“Don't you love farce?
My fault I fear.
I thought that you'd want what I want;
Sorry, my dear.
But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns."
Judy Collins, Send In The Clowns
I have been watching this fiasco
With both amusement and sadness
How naïve and silly a nation we are
Many don’t even know what Medicare is
Anti-reform agitators are really riling up our senior citizens
Who are screaming, “No Government Health Insurance!”
“And, You Better Leave my Medicare Alone, Mr. Obama!”
And very sadly, their dual message doesn’t even make any sense
Medicare is a National, Socialized, Health Insurance Program
Started, and run, for all these years, by our federal government
If all these confused protestors, don’t want government insurance
You think they’ll be just as upset, if their Medicare - Up and Went?
Medicare, even though run by government bureaucrats
Has been a life-saver for many eligible for its coverage
If Medicare hadn’t been paying, for some of their care
I shudder to think of the dire consequences, for them
I have been watching this fiasco,
With both amusement and sadness;
How naïve and silly a nation we are,
Many don’t even know what Medicare is.
And any true healthcare reform in our nation,
Would not reduce their government Medicare benefit;
But it might actually reduce its fraud, waste, and abuse,
Something the Anti-Reform Lobbyists, would really lament.
According to Recent Government Statistics:
Medicare loses about $60 billion a year, to fraud;
And hundreds of thousands of Medicare claims,
Are routinely paid, to dead physicians.
But, of course, rooting out Medicare fraud, waste, and abuse,
Would require even more dreaded government meddling;
And God Forbid, we actually do something constructive,
In this extremely naïve and silly nation of ours.
Send In The Clowns?
Don’t Bother;
They’re Here.
©2009, Mr. Ed
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Universal Plague it seems.
Like this, well done and ty as always ED
Ch'erie xx
Especially, the ill-informed and ignorant. The old saying is - 'Ignorance is Bliss!"
And we certainly have a blissful population ... Tom.
We don't have a perfect system, still I think it is far better than what the fear mongers could courrupt us with.
Cheers,
Dan
Be always safe,
Karen
fee
* An estimated 6.4 million of them are the "Medicaid undercount." That is, they actually *are* on either Medicaid or S-CHIP.(This figure is based on the analysis from the Department of Health and Human Services.)
* Another 4.3 million are eligible for free or heavily subsidized government health insurance (either Medicaid or SCHIP), but simply have not yet signed up.
* 9.3 million or more are not U.S. citizens. That's almost 20 percent of the "46 million uninsured".
* 10.1 million have incomes more than 3 times the poverty level. For a single person that means their income exceeded $30,600. For a family of four, that would be $62,000 or more. Almost 18 million of the uninsured in America -- that's 38 percent of them -- earn more than $50,000 per year; almost 10 million of them earn over $75,000 per year. The typical uninsured citizen makes more than the average U.S. income. The overwhelming majority of these people obviously can afford health care coverage under our current system.
* 5 million are adults between ages 18 and 34 and without children. Young singles of this age are, on the whole, extremely healthy; insurance companies refer to them as "the Invincibles." Foolishly or not, many have simply made a deliberate choice not to invest money in health insurance at this stage in their lives.
That leaves 10.6 million people who are U.S. citizens; who make incomes less than 300% of poverty; who are not eligible for a taxpayer-subsidized health insurance program; and who are not childless adults between the extremely healthy ages of 18 and 34.
That's about 3% of the total U.S. population. And even some of that 3% are only temporarily without insurance; for example, they may be between jobs, or looking for another policy, or only temporarily unable to afford coverage. Further, they still have access to care; federal law prohibits hospitals from denying treatment to persons who come to an emergency room.
The overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens have health insurance, and many who do not can afford it. The percentage who cannot afford or otherwise get health insurance is very small.
We know that America's health care and insurance industries are in need of reform. But a Federal takeover is not the answer.
To support a radical Government takeover is "Silly"
Deregulation of the insurance industries. Tax credits for health care expenses, Larger tax credits for donations to medical charities, Massive tax cuts that allow Americans to spend more money on health care and charity are the solution.
Last I checked this was a country that gave us liberty and freedom of choice.
Don’t Bother;
They’re Here"
A great part of a great poem, Ed. I wonder if these "clowns" realize just what our Veteran's Health Care is?
And they seem to be deaf and blind to their less fortunate brothers and sisters!
So far, I'm one of the fortunate...with MediCare and supplement retirement-perk insurances. Yet I can't stand by and see my fellow man, woman, and (more inportant) children go without, often, life-saving medical attention...even preventative care.
Thank goodness Jesus didn't ask for proof of personal insurance.
Blessings and Love - Micke
If a nation is government and its people it better look after them, your insurance companies look only after half of them, that half that's got, and who don't give a damn about the other half.
Bless you Ed for writing this! Jasmin Horst
OMG! they are trying to uproot corruption? are they nuts?
It will be anti American, wasn't a Wall Street guy that said "the buck stops here!"?
Georg