Bush-Kerry Debate

[jilbagh]

These are not your thoughts. What experience do you have with the healthcare industry? What do you know about Medicare? How is the president supposed to control healthcare costs?

By not siding with and protecting the HMO and the pharm. comp's that are behind increasing the costs in the US. He can fund healthcare more to reduce the cost's of the private research conducted by the companies and that will reduce the cost of healthcare. Medicare costs are increasing at a dramatic rate. Seniors are having a tough time filling prescriptions and paying for them.

The President has great power to control healthcare, we saw the increase with healthcare under Pres. Clinton.

Let's not mention to forget that John Edwards was a co-author of the Patients Bill of Rights.

I have a lot of expierience with health industry. I was an intern for 2 congressmen and worked with legislators and constituants dealing with medicare and healthcare. I am confronted with many situations with elder relatives and help them thru the process. My sister is work in the pharmaceutical industry as an executive. I have 4 relatives that are pharmacists, and 5 doctors that I talk extensivly about this issue.

And yourself?

[jilbagh]

I feel even more compelled to vote for Bush.

at least you're voting.

but feel compelled to know the facts and not the rhetoric, labels, statments taken out of context and false ad's.

[GSTracer05]

By not siding with and protecting the HMO and the pharm. comp's that are behind increasing the costs in the US. He can fund healthcare more to reduce the cost's of the private research conducted by the companies and that will reduce the cost of healthcare. Medicare costs are increasing at a dramatic rate. Seniors are having a tough time filling prescriptions and paying for them.

The President has great power to control healthcare, we saw the increase with healthcare under Pres. Clinton.

Let's not mention to forget that John Edwards was a co-author of the Patients Bill of Rights.

I have a lot of expierience with health industry. I was an intern for 2 congressmen and worked with legislators and constituants dealing with medicare and healthcare. I am confronted with many situations with elder relatives and help them thru the process. My sister is work in the pharmaceutical industry as an executive. I have 4 relatives that are pharmacists, and 5 doctors that I talk extensivly about this issue.

And yourself?

If your sister is an executive in the pharmaceutical industry then you would know that these pharmaceutical corporations contribute over 8billion dollars in research compared to the 200 million invested by our government. Where do you think these companies get the funds to invest in research and development? Kerry wants the fed govt to step into the healthcare industry? The fed gov is going to contribute the tremendous sums of dollars to fund the industry? It might if you paid half of your earnings to recieve health benefits.

You think the HMO system increases healthcare costs? The HMO system keeps down fraud. Why are premiums rising? Several reasons: 1) Overall rise in cost of living, 2) Fraud, 3) HMO's need to contract with Doctors who are charging higher rates due to increased malpractice insurance premiums. 4) Cost of medications. Blue Cross of California would be a perfect example of an HMO. It manages a network of providers and formularies, prohibiting our beloved Armenians from running from doctor to doctor to get items ranging from shoes, to vacuums, to televisions. It manages physical therapy and worker's compensation related claims to make sure our friendly lawyers and crooked physicians arent billing the companies for 80 visits when it took 10 visits to heal the patient. Look at california's Medi-Cal system. Look at our nation's medicare system. I've been in the healthcare industry for over 7 years. I've been involved with the physicians as well as the DHS. Its plagued with fraud. If I recall correctly, the HMO system became popular under President Clinton. Do you have any idea how much govt funding is lost to fraud? If Bush or Kerry could curb fraud, a majority of population would have free to minimal cost healthcare benefits. I do not believe you know as much about the healthcare industry as you claim. Even if you worked for some congressman and have relatives that are pharmacists.

[patlajan]

By not siding with and protecting the HMO and the pharm. comp's that are behind increasing the costs in the US. He can fund healthcare more to reduce the cost's of the private research conducted by the companies and that will reduce the cost of healthcare. Medicare costs are increasing at a dramatic rate. Seniors are having a tough time filling prescriptions and paying for them.

The President has great power to control healthcare, we saw the increase with healthcare under Pres. Clinton.

Let's not mention to forget that John Edwards was a co-author of the Patients Bill of Rights.

Fund healthcare more? First that statement tells me nothing, second drug companies are already heavily funded by the federal goverment. This increased funding you're alluding to is gonna come from where? Oh I know, those deductions in my check I see when I get it. And how is this money gonna be spent? Who knows. I know you definetly don't.

The rest of what you said also tells me nothing but things I already know. Seniors are having a tough time paying for prescribtion drugs, no kidding.

[GSTracer05]

The government will never match the amount of $ the pharmaceutical organizations contribute to the research and development of new drugs.

It seems to me like John Kerry has a "plan" for everything but just how he intends to carry out these plans is a bit unclear.

I'm not a huge fan of Bush or Kerry, but I think i'll stick with Bush till his term is up.

[Anonymouse]

Both Bush and Kerry have nice nifty plans and programs they want to implement, the problem is neither will find the money since the country is swarmed in the biggest debt ever. And note to the Kerry fans who blame Bush, it doesn't matter who it is, the debt acquires because that is the way the government works since the Federal Reserve was established. Thanks to that system, we are exposed to these boom bust cycles.

[Anonymouse]

Here is an interesting article that goes into the deification of what we call the Presidency and how war has made this possible, much like Caesar for Rome. It is a very thought provoking read especially for the layman who is not versed in American history and is simply another mindless voter, which pretty much describes all of you in this thread, except for myself.

War Gave Us Caesar

by Adam Young

The stakes are high, the public is divided, and extreme rhetoric is flying. So it always is the month before the presidential election. Why? Because of the power of the office, the very existence of which is contrary to any robust notion of freedom.

The President of the United States on his sole decision deploys troops anywhere in the world, blockades and embargoes foreign countries, imposes trade tariffs, and engages in election cycle credit inflation. Around the world, he bombs innocent people, launches invasions and deploys weapons of mass destruction. The President even oversees a global spy network and increasingly a global prison network.

Domestically, the president interferes in party nominations and thereby restricts election contests. He disgorges amounts of pork that would stun the 19th century Jacksonian partisans of the spoils system. As the head of the modern state, which exists to manage and mold society into the whims and desires of the mercantile and intellectual establishment, the president heads, promotes and advances policies and programs that destroy social institutions like family integrity, charitable desires, and the ability to save and progress. No matter what philosophy he may claim to hold dear, he routinely promises to create millions of jobs, to reduce the costs of energy or health care, and "turn the country around" through the vigorous application of coercion through new laws and taxes.

And surrounding him is the White House bureaucracy and ubiquitous agencies, a virtual imperial court and entourage, armed and unarmed, that is funded by some estimates at over a billion dollars a year. The president on his frequent visits to the foreign satrapies and client states of the shadowy "American Empire" descends on these lands like a pharaoh or sultan of old, accompanied by legions of security men, lackeys, aides, consultants and assorted corporate and party hangers on whose aim is to bask in the reflected glint of the "sole remaining superpower" personified.

The President today is the focus of political and increasingly social life, dominating, with the connivance of the media and popular entertainment, regardless of which of the two political cartels he may nominally belong to, mainstream debate on social and financial issues and is presented to the public as an all-purpose master of every issue and situation, a veritable demigod in his reputation for near omniscience and infallibility. Indeed it is rare for any president, or even any mere politician for that matter, to admit they may have committed a mistake. This was certainly the case in President George W. Bush's now infamous April 13 press conference[1]. Bush humbly admitted he might have made a mistake or two; he just couldn't think of what they may have been.

George W. Bush is surely among the worst of the modern day messiah presidents, the high priests of the civil religion of American Exceptionalism. In that same press conference, he made several remarkable statements that illustrate his mentality and conception of not only the presidency, but of American governmental institutions, the Constitution, and the serfdom of the American taxpayer. They also reveal how these ideas form the structure of the bipartisan interventionist/imperialist establishment and permanent governmental apparatus. What’s shocking is that few in the media thought these statements were extraordinary...

read the rest at

http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?Id=1642

[jilbagh]

The past 4 years, the aBush administration had a Republican congress to come up with a plan, legislate it, pass it thru congress and put the Presidents signature on it.

They failed.

[jilbagh]

If your sister is an executive in the pharmaceutical industry then you would know that these pharmaceutical corporations contribute over 8billion dollars in research compared to the 200 million invested by our government.

1)The government is limiting the testing of the drugs.

2)The pharmaceutical companies don't want to make public the research and the findings for cures. They make money off of the drugs they sell to stabilize a disease someone may have. This is widely noted as a conspiracy theory, but why should they cut their own profits?

It's a dirty and corrupt industry. No matter what the situation is, the corrupt practices will continue. It's all tied in with insurance and pharm. companies.

[HyeJinx1984]

The past 4 years, the aBush administration had a Republican congress to come up with a plan, legislate it, pass it thru congress and put the Presidents signature on it.

They failed.

I have nothing of value to add, except to inform you that I will be reffering to this administration as the "aBush" administration from this point on, lol. Thank you.