President Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to call for "honest debate" about his health-care reform proposals. <p>Shlomo second king after Dovid who began a line of kings destined to end with Moshiach wrote a book with prescription to cure any illnesses; Shlomo was very wise and found a way around health care–but, here in America health care is a big problem. The problem seems to be one of the past verses the future. <p>Conservative and liberal are really different perspectives about money, both want to move forward just one want to conserve the communal wealth and the other wants to move faster into the future–thats how the system was meant to work. <p>In the Cabala is explained how one is represented by a dot while two (two points) comprise a line; two is also considered chaos–three is a triangle and the first time there is unity. In Cabala that third point is compassion. <p>All human beings are commanded against stealing. Sometimes the human being steals because they are pressed into theft by their situation, but those people who steal to become richer, particularly in the business of heath care and the politicians who take their money and advance their cause have no compassion–they are the two sides of chaos.
HR 3200 is the most recent edition of the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 as adopted by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on July 31, 2009. Following is what one representative page (page 9) in the 1,017 page document looks like. Note there are 24 lines and about 130 words. As a comparison, four of seven Harry Potter books have more pages, and the Order of the Phoenix has nearly twice as many words.
9
1 similar charges but does not include premiums or
2 any network payment differential for covered serv-
3 ices or spending for non-covered services.
4 (5) DEPENDENT.—The term “dependent” has
5 the meaning given such term by the Commissioner
6 and includes a spouse.
7 (6) EMPLOYMENT-BASED HEALTH PLAN.—The
8 term “employment-based health plan”—
9 (A) means a group health plan (as defined
10 in section 733(a)(1) of the Employee Retire-
11 ment Income Security Act of 1974); and
12 (B) includes such a plan that is the fol-
13 lowing:
14 (i) FEDERAL, STATE, AND TRIBAL
15 GOVERNMENTAL PLANS.—A governmental
16 plan (as defined in section 3(32) of the
17 Employee Retirement Income Security Act
18 of 1974), including a health benefits plan
19 offered under chapter 89 of title 5, United
20 States Code.
21 (ii) CHURCH PLANS.—A church plan
22 (as defined in section 3(33) of the Em-
23 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of
24 1974).
Part of President Obama's message today:
"It’s time to fix our unsustainable insurance system and create a new foundation for health care security. That means guaranteeing your health care security and stability with eight basic consumer protections:
I believe President Obama needs to keep his discussion of health insurance reform simple. Use three or four talking points, such as 1) status quo is not an option, 2) people may keep their current coverage and doctors, 3) importance of changes to eliminate pre-existing conditions and other insurance reasons to deny coverage, and 4) while not often stated, insurance company bureaucrats - not always the doctor - currently decide what treatments a patient gets.
By keeping it simple, people will more easily understand the issues and will be more likely to support the president's efforts.
A number of my more liberal friends are complaining about something in President Obama’s May 21 security and values speech which they call "prolonged detention". President Obama talked about providing terrorists/prisoners of war the rights and protections under the Geneva Conventions they were denied during the Bush/Cheney administration. I remind my friends that the Geneva Conventions also provide that prisoners of war can legally be held in detention for the duration of the conflict. While I can make an argument that terrorists are not entitled to prisoner of war status/protections, I suggest that if they are so labeled, they are subject to the full gamut of Geneva Conventions rules.
