Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleLETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Misguided intentions on health care reform
Saturday, March 20, 2010 | 2:02 a.m.
Regarding E.J. Dionne’s column in Thursday’s Las Vegas Sun, “On health care, listen to the nuns”:
There are several reasons not to heed the nuns.
One, the U.S. Catholic bishops have reasserted their support for health care reform. However, the present bill excludes the Hyde Amendment language that would protect taxpayers from paying for abortions. Legislation is always subject to bureaucratic interpretation. Without specific wording to prohibit tax money, the policy wonks will infuse it someway, especially at the local level and/or increasingly with Planned Parenthood.
Two, the nuns hardly represent all Roman Catholic women, and tragically many orders have devolved into liberation theology groups often at odds with the church Magisterium. Other Catholic groups such as Women of Grace, Women for Faith and Family (of which I am a member) and other such associations boast thousands of members who continue to challenge this bill on abortion.
Three, good intentions can never excuse evil or foolishness. Aside from the fact that there are many fatal flaws in the current bill, these nuns should have shown more wisdom regarding the nature of (wo)man with unbridled power. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the strongest case in point.
At the very least, the nuns should have questioned the basic math. How can we expand coverage for 30 million people when there is critical shortage of medical care professionals and costs continue to climb, not for insurance alone, but also actual contact with providers?
Discussion: comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
No trusted comments have been posted.
Post a comment
Most Popular
- Viewed
- Discussed
- E-mailed
- UNLV can move forward without the burden of losing streak to San Diego State
- A wife’s wisdom shows birth control issue needn’t be divisive
- Motorcycle accident claims life of man in northeast valley
- Surprise links, negotiated deals addressed by commissioners
- Hope and change and … what’s missing?
- New York mayor has the right idea
- We don’t need a CEO in charge
- Paying our own way
- Country has ‘given’ citizens a lot
- Jerry Tarkanian: Mike Moser impresses yet again on a day to remember former Rebel greats
Blogs
The Kats Report
Color from scene at Thomas & Mack: We have a wire job! Rebels win, and Louie Armstrong sings!
South Point owner Michael Gaughan's take on 'Vegas Stripped': 'I'll give it an 8' (4 Comments)
Author relishes writing the life story of ‘larger-than-life’ Oscar Goodman (3 Comments)
Elsewhere
Landowner: All roads could lead to Uxbridge casino
Revel reveals smoke-free casino opening
Cirque du Soleil show in Sands China casino to close this month
Meet the woman behind Sheldon Adelson
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Between the passage of the bill and the implementation of the bill eight years will have passed. Time enough to train the 10 million new government jobs that it will take to sucessfully work the sick.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opposes ObamaCare, warned that some forces are trying to use the rift to push the legislation through Congress.
"I think what is going on here is kind of a political tactic that has been used elsewhere, where you divide the potential enemies in such a way that people who can't be brought over to your way of thinking are isolated," Cardinal Francis George told The Associated Press.
The disagreement among Catholics has to do with whether the bill would allow federal funding of abortion.
The U.S. bishops believe it would allow federal funding of abortions and said they "regretfully" oppose ObamaCare even though they have been pushing for health care reform for more than four decades.
"... these nuns should have shown more wisdom regarding the nature of (wo)man with unbridled power. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the strongest case in point."
Wow! Is Patricia wearing a burqa?
Pat, you complain that America just can't afford to care for it's poorest citizens, and should therefore just let them suffer and fall by the wayside. Well, there are many Americans who feel as you do. Many refuse to put themselves out in any way to help their fellow man. However, how can anyone take a nun to task for choosing charity over selfishness? Seriously, what do you think Mother Theresa would say if she were still alive? "Oh, just forget them. Those people are the dregs of society anyway."????
America is not caring for its poorest citizens? That is an out and out lie. The 2010 budget calls for $453 billion in Medicare and $290 for Medicade. In addition the states are required to pay an ungodly amount of state money be put into Medicade. Enough money in fact that it is almost bankrupting many of those states. In addition the government pays less than either insurance or individual consumers do for a given service. This enables the government dollar to purchase more healthcare services and pushes higher costs to the private patients.
