The Hillary Clinton Healthcare Reform Agenda

It should come as no shock that our nation's healthcare system is in shambles. We have numerous, competing solutions, such as social security, medicare, medicaid, and private insurance mixed into a huge multi-billion dollar industry that is rife with corruption. Some say it simply cannot be fixed. Hillary Clinton has a plan. She's been nurturing her plan for decades. If she becomes president, will that plan become a reality? Will it save us?

The year was 1993. President Bill Clinton had just taken office, and one of his first tasks was to create a Taskforce on Health Care Reform. He appointed his wife, Hillary Clinton, to head up the task force. The taskforce was given a blanket of secrecy over its operations. Many thought that the President's Wife should not have been chosen to head up the task force. The delicate problem of "The person who's in charge shouldn't sleep with the President, because if you sleep with the President, nobody is going to tell you the truth."

At the time, the concensus among Clinton's advisors was that the public at large was less concerned with health care reform and more concerned with the deficit and the economy. The Clinton team would routinely hear comments such as "How would we pay for public health care for so many people?"

Sidebar: Ironically, the incalculable sum of money we have spent in Afghanistan and Iraq would have paid for public healtcare for many years, not to mention bail out social security, but that's just my opinion. Now back to Hillary.

On many fronts, Hillary Clinton's efforts with the task force are derailed by Republican opponents, taking direction from Bob Dole, in some cases being told "not to meet with the First Lady". Bill Gradison, the head of Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) is particularly disturbed by Hillary Clinton's comments on the insurance industry being "price-gouging, cost-shifting and unconscionable profiteering." The task force was disbanded in May of 1993.

Let's study for a moment the impact of Healthcare Reform on numerous key corporate profit centers.

Pharmaceutical - A multi-multi billion dollar industry has at its fundamental roots a friend in the government - The FDA. The FDA must approve new medicine in order for the profits to roll in. The time to study and approve new medicines has greatly shortened over the past few years. The number of horrifying side effects and risk of death has increased as a result. How many times have you seen a commercial for a new drug product, who's real purpose is not even clear, with a long list of dangerous side effects such as liver disorder, stomach bleeding, intestinal bleeding, lung problems etc. I frequently wonder how the FDA who's mandate is to protect the public can allow such a medicine to be sold in the first place.

Private Insurance - The biggest problem with private insurance is that its not like car insurance. If i wreck my car, I pay the $500 deductible and the insurance company fixes it. That's the deal. If I get sick, hit by a car, or hit by my own car, I have to pay the doctor a deductible, plus a percentage of the bill, plus things the insurance company didnt want to pay for, plus medicine they don't cover like name brands (which the fricken doctors love to prescribe because of kickbacks -- another problem). All in all, I might pay $500-$800 a month for private health insurance and I still have to pay 30-40% out of pocket when I use the insurance.

Kickbacks - The doctors love these "incentives" given by the pharmaceutical companies. A study recently put the figure around $5- $8 billion a year for incentives from the industry corporate giants to doctors. In numerous cases the doctors were actually given a new car (Mercedes Benz nonetheless) as a gift for prescribing their drugs. Now I ask one question: How many times have you been prescribed something you didn't need so your doctor can rack up those points?

Who's going to pay for Hillary's Plan

It really doesn't matter. The industry has a firm grip on the government. It's not Hillary's fault that her plan will fail. It's our fault for constantly, year in year out, re-electing the same deadbeat congressmen who care more about their special interest friends and campaign financers than the public at large.

The fact of the matter is, our government does not "pay" for public services by our tax contributions. The undisputed fact is, our tax contributions, personal and corporate, serve only to pay the interest payments on the national debt. And since that national debt is going UP UP UP, the interest thus goes. Therefore, for you math gurus out there, how can a country who's population is not going UP UP UP pay for an interest payment that doubles every 7 years? How can we pay for wars, defense, healthcare, education, etc etc on money we do not have? We borrow it folks! We just borrow more money! So when they critics of Hillary Clintons' plan say we can't afford health care, we should, no, we MUST ask the question : Then how can we afford Bush's war?

The answer is we can't afford to ignore these real, social problems any longer. However, I'm not convinced that Hillary Clinton's solution is worth the baggage that she brings to the party. There will surely be a GOP resurrection of all the dirty deeds that the Clinton's have done as they look forward to 2012 to take back both houses of congress and the Presidency. I'm looking for a fresh start, and I think Obama is it. They claim Hillary has more experience, but I say what kind of experience do we want? Experience running deals, playing games, scandals and such? One look at hillaryclintonagenda.com will serve as a painful reminder of just how much baggage this couple has.

The last words on this are paraphrased from V for Vendetta:

I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease.

There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you. And in your panic, you turned to the now President George W. Bush. He promised you order, he promised you peace... ...and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. My hope is to remind you that fairness, justice and freedom......are more than words. They are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing.....if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you......then I would suggest that you allow the 4th of November to pass unmarked.

But if you see what I see......if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek truth as I seek......then I ask you to stand beside me, on the 4th of November 2008 to cast your vote... to send your message to Washington.