Health Care

Sara Gilbert said every child should have health care, education and food before we spend money on anything else. In 2009 7.1% of the budget was spent on Medicaid and 1.5% was spent on education from head start through college. Both of these percentages include the money spent on illegal immigrants. On October 14, 2011 it was reported that the Census Bureau (CB) said median income from 2000 – 2010 had dropped 7%. On November 3, the CB said the poverty level is at an all time high; nearly 45.8 million people (15%) are on food stamps and the Brookings Institution said 6.7% made $11,158 a year or less for a family of 4.  Our people are suffering so it boils down to helping family or neighbors; I choose family, my fellow Americans. Instead of courts and the administration supporting illegal behavior, I believe steps need to be taken to penalize states giving licenses or identification cards, welfare or other services to illegal immigrants as they undermine the credibility of its citizens and our country.

The internet shows the richest person in the world lives in Mexico. With all the talk about cutting our deficit, I believe one way we can improve on health and education is to reduce the money we spend on illegal immigrants. Remember that the problem is with illegal, not legal, entry and as such I think the rich man and the Mexican government should be helping their people so they’ll not want to leave the country for better opportunities elsewhere. 

The new government guidelines require insurance to pay for birth control with no co-pay or deductable. The Affordable Health Care Act provides for well woman visits, diabetes and domestic violence (DV) screening, breast feeding support, and all FDA approved birth control methods including emergency contraception (morning after pill) as it is illegal to use federal money for abortions. Conservatives firing on the birth control issue were saying half the women are blitzed and won’t use the pill while others say if you can afford a Frappuccino you can pay a $5 co-payment. It seems to me that these people don’t understand that this health care is for working people that are still going hungry; some get food stamps. I hope it’s not for those that are buying Frappuccinos, entertainment, and electronics. I don’t understand why people would choose these things over health care although they are out there; perhaps there’ll be a screening process that will assist in deterring this type behavior. Per GMA there is a new study that shows a 54% increase in the last decade of strokes in pregnant women and new mothers because of obesity, heart problems and high blood pressure. It was also reported that infant babies born in the US have less of a survival rate than those born in 40 other countries, including Malaysia and Cuba. I hope that these problems along with the Post Traumatic Stress or Depression of having a baby will be discovered before a child is abused or killed. DV screening should deter the epidemic that’s occurring (per the White House 3 women die every day; 1 in 4 is a victim at some point in her life). The Autism that doctors are saying is caused by environmental factors should be found and thus reduce the number of children diagnosed. If this is all possible, I think in the long term the benefits would outweigh the costs (perhaps with better care still births will also be reduced). It’s my understanding that implementation of these guidelines has nothing to do with the Court deciding that people cannot be forced to pay for health care. On October 15^th, the President pulled long-term health care from the Health Overhaul law because nursing homes and in-home assistance would cost too much.

It’s said that the US spends more on health care than other countries but our life spans are shorter, especially for women. There are several countries that have socialized medicine giving all their people health care. Specifically, Canada has such a program and due the bureaucratic bull, they now have a higher credit rating than the US. Everyone having health care does not suggest that we will be a socialist country but it does suggest that health care would not be the downfall of our budget. Perhaps our failure to correct the problems within our medical system is why we pay more for care. I believe that just like schools there is no correlation between more cost and better service. Since we don’t all have health care, I believe that the service (doctors, facilities and medicines) other countries receive just plain costs less and we should be finding out why.