"I'm hanging on every word..."

Okay... Ryan sent me a text needing proof about the badness of socialized medicine. I don't have it and that's not what this post is about, so just bear with me and answer my questions, please.

1) If a national health insurance bill passed, removing the burden of "benefits" from employers and placing it on the federal government (John and Suzie Taxpayer) would there be an economic bounce? A good bounce? Because that's a large chunk of change companies aren't paying out anymore.

2) If a national health insurance bill would cost us $1,000,000,000,000 (wow... write that number out and it still is impossible to wrap your brain around...) over ten years, is there ANY comparable INCOME to offset this expense over the same time frame? If the feds tax the businesses the SAME or slightly more money for the federal health insurance as what they're paying out now, where has the economic benefit gone?

3) Would this federal health insurance be run for a profit? If so, if it is designed to be self sustaining, then were is the advantage other than the universal aspect of coverage? You still have a large insurance entity gouging clients, the very thing people are bemoaning now.

4) If the federal health insurance is NOT to be run for a profit, then what precedent are we setting in the business world?

#4 is a very important question and I want you guys to think about this. I look outside my patio door right now and I see empty lots where businesses and homes once stood, empty lots that will remain empty as long as no one can get insurance for the homes and businesses that would replace those lost during Katrina. The second largest profit earnings raked in the last quarter of 2005 and all of 2006, second only to oil, was insurance. State Farm, Allstate, you get it. During the largest national disaster in this nations history these companies made billions. So the model for an insurance program MAKING money is there... If the feds choose to follow it and ease the burden on the taxpayers.

5) Are there some aspects of American society that should NOT be for a profit?

I spoke to the champion of Camelot for three hours last week concerning federal health insurance and she answered the tough questions without hesitation and without shame, something Obama has not done yet. She suggested a moderate tax on big businesses, (those employing over 500 people) and a tax increase on the top ten percent income bracket. She immediately stated that this would NOT cover the trillion dollar over ten year cost of the coverage, but stated in Camelot style that we choose to do the hard things and not pass the buck to future generations, and as a society we FIND ways of making it happen. She also stated that it's the RIGHT thing to do, and as a Christian nation we need to start doing the right thing as a society.

My personal opinion is this. Most of my youthful idealism was lost in the debris removal of Katrina. I have very little faith in the federal government and its ability to help me directly. But more frightening than this nation's financial bankruptcy is its growing MORAL bankruptcy. I am NOT saying we're the great Satan so fire down, but we all have looked in the national mirror and seen the Culture of Death looking back at us. I have been without health coverage for thirteen months and, knock on wood, dodged bullets. I'm one health incident away from bankruptcy myself. I'm not a fan of Obama at all. Could Bobby Jindhal make this happen? Could Haley Barbour? Could Patraeus? HOW could they do it?

What if F. Ryan got elected with all the conservative mandates intact SAVE universal health coverage? How would we make it happen? Work with me on this, it'll be fun. And maybe someone will steal these ideas like they did the troop surge.