healthcare

Our Institutions Are Failing

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incompetence Charles Hugh Smith – The mainstream media and its well-paid army of “authorities” / pundits would have us believe the decline in our collective trust in our institutions is the result of fake news, i.e. false narratives and data presented as factual.

If only we could rid ourselves of fake news, all would be well, as our institutions are working just fine.

This mainstream narrative is itself false: our institutions are failing, and the cause isn’t fake news or Russian hacking–the cause is insider plundering and collusion, aided and abetted by a decline in transparency and accountability and the institutionalization of incompetence.

In other words, the citizenry’s trust in institutions is declining because the failure of institutions is undeniably the fabric of everyday life in America.

When was the last time you heard the top management of a university system take responsibility for the unprecedented rise in the cost of tuition and textbooks? The short answer is “never.” The insiders benefiting from the higher-education cartel’s relentless exploitation of students and their families act as if the soaring costs are akin to cosmic radiation, a force of nature that they are powerless to control. Continue reading →

Passage of Laws Such as Healthcare Legislation Affect the Value of Presidential Autographs

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healthcareSince the 1940s, various U.S. Presidents have pushed for the passage of major pieces of legislation that would affect healthcare access and insurance coverage for Americans, with most failing to get the laws that they favored passed:

-Harry Truman attempted to enact universal healthcare immediately after World World Two, but Congress refused.

– Lyndon Johnson’s administration managed to successfully get Medicaid and Medicare passed, but a desire to achieve across-the-board healthcare reform remained out of reach.

-Richard Nixon tried to make it mandatory for all employers to provide insurance to employees, but this push came to an end with the Watergate Scandal and his subsequent resignation.

-Jimmy Carter was poised to pass major healthcare reform in the late 1970s, but infighting between his administration and the Democrats on the hill led by Ted Kennedy killed this attempt.

-Bill Clinton, with First Lady Hillary Clinton leading the charge, planned to get major healthcare reform passed in the early days of his administration, but was also unable to get Congress on board. Continue reading →

Why Is the Cost of Living so Unaffordable?

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higher educationCharles Hugh Smith – The mainstream narrative is “the problem is low wages.” Actually, the problem is the soaring cost of living. If essentials such as healthcare, housing, higher education and government services were as cheap as they once were, a wage of $10 or $12 an hour would be more than enough to maintain a decent everyday life.

Here are some examples from the real world. In 1952, it cost $30 to have a baby in an excellent hospital. If we adjust that by official inflation as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s inflation calculator to 2017, the cost would be $275. ($1 in 1952 = $9.16 in 2017).

What does it cost to have a baby delivered in a hospital today? $5,000? $10,000? Who even knows, given the convoluted billing process in today’s sickcare system?

The pharmaceutical cartel jacks up medication costs per dose from $3 tp $600, even when the medication has been around for decades: the Pinworm prescription jumps from $3 to up to $600 a pill Parents, doctors angry over drug price gouging (via John F.)

My father paid 1.8% of his wages for “hospital group insurance” in the early 1950s (for a household of four kids and two adults.) For someone earning $1,000 a week, the equivalent today would be $72 a month out of a monthly gross income of $4,000.

My spouse and I pay $1330 a month for barebones healthcare insurance in today’s sickcare system. Factor out subsidies paid by the employer or state, and minimal healthcare insurance costs tens of thousands of dollars per household annually.

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More governments around the world are moving to accept natural medicine

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healthcareL.J. Devon – In Switzerland, health insurance plans are on the cusp of covering homeopathy, herbal medicine, acupuncture, holistic care and traditional Chinese medicine. In 2009, two-thirds of the Swiss spoke out in favor of incorporating these important and long suppressed healthcare strategies into their healthcare system. By May 2017, all these great healthcare methods will be included in Switzerland’s constitutional list of paid health services.

Will health insurance plans around the world begin competing to incorporate holistic healthcare strategies?

Health insurance plans have long been used to cover the costs of only interventions and drugs, encouraging system dependency. If more of these payment plans started covering preventative medicine and holistic approaches, pharmaceutical drug use and medical interventions would be drastically reduced, thus lowering the cost of healthcare for all. Could Switzerland’s powerful change in health insurance coverage be the beginning of a healthy future for millions?

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House Approves Bill That Dismantles Parts of Obamacare, Defunds Planned Parenthood

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obamacare
Obamacare Bill when printed out is 7′ tall

Kate Scanlon – The House approved a budget reconciliation bill Friday that would repeal portions of Obamacare and cut federal funds to Planned Parenthood for one year.

The legislation, called the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, was passed in a 240-189 vote.

One Democrat, Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, voted in favor of the bill, and seven Republicans voted against it.

Some felt that dismantling Obamacare in pieces wasn’t sufficient given that Republicans promised to completely repeal Obamacare.

The Daily Signal reported Thursday that Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a joint statement that the House reconciliation bill that repeals only parts of Obamacare “simply isn’t good enough.”

Other Republicans argued that the legislation was a step in the right direction, and should move forward.

Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., chairman of the House Budget Committee, said in a statement the bill “repeals the most coercive components of Obamacare—eliminating onerous taxes, the individual and employer mandates, an Obamacare slush fund, and lifting unnecessary burdens on employers and employees.”

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