Argue With All the Facts

Posted on 25/02/2010 by Grumpa Joe

My Flag Flies Everyday

Dear Senator Durbin;

I tried to call your Washington office today but the call volume was too high and the system shut me out. Therefore, I write this e-mail.

I listened to your argument today during the Health Care Summit. I have to admit that you are very eloquent in your speaking ability. Your argument about the cost savings related to Tort Reform however, is flawed. I am sure the statistics you quoted on the amount of money awarded and the savings are correct. I do not refute you on that point. I do, however want to argue that you have left out the invisible cost of defensive medicine that the medical profession practices every day, in every office and every hospital in the country. Medical staffs are loaded with highly paid people whose sole function it is to document everything a doctor does, prescribes, and orders. Hospitals are loaded with staff sitting at terminals documenting everything that occurs with a patient. Why? They document in order to defend themselves against a possible lawsuit.  None of this documentation comes cheap.

I do not argue that a doctor who operates on me and removes my right arm instead of my left should be punished and the patient compensated. I do argue that I should not have to be tested four times a year when, statistically, once would be enough.  As for documentation needed for payment, why should I have to pay a premium for a failure on the part of government run Medicare and Medicaid’s inability to maintain a fraud free system?

It is my opinion that the hidden cost of Tort reform is a thousand times greater than the actual awards granted for real mistakes.   

Do not support the Health Care Reform Bill for the following reasons:

  1. The cost of one trillion dollars will bankrupt the country. The accounting trick you are proposing to collect money for six years and to offer services for four years is bogus. If a bank wanted to collect your mortgage payment for six years before it let you into the new house you just bought, you would be writing a law to prevent them from doing it. Why be a hypocrite on this matter to sell me the idea. It is morally wrong.  I expect better from you. Do not support this bill.
  2.      I am positive that the Supreme Court will find the requirement that I purchase insurance by law is unconstitutional.  Why do you insist on supporting legislation that is so obviously flawed? Do not support this bill
  3. Say no, to a government takeover of the Health Care system. Why do you support a system that will give mediocre care to everyone in the country after openly admitting that we currently have the best system in the world? I also wish I could believe what I heard about this bill, giving me the same plan as the one you and Congress enjoy. What a dolt you must think I am. In addition, I did not hear anything in the discussion today that explained why federal funding for abortion is a basic right. Are you kidding me? Abortion is murder. If I came into your office and shot you dead, I would be arrested prosecuted and sentenced.  Yet the bill insists that it is the basic right of a grammar school girl to have the federal government (me) pay for the murder of her unborn child. I would sooner pay for the prosecution of the abortionist. Do not support this bill.

 Respectfully yours,

 Grumpa Joe

Filed under: Conservative, economy, Election, family, Government, health care, liberals, politics, Society | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Dear Senator Durbin: Do You Get It?

Posted on 10/09/2009 by Grumpa Joe

My Flag Cries Everyday

Dear Senator Durbin;
Thank you for responding to my letter regarding your inability to hold town hall meetings with the people of Illinois. I appreciate that you are a busy man and prefer to receive input from the select few who will support your own views.
It takes courage to stand before a group of angry voters who are disappointed in their representative’s performance. I see by your actions that your character is not what I had always thought it to  be. I thought you were a strong leader who was concerned for all the people of Illinois. I see by your actions that I was wrong to assume that.
I am an American who believes that his country is sacred because it was founded on the principles of personal liberty. I see big government taking those liberties away from us faster than it takes a toilet to flush. I believe you and President Obama do not get it. It, being the fact that I am not alone. How can you possibly legislate when you do not know the mood of your constituents? By not hearing us out face to face at town hall meetings you cannot possibly know how we feel. Sure an angry constituency can become unruly, but only if their Senator gives them a standard line created by the bureaucracy in Washington. Tell the town hall people you understand their needs. Tell them that you will go back to Washington to stop wreckless spending, become fiscally responsible, and not vote for bills that are so long and impossible to understand, that a bevy of lawyers would have trouble doing so.
Here are some of the points I wanted to talk to you about:
1. Health Care Reform is needed, but not what is spelled out in HR3200. I do not want you to support HR3200.
   Come back with something that will not take money from Medicare to fund it. The President so eloquently told us that he will only eliminate waste from Medicare; some five hundred billion dollars worth. Yet, when he asked the entire government to eliminate waste from their budgets they could only come up with one hundred million dollars. Do you really expect me to believe that you and President Obama are capable of finding, and eliminating that much waste? That kind of reasoning is exactly why town hall meetings get noisy.
Take out the part about setting up every school with Planned Parenthood centers.
Add wordage that is specific to not funding abortions. Specify the word abortion, and not sneak it in under the radar as a medical procedure.
Add words that ban government operated public option health care system.
 In other words, HR 3200 is not worth the paper it is written on. Do not vote for HR 3200.
2. Legislate tort reform now, don’t wait for a reform bill.
3. Eliminate the barriers to private sector competition by allowing insurance companies to cross state lines with their plans.
4. Pass legislation that requires the president to obtain congressional vetting and approval on his “czars.”

Need I go on some more, or do you get it? If you can address these issues in a rational logical way, and not in a party controlled response, I will regain my faith in your ability to serve as my Senator.

Respectfully yours,
Grumpa Joe

Filed under: Conservative, Election, Government, health care, liberals, politics, religion, Society | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »