I was unable to listen to the President’s speech live and instead had to find it online this evening. I wish, sir, you would hear our words and at the very least represent them correctly. I do not disagree that changes are needed, I just disagree with the idea of the government providing medical care.
Sir, in my live time of 42 years, I’ve not seen a single program thought up by the government or run by the government that was delivered on budget or with any sort of sanity. Amtrak is a mess, the Post Office can not make ends meet, Medicare and Medicade is broke, and the list goes on. If only there was ONE program managed by the government that we could point to and claim success! Maybe, sir, we would feel more comfortable with the notion that the government could run healthcare.
The motto of the military is hurry-up and wait, the lines at the DMV are always long, the FDA requires drug companies to jump through multiple hoops, and the environmental protection act forces business to spend mass amounts of money on land surveys to save rodents.
Social security is broke, the treasury department prints dollars to pay for federal treasury notes, the military over spends for toilet seats and the congressional budget committee has yet to publish a budget project that does not require multiple updates and changes.
Mr President, it is not that we don’t want to fix the medical insurance industry, we just don’t think the American government is up to the task.
Why not let insurance companies sell insurance across state lines?
Why not set limits on what lawyers can make from medical malpractice suits?
Why are these ideas not being considered? Tonight was the first time you said you would “entertain” the republican ideas; sir, this is not entertaining, this is about people’s lives. How about you incorporate republican ideas into the plan?
If you want to restrict the income of insurance executives, then why not take that same model and apply it across the board? Is it reasonable to say no executive in America is allowed to make more than a certain amount? What is that amount? $1 million, $2 million? Who sets the limit?
Mr. President, I want you to succeed in helping make American a better place after you leave office than when you got there…But, sir, I don’t believe the government is up to the challenge is providing medical coverage for 300+ million people.
All the best,
Ed Bejarana
Fairview, OR