The other morning I was listening to Hillary Clinton talk about her health care plan and I remember when she tried to push it through in the early year's of President Clinton's administration. Today I was reading how Mrs. Edwards was stating that she is using John's plan and how Hillary gave up so easily on the effort back in '93 or '94. I have always felt that we need a national health care plan and it didn't seem to me that she gave it up until she was derailed at every turn. A lot of people tell me to choose my battles and I think that is what she did. Sometimes, in fact often times - big $$$ wins out.
One of the reasons I believe we need a national health care plan is so people like me can go to a doctor when we are ill without having to worry about how we are going to pay for it. I am a disabled veteran and even if they do get lifetime health care for those veterans that are disabled it won't help me because I was discharged in '97 and they want this to date back to '01 or 02 -so I will still be w/o health care. The company I currently work for has a horrible health care plan as did the last company I worked for. Now on the other hand, many single mothers and families on welfare get assistance either through WIC or various other medical programs. I have seen this be abused by acquaintances and even friends of mine. I am not judging as I grew up within the system myself and spent most of my life as a foster child. I just think we need a better system.
Now my plan may seem outlandish to many but I believe these are some good ideas. Of course as all good plans this will need some tweaking but this is just what I have been thinking.
To begin with I feel that we should decriminalize drugs. Now I have had this conversation with a few people and they say that it is the same thing of legalizing it - which may well be the case - but there are limits to it. For example it should not be sold in stores as liquor is. I think just about every study on alcohol vs. marijuana will show that a lot more people die from alcohol related deaths than marijuana related deaths. In fact there are no known deaths directly from marijuana. My brother Charles died from alcohol induced asphyxiation. My brother Jack for as long as I can remember was a peaceful dope smoking man but once he started drinking he bacame abusive toward his wife. There were reasons he started drinking - he hadn't drank much in almost 20 years - but once he started he couldn't let it go. He was drinking everclear the morning he took his life with his 308 hunting rifle. So I am quite close to the harsh reality of it.
I don't think drugs are a good thing but I know that people are going to do it whether it is legal or not. Now if we decriminalized all drugs the price of drugs would plummet because there is no risk involved. So the cartels and insurgents would have to find another way to fund their activities. Also drug dealing, prostitution, armed robberies and burglaries would decrease because the last three are often done to get money for drugs and dealing relies on drugs being illegal. We also could free a lot of people that are in prison for petty drug crimes and that would cut back on how much we spend every year on convicting and then imprisoning them. Also they could be out in the work force paying taxes as well. It would also help with the problem of overcrowding in prisons and jails.
Now just like every plan there are catches. I believe that it should still be a crime to aid, abet or give anyone under the age of 18 drugs. Of course kids will still be kids but if the adult is held accountable I think they will be a little less reckless about it. I also think that 18 should be the legal drinking age. If you can die for your country, vote and be tried as an adult, then you should have the rights of one. I don't like the fact we try juveniles as adults at all but that is another debate.
Now I know it seems that I have gotten off topic but here is the bigger catch. If you do drugs for non-medicinal purposes then a $ amount can be imposed against you because you are putting yourself at greater risk - just like smokers - that have health insurance - have to pay higher premiums.
The money that we would save in the criminal justice system (policing, judicial process and imprisonment) would be put to paying for health care. It would also make it more competitive for doctors, clinics, hospitals, nursing care etc. Competition brings down cost - plain and simple. Unfortunately they would try to find a way just as the big oil companies have to work together so they can get maximum amount from their product. Another source would be taxes - quit giving corporations tax breaks and that would bring in a lot of revenue. My next rant will be on a tax system that I think would benefit the poor and middle class and wouldn't hurt the wealthy.
XotiqueJaz
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