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The Placebo Effect Not Just On Drugs
dvdme writes "It seems the placebo effect isn't just valid on drugs. It's also a fact on elevators, offices and traffic lights. An article by Greg Ross says: 'In most elevators installed since the early 1990s, the 'close door' button has no effect. Otis Elevator engineers confirmed the fact to the Wall Street Journal in 2003. Similarly, many office thermostats are dummies, designed to give workers the illusion of control. "You just get tired of dealing with them and you screw in a cheap thermostat," said Illinois HVAC specialist Richard Dawson. "Guess what? They quit calling you." In 2004 the New York Times reported that more than 2,500 of the 3,250 "walk" buttons in New York intersections do nothing. "The city deactivated most of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals, even as an unwitting public continued to push on."'"
I'm wondering where all these people are who you claim want free health care. Judging the current political waters, seems like most people are against it.
Why does the second point of view seem more fair; while the first point of view seems like the rantings of someone who has mistaken justice as "equality for all" instead of "equality for equals"? All men are created equal -- naked, ugly, screaming moochers. Then you get a job. Or you don't, so fuck you.
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Wait, I am part of everyone, and yet I don't want a government check OR free Health Care. I want to be paid commensurate with my performance, and I want to pay most of my medical expenses out of pocket and have an emergency backup plan that I pay into monthly along with a large pool of other people (what we used to call "Insurance") which covers only after a certain high deductible is paid out of my own pocket.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
It's funny, too. My wife was working a job over the weekend verifying passes for "rich" people who had access to better seats at an event. The couple of guys she was working with were complaining that it wasn't fair that these rich people were rich and that they should be taxed more. They didn't realize that these rich people were currently allowing them to be employed... because the government didn't take so much money from them.
So? Let's call it government provided healthcare insurance with no deductible and no copay for hospitalization. Does that make you feel any better? I much rather have MY tax go toward universal health care than to defense contractors, farm subsidies, or corporate subsidies.
FICA was created to justify the existence of Social Security. The thinking was that if the average American thought that it was insurance instead of a handout then they would continue to support the program and be willing to be a recipient of it. The thinking goes in line with "I paid into it then I want it around so I can get the benefits too." Unfortunately FICA was designed to be seen on your payroll stub (it's one of the few itemized taxes on your check) therefore income from interest from savings, stock dividends, or capital gains is not subjected to FICA taxation. This is probably one reason it's currently underfunded.
I completely agree with your sentiment about social security, but I do question the accuracy of your numbers. If social security was operated like a real insurance program, the payouts wouldn't be so big and there would be lifetime limits on benefits. Social security is an entitlement program run amok and is the carrot for the elderly vote. It needs to placed under more control with means testing for the wealthy. Unfortunately you will not see this, since the elderly is a huge voting block. At least with universal health care, I would actually receive benefits for the taxes I pay unlike social security which you admitted may not be around when I need it.
What does irritate me is that people assume that I want socialized medicine.Do I agree with the current health care legislation? Not all of it. Do I want health care reform? Hell yes. Why? Because despite all the rhetoric coming from conservatives, our health care system is collapsing. We have unfunded mandates that jeopardize the operations of most hospitals. It's against the law for a hospital emergency room to refuse treatment of a life threatening injury, however there are no mechanisms in place to recoup the costs incurred. Don't even get me started on the reimbursement rate of doctors from Medicare.
Not to mention, every year employer subsidized insurance is not only getting more expensive (more pay deducted from your paycheck) but the benefits are actually decreasing (in higher deductibles and copays and limits on treatments). The current health care bill fixed some of what was wrong, but I'm genuinely worried about other stuff that may have been passed. Why? Because it was a combination of the Republicans refusing any sort of dialog on the subject, the Tea Party disrupting town hall meetings, and the Democrats having to make back room deals with other Democrats to ensure they had a filibuster proof majority to pass. However, the conservative base have nothing to complain about. The uncertainty that may exist in the current health care legislation is mostly their fault. What did you expect to happen when they become blatant obstructionists and disrupt town meetings with insults and just plain yelling without any concern about facts?
What did I want? Well I wanted a baseline health benefit package from the government that would provide emergency health care and hospitalization (this is currently the cheapest and least amount of benefits offered by current private insurance). This would keep someone from losing their house if they or someone in their household had to stay in a hospital overnight and have expensive procedures performed.
I wanted the option to purchase supplementary insurance to provide for regular doctor visits and preventive maintenance. I wanted no denial of health insurance due to preexisting conditions, however I think
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