[Rob Hood]

http://www.autoextremist.com/current/2008/7/8/rants-453.html

Was listening to some newsradio today - many analysts are painting a bleak picture. Heard that Hummer and Saab were going to be let go, maybe more. I've already seen where Chevy is not sponsoring several NASCAR races next year.

Rick Wagoner is supposed to deliver an announcement tomorrow morning at 0830 EST. Should be worth listening to.

This post has been edited by Rob Hood: Jul 15 2008, 05:59 AM

[00 Trans Ram]

Right now, the problem is that there is not enough care and what is there is too expensive. Ultimately, government run care has one of two solutions to this. Each of those solutions has a problem, based on the fact that it costs money to provide healthcare. So, let's analyse the two problems:

1) MORE HEALTHCARE - to provide more care will cost more money. More people will be covered, and more people will be getting services. The problem is that the government gets its money from taxpayers. So, taxpayers will be paying more, which is part of the same problem we have now.

2) LOWER COST - to lower costs, less care will be provided. Providing the "right" kind of care (preventative medicine) will help, but no more Viagara, Prevacid, hip replacements (it's an elective surgery) or heart transplants for 70 year olds. The problem here is that people are not going to accept being told that there is a remedy, but the government will not provide it.

As a side note, someone mentioned that things the government refuses to pay for will still be available if you pay yourself. This is true, to a degree. Currently, every single bill introduced at the Federal or State level that would have set up a universal government coverage has also made it illegal to provide parallel services in the private sector. In English, this means that it's illegal to sell health insurance. Therefore, people would have to pay out-of-pocket the entire costs of these things. Instead of pills costing a co-pay of $70, they'd be $400. This would mean that the uber-rich (not you or me!) could afford these things, while everyone from the upper-middle class downward would have to do without.