The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Politics & RKBA => Topic started by: TAB on March 19, 2017, 03:56:43 PM
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https://blog.transparentcalifornia.com/2016/11/16/105-santa-monica-city-workers-cleared-over-300000-last-year/
I have no words.
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TAB, I have only one word.......DAAAAAAM!
Richard
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Is the cost of living their so high as to warrant that type of pay? Are they paying $10.00 per gallon for milk?
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Not the safest town in So Cal.. Still, those salaries are ridiculous!
Homes there do range in the millions!
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All of this will collapse. It's a ticking bomb, and it's only a matter of time before it goes off.
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The fuse is only as long as the money in other folks wallets
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This is like the fallacy of health care. It's simply too expensive for everyone in this country to be insured. I don't give a damn who is in charge of it. I don't care how much everyone "needs" it. The fact of the matter is you have a product and service that costs too much for 100% of the people to have. And forget comparing us to other countries. Australia has 26 million people. Denmark has 5-1/2 million. For God's sake New York City alone has over 8-1/2 million. We have over 320,000,000 (read 320 MILLION) in the United States. It will bankrupt this nation to insure everyone. And it is impossible to make it cheap enough so it won't.
The fact is health care, by it's very nature will prevent everyone from having it. The cost of equipment and hospitals. The cost of educating doctors and surgeons. The cost of medication is ALL adding up to a bill not everyone can afford to pay. AND NEVER WILL BE ABLE TO. That is the reality of this situation. You can sit here and blame, and play politics all you want. This is an unsolvable problem, and will remain such. It isn't what anyone wants. It's the reality of what happens when you have a high population of people who cannot afford to take care of themselves. And the more time that passes, the worse this will all get. So get used to it.
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Yesterday I watched the victory laps being run by Pelosi and her props following the cancellation of the vote on the healthcare payment bill. She pointed out that doctors, hospitals, health product suppliers, healthcare workers, and many others were against this Bill. A wise person asks why. Obama started us down the road to a single payer system. It slipped out twice , that I heard, during the debate that "people like Medicare, and we need to put EVERYBODY on Medicare.". Single payer. Government pays. Everybody spends healthcare dollars with no clue the true cost or impact on their livelihood.
We need free market health insurance that is insurance rather than a membership to treatment, personally owned and funded health savings accounts that can build with no limits and become a part of your estate if any remains, and whether paid through insurance, savings or it of pocket, the patient pays the bills and is reimbursed for covered expenses.
Let us all know what it costs, and then we will shop and spend like we do for our other purchases.
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I heard, during the debate that "people like Medicare, and we need to put EVERYBODY on Medicare.". Single payer. Government pays.
You pay for Medicare your whole working life. Then you pay for it every month after you start receiving it. Then you have to purchase a commercial supplement, in order to pay for the remaining 20% Medicare doesn't cover. You pay for it. It isn't free. If they put everyone on it Medicare would collapse faster than Obama Care is. There is no solution to this. Everyone cannot possibly be covered. Even Bill Clinton said that. There are 320 MILLION people in this country to insure. They all cannot be covered because it would bankrupt the nation.
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I'm a retired science teacher...over 32 years, I had dozens of very bright students that could have completed med school, but were not able to attend because of the cost...
we have a Merchant Marine academy, Coast Guard, Naval, Military, and Air Force Academy... why not a US Medical Academy for MD, and RN candidates....upon graduation you owe 1 1/2 years Public Health Service for each one of your years of education... pay grade equal to military rank...starting at O-3, upgrade every 5 yrs...
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F#ck Ryan.
I want to hear a plan from Ben Carson and DOCTORS not a bunch of asshat lawyers.
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F#ck Ryan.
I want to hear a plan from Ben Carson and DOCTORS not a bunch of asshat lawyers.
One of the things Carson campaigned on was true healthcare reform and insurance. The left hated him, because of his combination of work ethic and personal responsibility in both obtaining and paying for what you get.
