Since my blog is mostly political, I usually start my day in front of the TV trying to pick up some bit of news that will inspire me to pour out my heart to you. I was greeted this morning by a clip of Obama giving a rousing campaign speech to a meeting of the AFL-CIO labor union. They were responding enthusiastically, as one might expect, because our leader was promising with fire and brimstone fervor that he was going to take care of them on the healthcare issue, soon to be acted upon in Washington. He didn't need the Acorn organizers with this bunch because they were already on his side, and were in large part responsible for getting him elected. Just another case of a special interest group getting its wheels greased, not an uncommon practice in politics these days. Whoops, that just touched another one of my hot buttons, campaign reform, desperately needed to insure honesty in government, but a subject for another day.
Today, I should keep to the subject of Obama and the healthcare issue. In my heart of hearts, I cannot figure out why he is so adamant about pushing for a government plan (and eventually a single-payer system). He is undoubtedly worried about crossing Harry and Nancy and the rest of the hard left members of his party. But, he doesn't seem worried at all that public sentiment is running 2 to 1 against a government plan. Hasn't he been paying attention to the town hall meetings or the polls?
My inspiration for writing today actually stemmed from an appointment I had at the Creighton School of Dentistry to get a filling. My dentist is a very nice young lady in her senior year, who has been handling my dental needs for some time now, and does a great job. Normally, politics is a taboo subject in such a setting and I am always willing to change the subject in a hurry if it starts to become uncomfortable. But we had some time and she felt like talking this morning, and I was more than willing to listen to her perspective on the healthcare issue. To set the stage a bit, she and her husband are in the later stages of their education and will soon be starting their careers in the medical field. They take their education very seriously and work hard to excel. They have a son who is about a year old, so they have to be concerned about a family as well as a career. She shares my opinion that a government plan will displace private insurance and will result in the government setting prices and wages. She admitted to me that one of the reasons she chose to be a dentist is so she can make some good money and have a nice life. Why else would she put herself through such a demanding and expensive education if she wouldn't be rewarded with a good income when it is over? And, looking at the bigger picture, fewer people will be interested in becoming dentists or doctors, meaning fewer professionals to take care of larger numbers of patients, which would lead to lower quality of care and rationing of services. She and I agree that adopting the Obama plan would be a terrible thing and would destroy a proven system that, in general, works very well. It just needs to be improved in certain areas, and not discarded, as Obama wants to do.
My heart goes out to my young dentist who has shown such determination to make a success of what she has chosen to do. How tragic it would be if our rock-star president, who prefers adulation to caring for the people, would dash her hopes and doom her to a life of mediocrity. She deserves better.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment