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I'm in the Health Care Sector and the amount of new regulations in the last 15 years boggles the mind... we have to hire new personnel just to keep on top of compliance issues... one even has the title of compliance officer.
Our sister facility is building a new facility and the budgeted cost per BED is 1 million dollars!!! An 80 bed facility equals 80 million dollars in costs and we all pay for it in the cost of Health care.
On the Facilities End of things there are many examples...
In the last 10 years we have to have a special permit and waiver just to maintain our Emergency Generator, new hazardous storage maps and procedures, Film Developing Manifests, Steam Boiler Stack Testing, Sterilizer Emission Permits, Cryo-Freezer License, Special Permit to store Oxygen on Site and the list continues...
The odd thing is most of the new permit requirements would not be necessary if the same equipment were not in CA or in my private home or ranch...
$800 here, $1500 there and pretty soon your into real money and this is only the permit/license fees... add to it the full time staff position required to ensure compliance...
I could see if we had ever had a medical problem or issue... we haven't and run a fully accredited facility that is well documented...
Why is it Diesel Trucks can park in the Safeway Parking Lot and idle their engines 24 hours days and keep perishables refrigerated and I'm limited to testing and maintenance operation of the Emergency Generator 20 hours per year and I have to pay $800 just for the permit to have it
I have no doubt about anything you're saying. And the cost of all of this is invisible to the vast majority of people...and is never discussed when we talk about the high cost of health care.
Of course, quite honestly, I think the whole entire way we do health care is ridiculous. What really needs to be happening is major outreach in creating a culture that encourages good eating habits and exercise. That would take care of 80% of our health care problems. The below article "Key to Affordable Health Care Revealed" pretty much backs up what I'm saying:
I'm not dissing you----just saying we need a radical overhaul in our approach to health care that will need to go way beyond guaranteeing universal insurance coverage.
I have no doubt about anything you're saying. And the cost of all of this is invisible to the vast majority of people...and is never discussed when we talk about the high cost of health care.
Of course, quite honestly, I think the whole entire way we do health care is ridiculous. What really needs to be happening is major outreach in creating a culture that encourages good eating habits and exercise. That would take care of 80% of our health care problems. The below article "Key to Affordable Health Care Revealed" pretty much backs up what I'm saying:
I'm not dissing you----just saying we need a radical overhaul in our approach to health care that will need to go way beyond guaranteeing universal insurance coverage.
Thanks for your post.
The entire U.S. Health care System of today will not be the Health care of the Future... just my intuition.
Like the rest of the states in this country, except for Bush's Texas, CA still trying to recover from 8 horrific years of George Bush and a pathetic Republican administration. It didn't help that Bush squandered a trillion dollars in a losing war effort. This removed federal money that could've best been used elsewhere, maybe in CA. He ignored the economy. Created an environment where predatory lending flourished especially in CA. Since CA is always the most sought-after place to live because of its natural amenities, it's no wonder that a great number of people were duped trying desperately to make their home here. Bush did nothing to curb illegal immigration and of course, being a popular destination of not only mexicans but asians, CA hit especially hard by this inaction. Bush's efforts didn't support advanced research in areas like high-technology, biomedicine, biotechnology, cures for diseases, and so forth. He rejected stem-cell research which would've greatly benefitted the state. Under Bush, CA in a perpetual crisis with electricity. Suppliers gauged the consumers in this state. Electricity costs through the roof here. Under Bush, gas prices in CA were the highest in the nation. Under Bush, H-1B visas were encouraged as companies in CA replaced qualified American workers to maximize profit.
Not to mention that the voters of this state put in place a bumbling Republican neanderthal as a governor. Arnold is an ex-bodybuilder and a third-rate actor. He was not qualified to be a governor and had no more business being in that position running the state than Moe, Larry, or Curly. It's no wonder that in response to Bush's pathetic presidency, the state has had no answers, no plans, and no methods of compensating.
So the state can only get better from here. Obama is a great supporter of this state, and it's future starts with him. Arnold's departure certainly is good too. Maybe we can get a governor who is actually qualified, someone who can devise and implement some real solutions for a change.
Last edited by LexusNexus; 10-11-2009 at 10:15 PM..
Like the rest of the states in this country, except for Bush's Texas, CA still trying to recover from 8 horrific years of George Bush and a pathetic Republican administration. It didn't help that Bush squandered a trillion dollars in a losing war effort. This removed federal money that could've best been used elsewhere, maybe in CA. He ignored the economy. Created an environment where predatory lending flourished especially in CA. Since CA is always the most sought-after place to live because of its natural ammenities, it's no wonder that a great number of people were duped trying desperately to make their home here. Bush did nothing to curb illegal immigration and of course, being a popular destination of not only mexicans but asians, CA hit especially hard by this inaction. Bush's efforts didn't support advanced research in areas like high-technology, biomedicine, biotechnology, cures for diseases, and so forth. He rejected stem-cell research which would've greatly benefitted the state. Under Bush, CA in a perpetual crisis with electricity. Suppliers gauged the consumers in this state. Electricity costs through the roof here. Under Bush, gas prices in CA were the highest in the nation. Under Bush, H-1B visas were encouraged as companies in CA replaced qualified American workers to maximize profit.
Not to mention that the voters of this state put in place a bumbling Republican neanderthal as a governor. Arnold is an ex-bodybuilder and a third-rate actor. He was not qualified to be a governor and had no more business being in that position running the state than Moe, Larry, or Curly. It's no wonder that in response to Bush's pathetic presidency, the state has had no answers, no plans, and no methods of compensating.
So the state can only get better from here. Obama is a great supporter of this state, and it's future starts with him. Arnold's departure certainly is good too. Maybe we can get a governor who is actually qualified, someone who can devise and implement some real solutions for a change.
I wish I could share your optimism
Everyone I know was working the entire time Bush was in office... so far I count 12 people in my immediate circle of friends now unemployed... all withing the last 6 months.
NUMMI Fremont has announced it's closing and 5 people of the 5,000 that work there are also friends... so it will soon be 17...
The Hospital where I work is also cutting back... a lot of it has to do with the cost of new regulation and the uncertainty of the effect of Obama's Health Care plan on Health Care.
No matter how you look at the numbers... Bush or any other administration in my lifetime has not realized unemployment numbers that we have now...
Bush isn't President and McCain lost the election... how much longer do we have to live in the past? Right now, I would take the Bush years back in a minute if I meant those dear to me would have jobs...
I hope nothing more than Obama gets this country back to work again...
What scares the you know what out of me is the trillions of dollars the present administration has added to the deficit... I read in the Wall Street Journal the deficit added under Obama is more that all the other US Presidents combined... incomprehensible if accurate...
I know Obama promised change... I never imagined it would come to this.
Everyone I know was working the entire time Bush was in office... so far I count 12 people in my immediate circle of friends now unemployed... all withing the last 6 months.
NUMMI Fremont has announced it's closing and 5 people of the 5,000 that work there are also friends... so it will soon be 17...
The Hospital where I work is also cutting back... a lot of it has to do with the cost of new regulation and the uncertainty of the effect of Obama's Health Care plan on Health Care.
No matter how you look at the numbers... Bush or any other administration in my lifetime has not realized unemployment numbers that we have now...
Bush isn't President and McCain lost the election... how much longer do we have to live in the past? Right now, I would take the Bush years back in a minute if I meant those dear to me would have jobs...
I hope nothing more than Obama gets this country back to work again...
What scares the you know what out of me is the trillions of dollars the present administration has added to the deficit... I read in the Wall Street Journal the deficit added under Obama is more that all the other US Presidents combined... incomprehensible if accurate...
I know Obama promised change... I never imagined it would come to this.
