Saturday, December 7, 2013

The Time Has Come To Talk of Time and Money and Health Reform

Remember that time is money.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Advice to a Young Tradesman

The time has come to talk of how much time people waste trying  to get on healthcare. gov; 

of how you can’t get the information you need to know once you’re on the site;  

of  why you can’t compare your new plan to your old one and how much the new one will cost and what its benefits will be;  

of why your old plan is "substandard," while the standard government plan is supposedly so much better;

of how long it is going to take to fix the site’s back end, 30% to 40% of which  has yet to be built;

of why you can’t be assured your personal information  can’t be protected against identity thieves; 

of why it took  3 1/2 years and $634 million to build the site and  why it does not work; 

of  why it may take another $500 million, give or a hundred or so more $ million, or another month or a year or two,  to guarantee  it functions, or in bureaucratic parlance, to make sure it achieves “functionality’;

of why everything related to the site is ad  hoc,  temporary, on the fly,  by the seat of your pants,  work-arounds, work-abouts,  and requires  a boatload   of  expedient  tweaks, delays,  glitches, and patches to keep it afloat; 

of why critics call it a “train wreck,”  “a series of slow motion crisis,”  "a worthless cash register," or “a broken airplane without a flight plan”’;

of why only 38.5% of Americans approve of the plan, while 57.4% disapprove,  and 52% want the whole   kit and caboodle  changed or repealed;

of  why  to many observers, not just critics  but champions too,  characterize the whole thing as unfocused, unfinished,  unaccountable, and unworkable; 

of how long it willl  take to win back trust in goverment.

The Time Has Come

The time has come to say the things that need to be said about the cost of  subsidizing others, many of whom are better off, when you can't afford the cost yourself,  for services you do not need and will never need,  sacrificing the majority on the altar of  the minority,  spoiling the majority by making them dependent on government,  abdicating personal responsibility,  and lack of integrity, truthfulness,  and foresight of our political leaders.

The time has come, as Lewis Carroll In Alice in Wonderland, so memorably said,

The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things: 
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings.

Tweet:  The time has come to talk of time and money,  and the lack of and  the abuse of and overuse of each  in name of health reform

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