Medicare

Here's a 10-point primer about Medicare. The author points out: "If you’re under age 65 there’s a good chance that you know very little about the program." As it turns out, I get to stay in that category even after reading this primer.

Socialized Health Care in 1798?

Tea partiers and what have you are always yelling about what the framers of the constitution did and did not want. A major criticism of the health care law is the unconstitutionality of the mandate, and that the Founders would be rolling over in their graves.

Well maybe and, then again, maybe not. They were not, it turns out, totally opposed to the idea of government healthcare:

In July of 1798, Congress passed – and President John Adams signed - “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen.” The law authorized the creation of a government operated marine hospital service and mandated that privately employed sailors be required to purchase health care insurance.

Keep in mind that the 5th Congress did not really need to struggle over the intentions of the drafters of the Constitutions in creating this Act as many of its members were the drafters of the Constitution.

Now, that doesn't seem exactly the same to me, but I bet it would surprise some Tea Partiers. There has, not surprisingly, been some controversy stirred by this article. Here is someone else's article who went and talked to knowledgeable university folk, who said things like:

There's no proof from the historical record that Adams would have backed the idea behind the individual mandate in particular. But it is fair to conclude, the professor says, that the founding generation supported the basic idea of government run health care, and the use of mandatory taxation to pay for it.

Concerning Polling Data

Andrew Sullivan

Obama is Insensitive

....according to Michael Carl over at WorldNetDaily. See, Obama's gone and started making fun of his critics -- you know, those critics who've compared him to Hitler and whatnot. And this is just unacceptable. Funny though.

"There has been plenty of fear-mongering and overheated rhetoric," he told a crowd of supporters in the Portland, Maine, Expo Center this week. "And if you turn on the news, you'll see that those same folks are still shouting about how the world will end because we passed this bill.

"This is not an exaggeration," Obama said.

"Leaders of the Republican Party have actually been calling the passage of this bill 'Armageddon.' They say it's the end of freedom as we know it," he continued.

"So after I signed the bill, I looked up to see if there were any asteroids headed our way. I checked to see if any cracks had opened up in the ground. But you know what? It turned out to be a pretty nice day," Obama said.

Newt Gingrich is Lame

One of Andrew Sullivan's readers has an amusing "correction" of Newt Gingrich's "anti-violence" statement, which was anything but.

"I think the Democratic leadership has to take some moral responsibility for having behaved with such arrogance skill, in such a hostile successful way, that the around 22% of the American people are deeply upset. So let’s be honest with this. This is a game that they’re playing, and they’ve just won an inning. People should not engage in personal threats. I’m happy to condemn any effort to engage in personal threats. Don’t let my righteously indignant call to anger, you know, anger you. I think the Democratic leadership has to take some real responsibility for having run a machine that used well-worn Congressional tactics to win corrupt tactics, that bought votes, that bullied people, and as a result has enraged about a fifth much of the American people. And I think it’d be nice for President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Reid to take some responsibility for keeping their campaign promises to the equally “American” remainder of the people of the people of over what their actions have done to this country."

I agree with David Frum

...who thinks that Republicans are overestimating the seats they'll gain in November. He also thinks Republicans blew a chance to be bipartisan and actually get some concessions.

Health Care: Down to the Wire

This article in the New York Times reads like a political thriller. We'll find out about the cliffhanger today sometime.

Advocate for Care

More evidence that as a patient, you have to tirelessly advocate for your care. The Times has done an expose on radiation errors. A theme throughout the piece is that someone failed to test the equipment after programming it. As a result, a man's entire head (including his brain stem) was radiated repeatedly. A woman had a hole burned into her chest, and the hole would not heal. Radiation has obviously saved a lot of lives, so mistakes shouldn't scare people away. Just hold your health team accountable and make them convince you that they have the appropriate safety measures in place.

Baucus Healthcare Plan

Max Baucus releases his new healthcare plan, which inclues a mandate & taxing benefits--2 things Obama opposed during the campaign.