More Health Care Redux

Spot on. These aszwholes who are clamoring for gov't healthcare are the SAME ones who biotch and whine about the USPS. Yet, their little pea-brains,pickled by the drumbeat of the steno pool that is supposed to be the watchdog,believes EVERYTHING else the gov't does is good. WTF?? Should this fiasco be enacted,I believe it will be incumbent on us to pistol-whip ANYONE we hear whining about gov't health care,because it'll be obvious they chose to ignore the warnings.Just like they did when this lying p&!ck was elected.

Yep. Go the the side blogs and see the idiots spew about how we should be taxed 90% to pay for the "general" fund!! And how they whine that it isn't the USPS's fault they don't have the technology to keep up and that left only to privatized systems, FedEx and UPS would soak csutomers dry!!

What they fail to understand is that they get to choose whether or not to be soaked-and as any business knows- Don't serve the customer, go down in flames! You can only get soaked if you want to.

In this case, we are being forced to get soaked and I absolutely object to that!!

A lot of us knew this was coming if Obama was elected. Now we are seeing exactly what I predicted on many of my blogs.

The people who voted for this Communist did not heed the warning sings of what he was saying and he said it many times. He was going to transform America. Just what did they think that meant?

Now, we are suffering under a tyrannical government who will take control of our entire lives, our freedoms will be gone for good, and we will have no choices left except what Obama wants, total and complete control.

He is treasonous. He is a traitor within and in the highest position of the land. He attacks, criticizes and punishes anyone who does not agree with him. The time has come for another civil war. How it starts I do not know. But Americans better be ready. Either they lose all their freedoms or they fight.

I choose to fight. What is worth living if you do not have freedom. It's not and we all know that.

Very good article btw.

Obama is a Communist pure and simple. His history tells the whole story but once again people ignored the warning signs.

He is forcing Communism down our throats and he will take no prisoners over it.

As far as the healthcareless bill, it's a sham. It has nothing at all to do with health, but all about control. The government will decide who gets to live and who gets to die. They will even pay to have you die and preferably seniors first. But, it won't stop there. Anyone who goes against the party line will be sought out to be an enemy of the Communist state and most likely rounded up to be killed.

He showed his colors well during the campaign when he went after Joe the plumber. What did people think when they saw that? Apparently we have a lot of people who don't think.

So now we are stuck and possibly doomed unless something happens to interrupt and stop him in his tracks.

You know it can't work, I know it can't work, probably even Obama knows it can't work but when has that ever stopped politicians?

I'm not sure what a side blog is but comparing the USPS to UPS and FedEx is apples to oranges.

The military doesn't make a profit and most of us who have served in the military would probably argue about how effciently it's run. Just like the mails, every vet has a war story about how they got snow shoes in July.

However, I can find a provision for a military in the constitution and for a postal service. I can't seem to locate health care. Constitutional mandates are a legitimate expense to taxpayer but we are not being asked to amend the constitution to provide for health care.

BTW, UPS handles about 4 billion pieces a year domestically as opposed to the USPS at over 200 billion; it's simply not the same dynamic.

You go ahead and stick me in the spewing idiot column now. HaHaHa!

That #37 ranking is based on raw data. Because of our anomalous high rates of violent crime and traffic accidents, the results are artificially skewed. Once the data is normalized to account for those anomalies, we actually rank at #1.

The healthcare industry has an average profit margin of 3%, placing it at #87 on the industry profitability ranking.

E-e-e-e-vil Big Oil has a profit of about 8%.

The company I worked for had a margin of about 12%.

The food industry (supermarkets) are at about 2%.

So, a little perspective is called for.

Sorry for the separate comments. I'm having to go back and forth between here and your essay. Different topics, too.

Fair.

That word should be stricken, along with "Free" from the dictionary.
NOTHING is "Fair" for everyone. Playing fields "Leveled" for one are invariably tilted for another.

Well, at least we agree!! I hate to be fighting Juliet!!

You're not spewing! What you say is true. But, because the gov't is supposed to provide the service doesn't mean it can't improve. This is the dual systems at work...and if it were to be privatized I can guarantee that it would do even better. The Gov't may move all that mail but it doesn't often turn profit like the private companies.

The fact that Fed Ex and UPS are still in existence proves that despite the choke hold and ridiculous operating limitations imposed by the USPS (which is a monopoly and can have no competition for regular mail service), these companies have managed to provide a level of service customers desire. Thus, even though they charge a higher rates than the USPS, these companies are profitable because of their reliability and willingness to guarantee services - neither of which is available from USPS!!

Point one:
That is one reason I talked about population variables and comparison of tow different systems. I could not find anything to support that we were #1, unless it was ONLY quality of care.

Point two: I never actually looked at the profit as a whole. It causes me to ask: What are the total expenditures against that margin? If we serve 280 million people (I took away the 18-20 Million supposedly not insured, who supposedly can't get care), Surely it would be higher than 3%?

Am I missing your point?

I was a bit surprised at that myself. Which is why I included population numbers because in all "fairness" look how many we serve without a social system!!

