VA

As the almost daily reports of problems with the Veterans Administration health care system are reported, please recall that during the run up to Obamacare the press often portrayed the VA as a good example of how well government health care works. This was just one more bit of misinformation that surrounded this program. The number of uninsured decreased from 17.5% to 11.5% which means that 18 million who were previously uninsured are now insured. About 6 million of these people were eligible for free insurance under Medicaid and another 6 million lost their private insurance through their employer and another 6 million are people who had no insurance and signed up and most of these are getting some subsidy. The Medicaid sign ups were people who were eligible before Obamacare but chose not to sign up because there was a small fee and pre-existing conditions were covered. Thus they would just wait until they needed the service and then they would sign up. At this time we still have 35 million uninsured and they are the people whose income is high enough that they don’t qualify for subsidies. As the tax penalties for being uninsured increase more of these people will sign up. Most of these people are deterred by the high deductibles. They feel if they have to pay the first $5,000 each year that this is not really insurance. In fact it is the best kind of insurance to buy since the high deductible keeps the cost down while protecting a person from a catastrophic illness or injury. The people on Medicaid pay zero deductible and those with subsidies pay partial deductibles so the problem is for those whose incomes are high enough that they get no subsidy. Many of these people are now buying a new kind of insurance plan that helps cover the deductible. The others just use medical care when absolutely necessary. There is a belief that prevention promotes better health and while this may be the case on an individual basis it is prohibitively costly on a general basis. For example a test for TB cost about $20 and there are about 2,000 cases annually in the US. If we tested 320 million people to find those 2,000 the cost would be 3.2 million dollars for each case discovered. While prevention is good it is not cost effective.

Pope and family

As I listen to the Pope and his emphasis on family, I am reminded of Mary Wright Edelman. She is the lady who founded the Children’s Defense Fund. This is the group that Hilary Clinton is so enamored with and often talks about. She was the youngest of five children and her father was a Baptist Minister. She grew up in South Carolina when everything was segregated and her family had only the bare necessities. Her father told her that while she would be discriminated against that education was the big equalizer and she worked hard and became a lawyer. She spent most of her life fighting for equality among the races. I read her first book and it was a dichotomy. In the first half she talks about how the blacks survived by combining the strength of family and church. In the second half she writes only about how the government should do more for families. Little did she know that when the government stepped in with the Great Society the black family would be ripped apart. Even when she witnessed the deterioration of the black family she did not connect it with government rules about poverty and what was needed to receive government benefits. While she may not see the damage done to the black family, the Pope is well aware of over 70% of children born into families without a father. He knows that lack of education leads to drugs and crime but Mrs. Edelman feels that what is needed is more government programs.

Papal economics

I don’t know who the Pope’s economic advisor is but something isn’t right. The poorest counties in the world contribute practically nothing to air pollution. Throughout Africa, most of South American and Southeast Asia, where there is very little in the way of industry, there is very little air pollution. These countries cannot be accused of adding to the problem of climate change. The developing countries of the world, countries like the United States, Western Europe and to a greater extent China and India are the polluters. The people living in the non-polluting countries are suffering from lack of food, lack of proper housing and very little in the way of medical care. The number one cause of death in Africa, are communicable diseases and the main cause is unclean drinking water. Dirty water kills millions of people every year in these countries. Infant mortality from lack of proper nutrition kills babies before they have a chance to get a start in life. Diseases like measles, malaria, whooping cough, tetanus, meningitis and syphilis, diseases we mostly thought were gone kill millions. In these non-polluting countries there are no schools for most children, no laws to protect children and many of these countries women are second class citizens. For most of my life, the developing countries have sent food and medical supplies to the poor countries and in 1955 life expectancy in Africa was 38 and today it is 60. This is a direct result of the excess food production in the United States and Canada. The United States could convert everything to natural gas and lower air pollution but that would not help the people who need clean water and medical supplies. The best way to help those people is to get them jobs that pay a decent wage and the way to do that is to use free market capitalism. The perfect example is North and South Korea. The people in the north are starving while those in the south are thriving. These people are the same culture, same religion and same ethnicity but one chose communism and the other chose capitalism.