The residual effect of Bush's policies continues. You can't possibly be sitting there telling me that the effect of 8 horrific years of Bush ends when Obama swears in, right? When Obama swore in, suddenly all the illegal immigrants who came in through security holes bigger than the conservative ideology went back home? When Obama swore in, suddenly the effects of the recession and the reasons it came about, suddenly disappear? When Obama swore in, what was Bush's recession suddenly became "Obama's" recession? How about the unregulated bliss that Bush fostered? Many executives got richer while their companies and workers floundered and struggled to make ends meet. Executive perks soared while cheap products floundered. You're telling me that when Obama swore in, this all went away? How about that "war on terror" that Bush lied to get us involved in? It was as effective as a "war on lying." Like fighting clouds with bullets. The trillion dollars dumped on that as well as the thousands of lives negatively impacted are suddenly irrelevant when Obama swore in? Maybe you think all of our troops came back home and all is well in the Middle East all because Obama swore in. During the Bush years, people had to go into debt to compensate for the predatory lending practices, unregulated credit card interest rate hikes, elevated fees for every damn thing. People had to pay more for insurance, food (more of it tainted because of poorly enforced regulation), electricity, gas, day care, tuition, clothes from China, and medical services. You're telling me that when Obama swore in, suddenly this all went away? I never imagined.
I saw a great deal of people leave the state after losing their jobs in the software industry during Bush's time in office beginning in 2002. Many interviewed their replacement which in many cases was more than one person from India or Asia. Silicon Valley looking more and more foreign because of the liberties that were allowed. Qualified american workers displaced, forced to change careers and/or leave the state. I watched some good people leave as well as many who were shut out of the market because of the prevailing preference for the cheap foreign labor. Stroll around HP and Apple in Cupertino some time during lunch to see what I'm talking about. Many of the silicon valley high-tech firms are guilty, including Cisco, Sun, and Google. NUMMI's failures are the result of the residual effect of Bush's negative impact on the country...you know, the one that had us on course for a Depression.
I didn't expect Obama to restrict the implementation of his programs because of the presence of Bush's record deficit. Bush was given a surplus. In order to lift this country out of Bush's mess, I felt it would require a great deal of costly corrections and that is what Obama appears to be putting in place. He has been realistic in his urging that it is going to take patience. Not a good thing to say to a society that has a hard time delaying gratification, but patience is required nonetheless. Conservatives wil condemn whatever he does, but who cares?
The numbers don't bother me also because I'm not an expert economist or someone who wants Obama to fail. I do feel that comparing the numbers of today to times previous is not fair or usable. Cost-of-living now is a great deal higher than ever before. Bush spent a trillion dollars on that war and I wonder how that measures up when compared to previous military efforts? No doubt, war today is costlier than times previous. He failed as well and left this president with having to make the tough decision to abandon that region. It's obvious that military efforts are useless against a people who perceive death as an honor to their religious beliefs and who will willingly sacrifice their lives for those beliefs. A more intelligent and respectful approach is required to deal with them. Obama fits the bill.
But I feel that CA has been suffering a great deal because of the last 8 years, and the effects of course LINGER ON AFTER BUSH LEFT. Better times are ahead, no question. The big ineffective Republican dumbbell in the governor's office is leaving. Also good to know that Conservatives are not to be taken seriously until they completely replace their ideology with one that has no resemblance to what it has been during the Bush years. Yes, I say things are looking up.
Last edited by LexusNexus; 10-11-2009 at 11:33 PM..
All I said is those close to me had jobs when Bush was President (and Clinton)
Two of my brothers married in 2001 and both bought homes in the Bay Area and both continue to live in them... unlike their neighbors... they did not refinance and use their homes as ATM machines to "Invest" or live beyond their means.
We are basically peasants at heart who feel uncomfortable owing money to anyone... my grandparents, parents along with my siblings are the type that take out a purchase money 30 year loan and then figure out how much each month we need to add to the payment to pay off the mortgage in 15 years...
