October 21st, 2006 by: Ashley
Congressional candidate fundraiser
8″ x 10″ oil on canvas, $250 ($100 donated to John Yarmuth’s campaign)
SOLD
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Last night I attended a fundraising dinner for Kentucky congressional Democratic candidate, John Yarmuth. I accepted the last minute invitation with a resounding “yes” and immediately began to think about possible compositions for the painting I would create for today’s post.
If you ever feel dulled by a lack of individuals to engage in intellectually rigorous conversation with, I suggest you frequent political fundraisers. It was an inspiring evening with no lack of enthusiastic proponents for positive change and growth in Kentucky. I was surprised to find that some of the attendees were republicans. There doesn’t seem to be much grey space for the “undecided” voters to stand in nowadays, but apparently even some firm republicans are looking for a new voice for Kentucky in congress.
I will admit that, although I lean left, this election has often left me inclined to bite my tongue when I’m surrounded by my democratic friends. The issue that personally leaves me on the fence is healthcare. I am sorely reminded of my self-employment when my friends talk about their employers’ health benefit packages and I feel at a disadvantage. Given my OCD involvement in my own healthcare, I’m a huge advocate of consumer driven healthcare and Health Savings Account (here’s a great blog post about HSAs). But at the same time, my volunteer work with disadvantaged people, especially children, pulls my heart towards the universal healthcare model that Yarmuth stands for. Clearly, I’m not certain where I stand. Having said that, I will add that I have met John on several occasions and feel confident about his sincerity and competency.
If you’re interested, here is John Yarmuth’s site, his opponent’s (Anne Northup) site, and further info on all the candidates running for office in Kentucky.
4 Comments
March 27th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
“I believe we must immediately begin to explore every possible mechanism for creating a universal health care system in which every citizen has health insurance independent of his or her employment. This could be done by expanding Medicare to cover every American, or by establishing some other universal insurance system.”
No.
De-regulate health insurance to create a truly competitive market, like that for every other insurance type (auto, home, vacation, etc.) and costs will go down. Also, stop providing “free” health care to illegal infiltrators via Emergency Rooms – these costs have to be paid for by someone, and it should not be the other customers nor the taxpayers.
http://www.jpands.org/vol10no1/cosman.pdf
“While politicians often mention there are 43 million without health insurance in this country, the report estimates that at least 25 percent of those are illegal immigrants. The figure could be as high as 50 percent.
Not being insured does not mean they don’t get medical care.
Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1985, hospitals are obligated to treat the uninsured without reimbursement.
“Government imposes viciously stiff fines and penalties on any physician and any hospital refusing to treat any patient that a zealous prosecutor deems an emergency patient, even though the hospital or physician screened and declared the patient’s illness or injury non-emergency,” says the report. “But government pays neither hospital nor physician for treatments. In addition to the fiscal attack on medical facilities and personnel, EMTALA is a handy truncheon with which to pummel politically unpopular physicians by falsely accusing them of violating EMTALA.”
According to the report, between 1993 and 2003, 60 California hospitals closed because half their services became unpaid. Another 24 California hospitals verge on closure, the author writes. “
March 27th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Health insurance is not equal to auto, home, and vacation insurance and therefore should not be treated as such. Vacations are a luxury; access to health care is far more fundamental. Let the luxuries thrive in an open market economy.
Although I don’t feel that tax payers should pay for illegal citizens and illness due to poor life style choices, I personally would rather eat that cost and provide for the people who rightfully deserve it than not provide anything at all. No system is perfect.
Lastly, from personal experience, let me tell you that the obligation to treat the uninsured without reimbursement sounds nicer than it actually is. The uninsured do not receive the same treatment and the “without reimbursement” part is a joke. Granted, they may never pay, but their financial lives are ruined to the point of no return.
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:30 am
do you guys have a recommendation section, i’d like to suggest some stuff
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Malaya, you can email at ashley(dot)cecil(at)gmail.com
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