How many US citizens go to Canada for health care? (very few)

How many US citizens go to the UK and EU for health care? (very few)

How many citizens of the above areas come to the US for healthcare? (a great many and the number is increasing)

Regardless of how the numbers are "spun" (by the UN, the Liberals, or who ever), IT ALWAYS COMES BACK TO THE ABOVE FACTS.

If the US healthcare system is so bad, then why do so many from all over the world come here to use it?

The revolution is a-comin'.

It will be started, however, not by right-wing extremists, but by the dependent class that suddenly finds itself not getting what they expect.

I am not at all comfortable being cast in the role of defending the USPS. I left the Postal Service after almost 15 years because it drove me crazy. I founded and operated a direct mail marketing and printing company for another 20 plus years.

I was one of the local sectional centers largest mailers (CBN is bigger). I offer this as a disclaimer but suffice it to say I have had a real close look at that system.

The Private Express Statutes are largely misunderstood by the public. The postal service's monopoly is on first class mail only (by definition: that which has the nature of a personal communication). They are a not-for-profit agency with a mandate to run a break even operation but whose pricing is severely regulated by the Independent Rate Commission, thus created a lag behind such things as higher gas prices, etc.

UPS and FedEx and the other package delivery companies came into being as a result of an exemption to the private express stats with a legal requirement that they must not just cost more than first class mail that it must be orders of magnitude higher.

This was promulgated on the argument from the private sector that the items being shipped were of a time sensitive nature and clients were willing to pay as much as $10 for what the USPS provided for 13 cents, but with no guarantee.

You can get the same guaranteed deliver from the USPS through Express Mail now but it will cost you the same as the other expedited delivery services.

Everybody in my business had a plan for privatization since we would have had the best shot at taking it over. I figured I could provide better service, on time delivery, eliminate union labor, have my own airplanes and high tech processing all for only about $3.50 per letter.

Don't hold me to it, that was 1990 pricing!

The point is that healthcare is demonized as being massively expensive, with obscene profits for providers of care and insurance... and it's all a big fat lie.

So, the monopoly is regulated and still cannot manage break even. Therein lies the rub. What I would like to see happen for the services that are mandates is that we don't keep subsidizing and increasing the debt. If it cannot even break even, that should be the first clue that it is not manageable and something else, like privatization should happen.

Also, we see that the gov't treats much of the positive cash flow as funny money since it is allowed by law to "borrow" "surpluses", yet, in order to repay it will increase taxes. That law should be removed from the books. Perhaps the same with the IRC and holding the post office hostage with rates.

Or, perhaps a new law allowing only a percentage of of borrowing on revenues. At least there would be something left over time instead of increased debt.

It always comes back to government regulation.

How well do you think your business would do if you couldn't adjust your prices for as much a year or more. The answer is you would lose money every year just like the USPS.

The May 2008 increase covered rising costs from the previous year. It was immediately followed by $4 gas. That and other commodity costs just got covered by the May 2009 rate increase.

In 1885 a first class letter cost 2 cents to mail. Adjusted against the consumer price index, that 2 cents had the buying power of 41 cents in 2004 (the latest year available). In 2004 postage was 37 cents so it actually went down.

The practice of writing IOU's by the congress is just insane and explains a lot about why we are in the shape we're in. I'm agin' it!

I'm sorry about the postal rant. I'll stop now! HaHaHa!

Excellent article today on the profitability of the health insurance industry:

http://hosted2.ap.org/CAVAN/d02b5398f652462d97efa000a53de43 3/Article_2009-10-25-US-Fact-Check-Health-Insurance/id-p49b 9657f5e944e968f4f99052c08e9cb

1. For those who THINK they desire government run health care let me suggest this: Put your time in one of the armed forces and then you will become eligible for government run health care. Then you, too, can call for an appointment, get a letter 2-3 weeks later setting your appointment in a couple of months when you will sit on your duff in the waiting room 30 minutes to 2 hours beyond your appointment time so you can see a doctor whose name you can't pronounce and whose English you can't understand and who is only concerned with how much beer you drink, if you smoke or not and do you wish to quit.
2. EMTALA is good law. The humane and Christain thing to do is to treat without regard to ability to pay or legal status. The only flaw is there is not an ICE substation in the ER waiting room.
3. Amtrac. I rode on the old Burlington Zephyr as a young lad. About 20 years ago I decided to ride Amtrac from Chicago to Fort Worth. Remembering the courteous service was a mistake. There was no lounge car from yesteryear. Just a car that looked like a rolling convenience store and an Amtrac employee who was about as courteous as a badger in heat. Dinner was so-so and you had to make a reservation. The "bedroom" car has been downsized to a car full of cubbyholes that used to be called "roomettes" and the whole experience told me the enjoyment of rail travel was in the past with the ol' Zephyr.
4. USPS. Doesn't it just kinda get under your skin just a little bit to see the USPS advertising on television? That's YOUR tax dollar they are advertising with. And they still don't make a profit.