I don't know how else to put it... it scares me to death the trillions of dollars the curent administration is adding to the deficit... I fail to see the logic of spending our way out of a crisis *** unless*** the intent is repay it with ever inflated dollars.
My God Sister worked for Apple Computer right out of Cupertino High School and made enough in profit sharing and stock options to pay for her home in Campbell... there must be more like her... my neighbor's niece worked for Genentech and had over a million dollars when she decided to retire just in stock... All of this happened in the Clinton-Bush years.
I don't feel sorry for Obama just like I didn't feel sorry for Bush because of 9/11... they both sought the job of President and Commander in Chief... nothing the current president says about his predecessor changes a thing...
Since you mentioned it... I'm not a fan of Arnold and have never voted for him...
CA has real problems and what do politicians often do when confronted with a problem??? they kick it down the road for someone else to deal with...
Do you really believe deficit spending is the path to recovery?
If Obama, as a U.S. Senator didn't know what he was getting into... what does that say about him?
To blame Bush is OK by me as long as the blame is equally shared by Congress... I had such high hopes for President Obama and the new Congress... speaker Pelosi said "Just watch us now"... all I can say is I've been watching and my disappointment has never been greater.
The entire U.S. Health care System of today will not be the Health care of the Future... just my intuition.
Doesn't take much intution to figure it out. The current way of doing business is bankrupting us all. Increasing publicly funded health care will only mask the underlying problems and spread the pain of high costs around more evenly (i.e. treat the symptoms)
The only question is whether it will change via crisis or whether we'll be proactive in bringing about change. Unfortunately, I think it will be the former.
9 months into his presidency and people are disappointed that Obama hasn't completely turned around a mess that it took Bush 8 years to build. Patience. No person has ever had to remedy the problems created by a George Bush presidency. Never been done in history.
I am not down on CA. The state has problems and conservatives continue to pretend that the last 8 years didn't happen or compound the problems in this state. The negative impact continues. Every state hurt with the exception of Texas. Go figure.
"Do you really believe deficit spending is the path to recovery?" I look at the results, and these are yet to be determined. Noone has ever attempted to clean up after Dubya after all.
Where were all the complaints from conversatives when Bush was spending a trillion dollars in that failed war effort and running up record deficits in the process? Selective outrage I suppose.
Last edited by LexusNexus; 10-12-2009 at 06:29 AM..
Where were all the complaints from conversatives when Bush was spending a trillion dollars in that failed war effort and running up record deficits in the process? Selective outrage I suppose.
Kinda akin to selective pessimism, enthusiasm and hero worship for an untested individual and his policies, don't you think?
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When Obama swore in, suddenly all the illegal immigrants who came in through security holes bigger than the conservative ideology went back home? When Obama swore in, suddenly the effects of the recession and the reasons it came about, suddenly disappear? When Obama swore in, what was Bush's recession suddenly became "Obama's" recession? How about the unregulated bliss that Bush fostered? Many executives got richer while their companies and workers floundered and struggled to make ends meet. Executive perks soared while cheap products floundered. You're telling me that when Obama swore in, this all went away? How about that "war on terror" that Bush lied to get us involved in? It was as effective as a "war on lying." Like fighting clouds with bullets. The trillion dollars dumped on that as well as the thousands of lives negatively impacted are suddenly irrelevant when Obama swore in? Maybe you think all of our troops came back home and all is well in the Middle East all because Obama swore in. During the Bush years, people had to go into debt to compensate for the predatory lending practices, unregulated credit card interest rate hikes, elevated fees for every damn thing. People had to pay more for insurance, food (more of it tainted because of poorly enforced regulation), electricity, gas, day care, tuition, clothes from China, and medical services. You're telling me that when Obama swore in, suddenly this all went away? I never imagined.