Papal economics

I don’t know who the Pope’s economic advisor is but something isn’t right. The poorest counties in the world contribute practically nothing to air pollution. Throughout Africa, most of South American and Southeast Asia, where there is very little in the way of industry, there is very little air pollution. These countries cannot be accused of adding to the problem of climate change. The developing countries of the world, countries like the United States, Western Europe and to a greater extent China and India are the polluters. The people living in the non-polluting countries are suffering from lack of food, lack of proper housing and very little in the way of medical care. The number one cause of death in Africa, are communicable diseases and the main cause is unclean drinking water. Dirty water kills millions of people every year in these countries. Infant mortality from lack of proper nutrition kills babies before they have a chance to get a start in life. Diseases like measles, malaria, whooping cough, tetanus, meningitis and syphilis, diseases we mostly thought were gone kill millions. In these non-polluting countries there are no schools for most children, no laws to protect children and many of these countries women are second class citizens. For most of my life, the developing countries have sent food and medical supplies to the poor countries and in 1955 life expectancy in Africa was 38 and today it is 60. This is a direct result of the excess food production in the United States and Canada. The United States could convert everything to natural gas and lower air pollution but that would not help the people who need clean water and medical supplies. The best way to help those people is to get them jobs that pay a decent wage and the way to do that is to use free market capitalism. The perfect example is North and South Korea. The people in the north are starving while those in the south are thriving. These people are the same culture, same religion and same ethnicity but one chose communism and the other chose capitalism.

Papal economics

I don’t know who the Pope’s economic advisor is but something isn’t right. The poorest counties in the world contribute practically nothing to air pollution. Throughout Africa, most of South American and Southeast Asia, where there is very little in the way of industry, there is very little air pollution. These countries cannot be accused of adding to the problem of climate change. The developing countries of the world, countries like the United States, Western Europe and to a greater extent China and India are the polluters. The people living in the non-polluting countries are suffering from lack of food, lack of proper housing and very little in the way of medical care. The number one cause of death in Africa, are communicable diseases and the main cause is unclean drinking water. Dirty water kills millions of people every year in these countries. Infant mortality from lack of proper nutrition kills babies before they have a chance to get a start in life. Diseases like measles, malaria, whooping cough, tetanus, meningitis and syphilis, diseases we mostly thought were gone kill millions. In these non-polluting countries there are no schools for most children, no laws to protect children and many of these countries women are second class citizens. For most of my life, the developing countries have sent food and medical supplies to the poor countries and in 1955 life expectancy in Africa was 38 and today it is 60. This is a direct result of the excess food production in the United States and Canada. The United States could convert everything to natural gas and lower air pollution but that would not help the people who need clean water and medical supplies. The best way to help those people is to get them jobs that pay a decent wage and the way to do that is to use free market capitalism. The perfect example is North and South Korea. The people in the north are starving while those in the south are thriving. These people are the same culture, same religion and same ethnicity but one chose communism and the other chose capitalism.

Religion

Presidential candidate Ben Carson was asked about a Muslim being president and he botched the answer. If he had said as long as his religion does not interfere with his responsibility to carry out the constitution it would be no problem. This could be said for affiliation with any group in regards to a person running for any office. I thought we as a country had advanced beyond such questions after John Kennedy was elected. Here is a news item from 1960. John F. Kennedy's presidential bid was challenged by Protestant leaders who charged that he would be a tool of the Vatican. Concerns were widespread about Catholic leaders demanding political loyalty on issues involving church doctrine Apparently we have not moved as far along as I thought.

Afghan boys

Several years ago I wrote a short essay on the concept that the United States was supposed to respect the culture of other countries. This was at a time when the government was trying to appease some of the different things taking place in Muslim countries. I used absurdity to press the point that not all cultural differences can be ignored. I said if we saw soldiers tossing babies in the air and catching on bayonets would we be obligated to intervene. While this was a ridiculous idea, the news today is striking in its ridiculousness. American soldiers are told to turn a blind eye to the practice of Afghan soldiers who tie up young boys and rape them as this is a part of their culture. This story was in the New York Times today but similar stories have appeared over the past few months. An American soldier who intervened on behalf of a young Afghan boy was discharged from the service. Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan,particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally “boy play,” and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene — in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records.