K-12 budget

I am putting some posts here on the K-12 budget

http://www.espressopundit.com/2009/07/governor-vetoes-k12-budget.html

$100 Billion instead of $1 Trillion

On Mon July 6 Hugh Hewitt interviewed Dr. Irwin Redlener of Columbia University. I think he was the most liberal of the three guests he had on that day.

HH: ...We’re talking about extending Medicare to the population, right?
IR: Yes.
HH: The cost of that is staggering.
IR: I know, Hugh, but it’s not exactly cheap to have 47 million people not in the system, who when they get really sick and show up in an ER, they’re getting charged, it’s costing unbelievable amounts of money for things that maybe could have been prevented in the first place.
HH: But you know it’ll happen. If we go Medicare for everyone, the government’s going to put the squeeze on reimbursements, doctors are going to begin to dump patients, and they’re going to begin to do, they’re going to have boutique and concierge practices, and the elite will be taken care of, the elite, and the rest will get in line.
IR: Yeah. Well, let me ask, this is what I would say to the people, let’s say, on the other side of the debate. What is the alternative to this horrible mess we have now where the insurance company clerks are prohibiting me and people I know from getting the health care they need?
HH: $100 billion dollars a year for community clinics, so that poor people get served. $100 billion bucks a year. It’s one-tenth the cost of what the Obama administration is pushing, and it will deliver hundreds of times the actual care.
IR: And you know, I don’t disagree with that. So the question is, it is a politically feasible reality? And this is the point I was making to you before. I don’t care how we get there. But we have to figure out how we’re going to control the costs, prevent these unbelievable numbers of unnecessary procedures and interventions and surgeries, and make that people are getting good, quality, comprehensive care that they need, that’s preventive in its orientation. If we could figure that out, I don’t think I have a problem with that. But how are you going to get $100 billion dollar a year program passed?
HH: Because the Republicans will spend that rather than the trillion that the government plan will spend.

$100 Billion instead of $1 Trillion. That is one tenth of the cost! The current reform being written is way too costly partly because it will drive competition out of the business. Then the only way to control costs is to ration our health care.
Listen to or read the complete interview.

Healthy Debate on Health Care

On Mon July 6 Hugh Hewitt spent three hours interviewing some knowledgeable about health care. Listen to or read the complete interviews.

Hour 1 - Robert Moffit of the Heritage Foundation
Transcript, Listen Now, Podcast

Hour 2 - Clayton Christensen from the Harvard Business School
Transcript, Listen Now, Podcast

Hour3 - Dr. Irwin Redlener of Columbia University
Transcript, Listen Now, Podcast

Health Care Reform Cost Visualization

The cost of the proposed health care is very large. This video uses pennies to visualize the cost of this plan in relation to the GM bailout and our what we paid our soldiers.

Obama Budget Cuts Visualization

A great video that puts the $100 million dollar budget cuts proposed by Obama in April in perspective.

1776 (the musical)

A great tradition I got from my wife's side of the family is watching 1776 a musical about how the Declaration of Independence came to be.



Here is a list of those in this scene.

Massachsetts - John Adams
Pennsylvania - Benjamin Franklin
Connecticut - Roger Sherman
New York - Philip Livingston
Virginia - Thomas Jefferson

Unemployment Rate With and Without the Recovery Plan

Here is an updated graph to the story I linked to earlier. I got it from Innocent Bystanders.

Romney talks about Government option health care

Hugh Hewitt interviewed Mitt Romney about the major changes being considered in Health Care Insurance. The crux of it for me is why providing a government paid option will be so bad for patients as well as doctors and health insurance providers.

Having a government option will turn into a single payer system like Canada has. Employers choose what insurance options to provide employers. They are going to pick the government option because it is tax payer subsidized. The government is going to eat up a lot of the money in red tape administration of the program.

The system may "cost" patients less out of pocket, but they are really going to pay in longer wait times and sometime unavailable services.