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F#ck Ryan.
I want to hear a plan from Ben Carson and DOCTORS not a bunch of asshat lawyers.
I don't think you will because he is too honest. He, of all people knows it is a economic impossibility to insure everyone. Too much financial sacrifice would have to be made by everyone involved. From medical school tuition, all the way to the cost of X-Ray film. And everything in between. Not to mention complete and total tort reform. And with a House and Senate packed full of lawyers, that will never happen. And even if by some miracle it did, you would then have to get the insurance companies to all agree to lower the cost of malpractice insurance for all of the doctors, hospitals, clinics, and pharmaceutical companies. The dragon has been allowed to grow too large to be slayed.
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Turn it over to the DOD, they have the infrastructure to run it through the reserve system.
Local clinics with a regional "Hospital" for training, and major treatment.
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The problem is the medical educational system is very tightly self regulated, and has been for decades. Law schools are not. The result is every year we have law schools all over the country practically $h!tting out lawyers. There are far too many of them per capita compared to doctors. Because the medical profession only allows X number of students access to medical school each year. And even if they opened their doors to more students, the higher, longer, more difficult learning curve, along with the high washout rate, combined with long, exhausting internships, would result in far fewer graduates.
You can become a lawyer much easier, quicker, and cheaper than you can become a practicing physician. Add in even a much more expensive, difficult education to become a specialist practicing in all but endless fields of medicine, and few make it through. And if and when they do, they are faced with paying a staggering yearly malpractice insurance premium that most don't earn enough to pay for right out of the starting gate. New doctors pay far more than older, more experienced physicians with a clean track record in the profession. Much like a older driver who hasn't had an accident or a traffic ticket in 20 years, will pay much less than his teenage son who just received his drivers license.
None of this can be solved by passing legislation, let alone turning it over to the government. You can have most any ambulance chaser lawyer out there successfully defend you in a minor civil court matter. But when people are very sick, they want, "the best". And that market is so confined, most of these top tier specialists can charge whatever they want. When you look at everything that is creating all of this, it's all but impossible to "fix".
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Ok....I had an idea...and I'm sure there must be holes in it...and I figure this is a good place to have those holes pointed out.
The plan is to provide health insurance to those who legitimately (however that is determined) cannot afford it.
We go back to independent insurance companions competing for customers.
We find a ratio of those in an area, county would be best, but by state is more likely feasible. For this example, let us that that there are 1000 folks in the area who can afford insurance and 10 folks who cannot.
So, in that area, an insurance company would have to provide free coverage to one of the 10 folks who cannot afford coverage to be able to accept 100 of those who could afford it.
This would mean the companies are competing for the folks who cannot afford insurance so they will get as decent a plan as the market can bear.
Then the companies will still have to compete for the 100 folks they can sell insurance with any other companies working in the area...
Now, the cost of the free polices would be paid for by the paying policy holders, but, hopefully, free competition would minimize costs.
Now, the government involvement would be to provide honest and accurate ratios for what ever area size works best and to strongly enforce anti-monopoly and price fixing....so we have a large stake in the gov. doing a good job here....but it is like that in everything.
Biggest problem I see is getting competition to work.....how does a "new company" get into the insurance business?
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The problem is the medical educational system is very tightly self regulated, and has been for decades. Law schools are not. The result is every year we have law schools all over the country practically $h!tting out lawyers. There are far too many of them per capita compared to doctors. Because the medical profession only allows X number of students access to medical school each year. And even if they opened their doors to more students, the higher, longer, more difficult learning curve, along with the high washout rate, combined with long, exhausting internships, would result in far fewer graduates.
