Health Care and Unemployment

We face many difficult problems. Our health care system kills, impoverishes and enslaves us; no other developed country has a similar health care system. We abuse the environment and cause global warming that will kill our kids and may cause humanity to parish; we do it worse than any country on earth. We have a parasite banking system that opedrates the way land owners in the middle ages controlled everything and lived rich life while their peasants were paupers. We have an outrageous unemployment rate that reached the true level of 16%.

The president decided to put all his eggs in the health care reform basket and at that he did not attempt to lower the cost extracted by the feudals of the health care insurance, just provide close to universal health care. Other pressing issues are relegated to the cheap sits.

Health care is undoubtedly at the top of the national priority list. That is true even if all that is achieved is universal, or almost, health care. Shrinking to raisin size the cost of health care and sending the health care insurance to the dust ben of history is more of an economic and moral issue than a pressing one.

Employment should also be close to universal and is not less of a right than health care. Yet, Obama did precious little to address unemployment. While he needs congress every step of the way to achieved universal health care, unemployment could have been tackled to a large extent by proper use of the stimulus money, shuffling of budget items and by letting the Middle Ages land owners running the banking system realize that it's the 21st century. The trillions of dollars saved this way could have been used for the unemployed. The country would have been much better off if Citibank, Bank of American and Goldman Sacks started to earn a living instead of gambling and constructing a new Ponzi scheme every couple of years.

It's clear why Obama chose health care reform over lowering unemployment. Health care reform will elevate him to a higher position as president than most presidents since Roosevelt; a position all president thrive for. There are three problems with this choice. First and foremost, neglecting unemployment is unjustified, politically costly and meritorious only in the short term.

Let millions of people wait for a job until the president has time for them is out and out outrageous. Johny has no work because Barack is busy! Politically, the Democrats will pay a heavy price in the election of 2010. They may lose their majorities and then Obama is left to work in Bill Clinton's conditions and Obama is not Clinton even on a clowdy and rainy day. The more complex reason why health care reform in its current robes is not the right priority is that as long as we have the leachy health care insurance companies even what seems guaranteed to work after the reform will face huge difficulties.

Analyzing the potential pitfalls face the current reform is quite an undertaking. Instead, we can touch upon some obvious obstacles Aetna, Wellpoint and CareFirst can create. Raising cost by 10% a year; delaying payments to providers substantially; restricting the number of approved providers; increase claim rejection, etc.

Obama should have attenmpted to tackle both health care reform and unemployment at the same time.