After my last post, a reader with the stage name “Spring Texan” wrote the following:
Ummm, don’t you mean “the Trump tax cuts are just another trip to the candy store” for rich people and corporations? Comparatively little goes to ordinary people and that phases out. Don’t see any “candy store” in my check. And they then want to use the ballooning deficit (that they created) to “justify” cuts to Social Security, food stamps, Meals on Wheels, Medicaid, Medicare, etc. (the things that DO create security for older and other people).
The rest of her comments made more great points.
Clearly, the Trump tax cuts mostly go to the wealthiest Americans. My only mild push back to this person’s statement is that all income strata in the U.S. benefit from a society where we don’t actually pay for what we want to spend. As one commentator I read recently wrote, roughly: The U.S. wants to be a low tax country with high tax benefits. The only people who will ultimately suffer for this greed are our children and grandchildren.
All income strata benefit from a Medicaid and Medicare system where they can demand just about any test and treatment they think they deserve. In contrast, in the UK, there are articles written in medical journals discussing the dilemma of when to not admit an elderly patient to an ICU because the care is likely futile and would only lead to harm, pain, and suffering to the patient and be a strain on national resources. This, of course, is unheard of in the U.S.
All income strata benefit from a nursing home system where all families get a pass when it comes to caring for their elderly. Obviously, I’m not claiming that Medicaid-predominant nursing homes are Taj Majals, but in most other countries of the world, there are few to no nursing homes. Families are expected to care for their elderly out of honor and respect, no matter how burdensome. I’m not saying nursing homes are bad or inappropriate, but I am saying that they are ultimately a luxury of wealthy countries. They are expensive to build and maintain and they require high taxes to fully fund them. High taxes we are unwilling to pay.
I’ll leave it at that. Thank you Spring Texan for your intelligent thoughts and support of American HealthScare.
Recent Comments