|
Edited on Mon Nov-20-06 10:50 PM by John Q. Citizen
1. Single payer fee for service universal health care is the cheapest way to deliver quality health care to all. We already spend far more than enough to achieve that.
1a. Just 5.1 percent of doctors account for 54.2 percent of the malpractice payouts, according to data from the National Practitioner Data Bank. Of the 35,000 doctors who have had two or more malpractice payouts since 1990, only 7.6 percent of them have been disciplined. And only 13 percent of doctors with five medical malpractice payouts have been disciplined. Until doctors and regulatory boards move to weed out the bad apples, good doctors will be stuck paying excessive amounts for mal practice insurance. Also, what insurance companies charge for mal practice insurance bears little relationship to the amount insurance companies pay out. Insurers are gouging doctors and thus gouging the public. One of the biggest expenses awarded to victims of mal-practice is continuing medical care as a result of there injuries. If we had a single payer fee for service system, this would eliminate the number one cost of mal-practice payouts. Tort reform is a scam to limit ordinary citizen's rights to go to court to right a wrong. Don't fall for the tort reform scam.
2. Wars enlarge the size of government and are very expensive. The Shiites and the Sunnis lived in relative peace, intermarried, shared schools, neighborhoods, and jobs before we invaded Iraq. We instigated the civil war there. Let's stop Preemptive and elective wars, whether in Iraq or Iran. Iran has never in it's long history invaded other countries. It neither wants to nor will it invade Iraq. It will exert influence in economic and cultural spheres, because Iran and Iraq are now both Shia run states.
3. A flat tax is regressive. It means that someone making a hundred million a year is paying the same tax rate as someone struggling to put food on the table. Taxes should be based on ability to pay. I do agree with tax simplification though. That could be accomplished with a graduated income tax and the elimination of complex tax shelters, loop holes, and such.
4. I agree the war on drugs is as stupid as the war on terrorism. It hasn't worked, and a harm reduction model makes a lot more sense.
5. One thing you don't mention but that I would like to see done is pay at the pump basic auto liability insurance. No more uninsured drivers. The state adds a nickel or dime a gallon at the gas pump and creates a state run basic auto liability insurance pool. Anyone with gas in their tank is insured. Those who want or need comprehensive auto insurance can buy it the old fashioned way.
6. I also strongly agree with the other poster we need to end Corporation personhood.
7. We need to fix our elections so they are hard to steal and easy to catch when someone does try to steal them.
8. We need to practice accountability by investigating the crimes of the bush administration and their cronies.
9. We need a new and real investigation into 9/11.
|