I was considering joining the AARP. It's the retirement organization. I'm retired, so why not. But I'm having second thoughts because of something I saw on Fox News. The guy was saying that AARP wants a big government option in the health care plan, so they can sell more "fill the gap" insurance to their members. He said AARP was no longer an advocate for old folks. Just another business who wants them as a customer. So I didn't join. I can see both sides of the health care question. I can see both sides of all the issues in politics today. I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I wish the Congress would enact an Amendment limiting all terms of office to four years. With elections every 2 years. Let's stop having professional politicians. Also let's have each bill in Congress stand alone. One Bill, one issue. No piggybacking, no trading favors on another bill. Just the Bill on it's own merits. I digress. Back to alphabet groups. I was considering joining the ADA. That's the American Diabetes Association. I've never joined and I guess I never will. I suspect it's even dirtier than the AARP. The ADA recommended diet includes enough carbohydrates to put most type 2 diabetics on insulin. Their recommended diet will make a type 2 into a type 1 and eventually kill him. The ADA is actually promoting diabetes. Next is ALPA. The airline pilot's association. I was a proud member for 29 years. But unfortunately, once I retired, they dropped me like a rock. No paycheck to "check off" dues from, no union. Next, the CAP. Civil Air Patrol. I've been a member off and on and now mostly off. I was a "Cadet" member and got a lot out of that program. I got my start in aviation there. I owe CAP. But the last few times I've dealt with the program, there was so much red tape to become a CAP pilot, that it didn't seem to be worth the time. I want to take young people up flying though. That takes me to the next group. The EAA. The experimental airplane association. I was in this once and to me it was just a magazine subscription. I wasn't building an airplane and I never will. But the EAA has a program to fly young people. It's called "Young Eagles". If you want to help in their young eagles program you must obviously join EAA. So we have a hit. I gonna rejoin EAA. But I'm not crazy about them for other reasons. Next we have the AOPA. Aircraft ownwers and pilots assoc. I just sent in my renewal dues of $39. This organization is pretty big. A few hundred thousand members. A lobby to help General Aviation. I wish they had the "Young Eagles" program instead of EAA. I hope the AOPA isn't "corrupt" like the ADA and the AARP but I suspect AOPA is big enough to have that sort of problem. The NRA, national rifle assoc. has sent me very glossy and nice junk mail forgiving me for letting my membership lapse, and reminding me of what a powerful lobby they are, and offering me a nice tote bag, if I will only rejoin. We'll see. I have limited budget for dues. Next, the SSA. (the soaring society). If you fly gliders you are told over and over to join this. You must be a member to receive "awards" as you progress in your gliding career. When I took lessons, the school told me I "had to join" SSA or could not fly there. So I joined and it was a magazine subscription. Now it's long expired, but I still fly gliders. Some day I may take a trip out west and go for one of those awards. Called "Diamonds". If that happens, I'll rejoin SSA. I thought that the SSA was the nicest, most innocent Alphabet group. Just guys floating around in quiet little gliders! But it turns out a few years ago their Chief Financial Officer ran off with $140,000. They had to boot him and then re-boot the organization. Maybe I'm just not a "joiner".
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Lou,
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with you about most alphabet organizations. There is nearly always someone with a business interest behind them whose primary interest in you, the joiner, is either income from dues or as leverage in furthering their own cause.
But since you brought it up, I did want to say something about healthcare. There are two sides to the situation, and the side I think we should have is not even in play. The one side is the situation as it exists. Private insurers, which are businesses, provide most of the health insurance in use today. As with any business, their only real interest is making money. So they are happy to get as much in premiums from you, the customer, as possible. In order to make the most profit it is also in their interest to pay out as little in benefits as possible. This they do by making it as difficult as possible (with their large bueracracy) to collect payments. You may have some experience dealing with the paperwork, phone calls, permission requirements etc. Many treatments are outright denied by what some call when applied to "government insurance" "death panels". And of course if one has no insurance and goes to purchase some (as can happen should you be so unfortunate as to lose your job)they will check out your personal health situation for, say, diabetes or something, and either deny coverage outright or charge an outrageous, unaffordable premium. In which case you have no insurance.
This particular "side" of the health insurance is a huge business with powerful lobbyists and virtually unlimited money. From your premiums. Which is why the can afford to purchase things such as Fox News and the U.S. Congress. Which is why, even though the current health care bill does improve the situation by eliminating most of the ability to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions and make premiums somewhat affordable for many more people, it is still based on self-interested, profit motivated private companies.
Health insurance is not a commodity that we can do without, like yachts and diamond necklaces. We all need it at some time or another, some (should you be so unfortunate) a lot more than others. If you accept the moral argument that no one should be left to get sick and die, then the cheapest and fairest way to provide this is by all of us paying into it together and being able to use it when we need it. And we do this collectively through our government. You know, that thing that is "of, by, and for the people". Of course this is also socialism. Just like interstate highways, public schools and the U.S. military. The kind of stuff we have already decided to pay for collectively as they are a little too costly to pay for individually.
Now this kind of "single payer" system is not even an option politically because of the huge amount of money behind the private health insurance industry. Pause for a minute and think about why they might have so much money. And they have also managed, with the help of the Fox News types, to rile up the general public against "big government" and their own best interests. Like government might have bueracracy (wish I could spell that) or something.
Literally every other advanced country in the world provides health care to their citizens that way, much more cheaply than we do, and with outcomes as least as good. And for every scare story the fulminators provide of delayed, denied or inadequate health care elsewhere you will find the same or worse in this country. And that's for the insured. Other countries don't leave citizens without coverage.
Gee, your new blog is a lot of fun.
BD
BD... very nice comment. if you can't spell bureaucracy, you make up for it by using the word fulminators which I had to look up!
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