You can become a lawyer much easier, quicker, and cheaper than you can become a practicing physician. Add in even a much more expensive, difficult education to become a specialist practicing in all but endless fields of medicine, and few make it through. And if and when they do, they are faced with paying a staggering yearly malpractice insurance premium that most don't earn enough to pay for right out of the starting gate. New doctors pay far more than older, more experienced physicians with a clean track record in the profession. Much like a older driver who hasn't had an accident or a traffic ticket in 20 years, will pay much less than his teenage son who just received his drivers license.
None of this can be solved by passing legislation, let alone turning it over to the government. You can have most any ambulance chaser lawyer out there successfully defend you in a minor civil court matter. But when people are very sick, they want, "the best". And that market is so confined, most of these top tier specialists can charge whatever they want. When you look at everything that is creating all of this, it's all but impossible to "fix".
just like laywers, all it takes too become a doctor is pass the test. its just a lot harder to have access to said test. the sad reality is most law schools teach the test and not the law. For better than 20 years several lawyers have wanted me to take night classes to become a lawyer. they have all said they would never want to face me in court. I keep telling them I have to sleep at night. I am the nicest guy in the world, just don't cross me. I can be the meanest SOB you will ever come across if you cross that line in the sand. lets just also mention the fact that I have gotton 4 lawyers suspended/ disbarred. I DO NOT PUT UP WITH BULL SHIT!
I could make $500k a year, just traveling around sueing people for their ada violations... there is no way in hell I could sleep at night if I did so. I still do ADA consulting for historic places and an called as an expert witness in said cases. Even doing that I will only agree to do so if I believe the party I am being called for is in the right. I turn down 5x as many cases as I take. For me to go "to bat" for some one. They need to be in the "right" not nessicarly whats legal. in other words, have you made good faith efforts to fix the prob/ flat out didn't know( not the you should have known better people, but the stuff that odd ball)
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just like laywers, all it takes too become a doctor is pass the test. its just a lot harder to have access to said test.
Yes and no. The "test" for doctors is usually a 2 to 7 year residency, depending on the specialty. During which time everything you do is under constant scrutiny by more experienced physicians, who don't, "grade on a curve". The time and stress involved is far greater. In contrast the longest bar exam is administered by the State Of Louisiana. It takes a total of just 21.5 hours. And if you fail you are allowed to take it over as many times as necessary until you pass. If you fail at your residency as a physician, (and many do), your career in medicine is pretty much over before it ever starts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_examination
"Louisiana's examination is the longest in the country in terms of examination time, with seven hours on Monday and Wednesday and seven and one half hours on Friday for a total of 21.5 hours of testing."
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it actually depends on the state.
all it takes nation wide is to be "board certified" some times that is a residency, but in some states its actually a test. just like CCW some states take other states, others don't. example a RN in CA is 100% just a test. no practical exp needed.
another cert that is a biggy is civil engineers, in most states its pass the test. some require schooling or working under a CE for X number of years.
whats funny is that all of the CE I have known over the years that got their degree by working under some one for X number of years, where several times better and several times more practical then all of those that went too school. I worked for a SE frim when I got out of the coasties. I can not tell you how many of the senior CE/SE were complete idiots, but the guys that worked there and then got their CE/SE where so "smarter" and actually understood things like costs, easy of construction, and KISS.
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Quote from: TAB on Today at 01:18:55 pm
just like laywers, all it takes too become a doctor is pass the test. its just a lot harder to have access to said test.
This is a state by state item. Each state has their own requirements. In Minnesota you need certain years of education and courses from accredited universities. You also need to meet some additional requirements. For a Morticians License in Minnesota you need a Bachelor's Degree from an approved program of core courses, and several hours of continuing education each year. In some states you do not need to even test, because the license belongs to the business only.
Earlier a comment was made about turning training and oversight over to the military. Be careful what you wish for! Remember the Eastern Block Nations? Government control of everything through the military. Do you really want more government involvement of the government in our industries?
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Either/ or .
You either have total govt control of an industry or they need to get completely out of it.
Any thing else is a clusterf#ck of compromises guaranteed to fail .