Also note that UMC had, I believe, a $115 million loss due to being forced to treat low income people for free last year. UMC is in one county in one state and there are thousands of counties in 50 states who are putting billions of dollars of unreimbursed money into free healthcare. The poor are treated quite good in this country receiving much more from society than they contribute.
I also read that several Bishops in the USA are against national healtcare because they do not like the idea of making the poor overly dependent on government. I think they may be bit late on that, as too many poor already are.
Most of the Catholic Church in America has become "americanized" and has placed a distance between it and the authorities in Rome. It is flagrantly liberal, Anti-Christian, Pro-Choice, Pro-Illegal Alien, and out of step with mainstream America.
Why will Nevada hospitals get paid less from Medicare than hospitals in other states? 17 states, Nevada included, will be paid less for the exact same services than 33 other states.
UMC is near bankruptcy and now you understand why. The federal program that pays for more than half UMC's patients just gets shorted and its legal. This was suppose to be fixed in this bill but was changed at the last minute.
Connecticut still gets $100 million for a new hospital. A special payment for absbestos illness in Montana is still in. $300 million for Louisiana because New Orleans had a flood 5 years ago is still in. Yet Nevada cannot even get paid the same as other states?
How can this happen with harry Reid supposedly in charge? Both or our Congressional Representatives just said they are voting yes and yet NO ONE can get us paid the same as others. This is outrageous.
The church has entirely too much to say about politics. The Bishops should pay closer attention to the priests that are putting their hands down inside the children's pants. What kind of freaks are they turning out in those seminarys?
Hmmmmm....I believe jlb101 is on to something. His belief that every American should pay for their own health care, regardless of the situation, makes sense to me...
Why should the good citizens in this country do any thing that might be construed as helping their fellow man?
Helping one another, and working together for the over-all betterment of the country is not a American belief or virtue. Why do I know that?
jlb101 says that on a daily basis.
Once we start going down that road, (helping those who can not help themselves) one has to ask, "where will it all end.?"
The next thing we will be doing is building interstate highways all over the country, and giving money to public education. Public education sucks now....more government money will just make it worse!
I say we fire every teacher in the country and then hire back those who are willing to work for half of what they're making at the present time...
We then will be handing out food stamps to the hungry, and handing out money to American who have lost their job through no fault of their own...
So what if they can't pay their house payment or put food on the family table.......a few less calories per day will be a healthy thing.......
We've got too many fat people walking around breathing good oxygen and taking up space! They remind me of a parasite, taking but never giving!
After that, people will be demanding that we pay for the education & advanced training of veterans coming home from one of America's many wars....that's really going too far! I can see it now! A federal program called the GI Bill of Rights.
Who ever got the idea that veterans have rights?
Those military people knew ahead of time what they were getting into..... they should simply "pull themselves up by their boot straps" and move on.
Those with head injuries suffered in Iraq or Afghanistan should have done a better job of ducking.....
Those who claim to have PTSD are nothing more than cowards....Patton said that during World War II.
jlb101 told me to say that.... What a smart guy that jlb101 is....
He's also a pretty caring individual when it comes to his fellow man! See what a positive effect jlb101 has had on me?
Heck, I'll probably vote Republican in 2010 & 2012........
"these nuns should have shown more wisdom regarding the nature of (wo)man with unbridled power."
Are you kidding me?!?!
So Sorry, Patricia, but that horse left the barn a long time ago. Maybe you didn't hear? And as far as Priestly wisdom goes, THOUSANDS OF ALTERBOYS beg to differ. These people have no right to force their theocratic nonsense on the rest of us. They should stfu and actually practice some of what they preach.
Hey Fool Lobo, If this shetcare plan passes are you finally going to get that shrink you need to get you straightened out. If you were'nt so stupid you could pull yourselves up by the bootstraps.
I'm proud of my beliefs. Prasites like you are too dumb to pull yourselves up by the bootstraps. If you are dumb, lazy and won't work why shouldn't you be poor. It beats being on the dole. You are an ignorant piece of garbage. Get your ugly head out of your fat worthless butt and get a life. Scum.
