plus 1 more “Cal Thomas: GOP needs health reform alternative - Wichita Eagle” |
| Cal Thomas: GOP needs health reform alternative - Wichita Eagle Posted: 07 Apr 2010 04:18 AM PDT Should Republicans succeed in their attempt to get the new health care legislation overturned on constitutional grounds, what then? No one wants to see the current chaos of selective health insurance and rising treatment costs continue. The best course for opponents of the law is not only to fight for its repeal, but also have a plan ready to take its place. Few in the medical profession thought more about this subject, or brought more experience and passion to it, than the late cardiovascular surgeon Michael DeBakey. In a speech delivered at Rice University in Houston on April 15, 2005, DeBakey laid the moral, medical and political groundwork necessary to transform American health care. He called for a road map toward achieving a universal health care system that is "culturally acceptable, affordable, and of optimal quality, while avoiding its administration and total control by an ultimately rigid and unwieldy governmental or insurance-industry bureaucracy." DeBakey realized something had to be done to cure its ills and that the federal government, which is very much involved in research grants to medical institutions, has a role to play. In his Rice speech, he said, "Blind opposition, indignant repudiation, bitter denunciation of these laws is worse than useless; it leads nowhere and it leaves the profession in a position of helplessness if the rising tide of social development seeps over them." Which is what has happened with Obamacare. DeBakey quoted Robert M. Ball, President Kennedy's commissioner of Social Security, who said that the architects of Medicare saw it and subsequent insurance for children as incremental steps toward national health care. He said he was "astonished" to learn this. He shouldn't have been, because "progressives" always think government and academia are smarter and more capable than any individual or profession. Seeing clearly the arguments that would be made in favor of Obamacare, DeBakey said, "I have traveled the globe to developed and undeveloped countries with both democratic and communistic governments... and I can state unequivocally that I have not observed any 'universal health system' or other state-operated medical system that functions in a highly satisfactory manner or provides high-quality care to all the people all the time. In all such countries, there are long delays for any form of high-technology care — sometimes with fatal consequences. In fact, rationing of care is a prominent feature of all these systems." DeBakey was a humanitarian who believed "health care is too critical for the welfare of the people to be held hostage by the politically motivated or the profit-minded. Herein lies the societal challenge: the need for accepting the desirability of some form of national health care, along with the willingness to pay for it, but avoiding its administration and total control by an ultimately rigid and unwieldy governmental or insurance industry bureaucracy." This is the Republican challenge. If Obamacare is struck down, Republicans should have a substitute proposal ready that embodies their principles and gets passed by a Republican Congress and signed by a Republican president in 2013. Cal Thomas is a columnist with Tribune Media Services. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Improving Everyones Quality of Life - Associated Content Posted: 07 Apr 2010 10:37 AM PDT The Surgeon General has determined that cigarette smoking is hazardous to the health of everyone in the vicinity of the smoker. Not only is the person that lights up subject the horrors of cancer and possible death, but those that inhale second hand tobacco are also at risk of being stricken with a debilitating disease. As a result of the public health concerns surrounding nicotine use and the tars and chemicals that are released by tobacco products many cities and states have banned the use of cigarettes in public buildings, offices, bars, and restaurants. Understanding that it is the flavor of the nicotine that is addictive and difficult for some people to live without the developers of electronic cigarettes have found a health alternative to smoking that everyone can live with. Using a flameless flavor cartridge that releases a vaporized mist, which resembling smoke as the person exhales the device, which looks similar to an actual filtered cigarette, but is harmless to both the user and anyone that is in their immediate surroundings. Available in a selection of cartridges that can be refilled and reused over and over the electronic cigarette is almost completely odorless. The moist vapor that resembles smoke is releases into the air with a slightly scented aroma of whatever flavor cartridge is being inhaled by the user. Choosing from coffee, chocolate, vanilla, menthol, or tobacco the amount of nicotine can be adjusted to the specific requirements of the person that craves the drug, but is unable to smoke in public. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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