. If you're an individual, the impact is even starker. Once you have government health care, it can be used to justify almost any restraint on freedom: After all, if the state has to cure you, it surely has an interest in preventing you needing treatment in the first place. That's the argument behind, for example, mandatory motorcycle helmets, or the creepy teams of government nutritionists currently going door to door in Britain and conducting a "health audit" of the contents of your refrigerator. They're not yet confiscating your Twinkies; they just want to take a census of how many you have. So you do all this for the "free" health care—and in the end you may not get the "free" health care anyway. Under Britain's National Health Service, for example, smokers in Manchester have been denied treatment for heart disease, and the obese in Suffolk are refused hip and knee replacements. Patricia Hewitt, the British Health Secretary, says that it's appropriate to decline treatment on the basis of "lifestyle choices."
I just find the whole idea of incompetent people in Washington, D.C. making decisions about my health care choices completely absurd. Sort of like trying to imagine those legislators building cars. They won't do that well either. Just watch.
And I'm done for now. I just had to get this off my chest and out to the universe. Please read the Imprimus piece if you get a chance.
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4 comments:
I totally agree...but so many people are just hearing, "Someone is going to take care of all my needs." They have no idea what the consequences of that are...
First of all – thank you for the applause. It took lots of prayer and patience from our family to make this happen.
Secondly, from your liberal friend- ::smile:: I am not excited about the government running GM or our healthcare (look at Medicare and Medicaid – they certainly have their problems). But, the private sector of Healthcare isn’t doing much better. Being in the position I have been in – VP of a Medical Billing Company – I have watched healthcare premiums almost double in the last 9 years for our company (for our company - family cost was $485 in 2000 and is $825 in 2009) all the while the co-pays and deductibles for consumers have increased and payments to physicians have decreased.
So – people are paying more in premiums and deductibles – which prices many middle class and recently, upper middle class families out of insurance. Personally, my family paid almost $15K out of pocket one year because of our daughter’s surgeries and specialist visits – that is after the premium costs (luckily those were paid by my company because of my position). So, while (again) I am not excited about the g’vt taking over healthcare, the current road we are on is getting bumpier every day for many American’s – some even being bumped off with no safety net for their families.
You know what, Suebug, I don't disagree with anything that you said. Insurance prices have gone through the roof and aren't stopping. But, before we let the people who have put Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security in the toilet, I want our country to take back control of our own medical spending. And we can do it!
We need to start treating our health insurance like we do house insurance or car insurance. It's there only for the big things that we can't plan for. It's not there to cover regular doctor's visits or the occasional sniffles or sprained ankle. When we get back to actually paying doctors for things like that, insurance prices HAVE to come down in general.
We need to quit suing over every mistake that is made. Mistakes happen, they are horrible, and there should be ways of dealing with them. But not by awarding people ridiculous sums of money that end up costing the rest of us more money in the long run. Because when a hospital or doctor pays, it is WE who end up footing the bill. Just like any other business.
We need to encourage and financially support private "free clinics" so that those who genuinely can't afford doctor visits can see a doctor without clogging up ER rooms and thusly making hospital costs so ridiculous. Anytime we do anything at the hospital, we end up paying for their care anyway by our higher costs. We might as well nip it in the bud.
We need to get back to eating less processed foods so that the advancements in medical research can have even greater impact.
My discounts for pre-paying in cash (and not making these people deal with insurance companies) for the maternity business:
20% at the OB
35% for the OB's delivery
50% at the hospital
10% for the neonatologist
Now, obviously, we're still spending a LOT of money. But the fact that these people have a cash policy like this makes me realize that the insurance business is broken.
Now. How the heck to fix it it all?
::shrug::
We all need to change the way we deal with the financial aspects of doctors et al and get back to the way our parents dealt with them when we were little. (Which wasn't THAT long ago!)
But, there needs to be a national spearheading organization OTHER than the government who takes charge of this idea. American Medical Association or the like. I don't know what all organizations exist, but they DO and they ought to get involved in the overhaul of the whole system. Take care of it the correct way. So that doctors get paid what they're worth, patients get what they want and need, and we all still maintain the freedom that we have come to depend on!
Okay. Those are my ideas. Now - I need someone who is motivated and smart and really good at convincing people to do things and good at people management to start making noise about all this. I'm thinking of a particular person in Birmingham who would be good...........
;-)
I will let Lisa know that you are thinking about her to spearhead this new healthcare policy that you have outlined. ;-)
I agree 100% with you on this one. Who says there can't be bi-partisanship on healthcare reform. ;-) Let me know when you want to go to DC with me and we will tell them how to fix this one!! No g'vt, but also no health insurance companies or lobbiests (how do you spell that word?) can be a part of this new process. They are racking in the big bucks in the current system!!
Love ya babe!
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