If ObamaCare passes then all our premiums are going to go down.
Also, it will not generate any deficits. It is all paid for.
Nobody is going to see a reduction in doctor access for Medicare participants.
Healthcare will not be rationed.
Healthcare cost are going to go down.
Democrats would never lie to us and their predictions are sure fire.
Right????
jlb101.....
I told you this before, but apparently you were ranting far too much & didn't hear me!
Flattery will get you no where with me....
Now go "rant and rave on" about how great that party of losers that you vote for are....
Hmmmmmm....Have anyone else noticed?
The little jlb101 guy passes himself off as a college grad, but yet his use of the English language, particularly in written form, is closer to a middle school student.
Maybe jlb101 attended a public school, and what he says about public schools is actually true....he's a living example of the failure of public education?
Well, quite interestingly, stgRock has it just about right! And the letter writer has it just about all wrong.
What a KOOK.
"If ObamaCare passes then all our premiums are going to go down.
Also, it will not generate any deficits. It is all paid for.
Nobody is going to see a reduction in doctor access for Medicare participants.
Healthcare will not be rationed.
Healthcare cost are going to go down.
Democrats would never lie to us and their predictions are sure fire."
Dang! You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!
@El_Lobo:
I get a good laugh all the time out of jlb's unique way with words. My favorite jlb construction is "yourselfs," which he seems to think is a good word. I imagine him standing at his front door, yelling at the children as they walk home from school. "Hey you kids! Get yourselfs off my lawn.... parasites!"
okra....
Thank you for your take on "jlb's unique way with words." Your post is very funny & very true!
I'm curious, how many of you think a "nuclear option" is reconciliation?
Patricia is another greedy republican loser,
who already has health insurance.
For once in your life, do something for your
fellow man or woman.
American capitalism is all about the individual pulling his own weight in the scheme of economic themes.
"American capitalism is all about the individual pulling his own weight in the scheme of economic themes." - PierreBeauRegard
Afraid not, capitalism is corporations screwing over the middle class. TARP is a classic example, along with credit card rates being jacked sky high, along with insurance premiums.
Apparently you aren't paying attention.
So........If ObamaCare passes.....
And our premiums go up.
And it adds to the deficit.
And it reduces the number of doctors accepting Medicare.
And healthcare becomes rationed.
And healthcare cost go up.
Then once for all we will know that Democrats are full of BS.
That will surely kill forever anymore nonsense like single payer or public option.
Hopefully, generations upon generations will reject any more notions from these lying SOB's.
@ okra
I don't like to correct anyones spelling and grammar but, you said.
" And as far as Priestly wisdom goes, THOUSANDS OF ALTERBOYS "
I believe it's spelled Altarboys.
JB might have made a blunder here and there but who amongst us hasn't?
Why do we have to have such a polemic relationship on this page?
Dream on Rock. You chicken littles have been crying and screaming and acting like buttheads for so long that normal people no longer believe all the lies and fear you're peddling. Your side had eight long years to do something about the very problems you mention:
premiums went through the roof
the deficit ballooned
less doctors accepted medicare
more healthcare rationed--by ins. companies!
healthcare costs went through the roof
Your side did absolutely NOTHING to address these issues. Instead they gave us a trillion dollar war, donut holes for seniors, and an unfunded education mandate. Then they stood by like complete morons while Wall Street took down the world economy, denying to the very last moment that a recession even existed.
No legislation or administration is perfect, but If you think the public is going to be clamoring for (wall nuts) Mc Cain and (snowbilly grifter) Palin if the HCB passes there is nothing but rocks up there in your very thick head.
Doyen:
Normally I don't go there as far as grammar and spelling go. If a person is understandable, who cares. But when he writes crap like this:
"...Prasites like you are too dumb to pull yourselves up by the bootstraps. If you are dumb, lazy and won't work why shouldn't you be poor. It beats being on the dole. You are an ignorant piece of garbage. Get your ugly head out of your fat worthless butt and get a life. Scum."
I think he deserves whatever gets thrown his way.
Somebody here on the blog needs economic theory lessons and history lessons to go along with the 1st.
@ okra
exception noted.