1) “If one is so tight with their finances that they can’t afford to miss a couple of days of work, then they are playing their finances too close”

2) “We owe the poor nothing, and if they die off, there is then more for everyone else, not less.”

Granted there are those that abuse the system beyond a shadow of doubt. Of that I agree completely. But item 2 above is rather callous, and item 1 above is rather narrow minded.

Tk’d off yet? Most likely, but this needs to be clarified. What about the working poor who are barely making ends meet? Yes they actually get off their tushes and go to a minimum wage job (or +$1 or $2 perhour) just so they can stay off welfare… Walmart workers, waitresses, housecleaners, maid services, that list can go on. What about those white collar people who suddenly got laid off in a tough economy and have nearly exhausted their savings and are now working in perhaps those very same jobs (AND have children at home to feed). Making statements that are brash and unthinking is a very condescending attitude to have if you have not been there or walked in those shoes before.

To the “boo hoo it’s just the flu” types: better leave the science to the scientists. We in public health always bear in mind the lesson from Intro to Epidemiology, week 1, lecture 1: not everyone is a healthy adult with an intact immune system: no HIV, no transplants, no antibiotics, no cancer treatment, no bun in the oven. H1N1, just like seasonal flu, is a proven killer among the three usual at-risk populations (the young, the old, and the immunocompromised) plus everyone with respiratory ailments. Much as it seems you think that way, H1N1 and seasonal flu mortality is not some kind of elaborate hoax.

P.S. I changed doctors when I found out the doctor I was seeing did not give his staff sick days. Ewwww! I most certainly would not eat at a restaurant with sick servers, either — Thalassa in TriBeCa, I’m looking at you. So it’s not only legislators that can or ought to apply pressure here — we need to be savvy health consumers as well.

The question is do we want to trust that largest corporation in the world, the U.S. Government.
Do not expect house calls anytime soon.

We have seen how well the government delivers on its promises and its bureaucracies pursue the money without giving us benefits on so many levels. Imagine another organ of the government that only ultimately must listen to the Secretary of the Treasury – another “service” of which is the IRS.

http://theprogressivecapitalist.blogspot.com/2009/10/affordable-health-care-for-america-act.html
That blog of mine above has several .pdf connections (HR. 3962 and two summaries, a few videos, and page references for new taxes and other mandates). If you cannot use the link, google “Progressive Capitalist H.R. 3962.”

If you believe the promises of this bill, you have to deal with the lie that it fosters competition with a government option called the “Public Option” and establishes the government as a monopoly making its own rules.

Don’t worry. You’ll run out of “rich” soon enough. We have at least a$12 trillion economy of which at least $1.8 trillion is spent on health care. If you read the bill, there are plenty of opportunities to soak the middle class, if you do not mind the 1.6 million made jobless.

But even if everyone can and did take the day off if they are sick with the swine flu, it’s still going to spread. – in doctor’s offices, on public transportation, etc. Then an infected person may show up at work not know they are contagious or maybe not caring.

I remember when I didn’t get sick pay and if I missed work, I didn’t get paid, but I learned to save for a rainy day. I made minimum wages then, so I lived as cheaply as I could and saved as much as I could. I ate beans or mac & cheese almost every night. I did without a lot because I simply couldn’t afford it. But going to vocational school and learning a marketable trade changed all that. Not getting handouts from the government. I strongly recommend the same for people working for minimum wage and no sick pay. There is a way out, but you got to find and work for it.

No one would expect you to waste any of your time trying to read through the actual bills which are written by woncs who do nothing but write bills on the Hill for years. A typical section of the bills (any of ‘em) is a chain of references to federal code sections and Public Laws without hyperlinking and they are 1500-2500 pages long. That’s a complete exercise in futility.

But you should be smart enough given you have a web connection, to find reliable sources (not Faux or Rush) that allow you to metabolize the major points of each bill and then decide how you want to comment on them.

That would make sense. And as I pointed out Waxman’s Medicare Part D provision in the House bill is huge. We see elderly people every day who can’t begin to afford their meds.

I do not support those actions you propose.