A society is judged by how it treats its weaker members. The cost of basic medical care is ugly enough, but catastrophic medical care is crippling to middle class families. These are the same middle class families that PAY taxes, Spend money on Things that build the economy, and try to save money for retirement.
When something happens, cancer, accident, whatever, they can no longer do any of that. They are then going bankrupt and making the economic situation worse for other people too.
Actually I can think of a very inexpensive long term solution to this problem. This solution is quite contrary to my typical thinking about how government should work, but it's a clear resolution to the Health Care Costs issue:
Pass Federal Legislation that denies the ability of Private Health Insurance Companies to be operated as For-Profit Businesses. Secondarily, require those same businesses to adhere legally to the Hippocratic Oath.
I can't give a specific opinion as I do not have a cat in this dog fight. I just sleep with an American airman. I don't live in the country (but I can see it from my village).
IF I was an American I would recommend following the advice of one of the two recent commissions that looked into this very complicated problem.
One thought is to look at the size of the problem, look where the money is spent and start to reduce somewhat proportionally. IMHO every American citizen should take one day's time of entertainment (what is that 2 to 4 hours per day) and study this chart.
You have a dog in the hunt too, of course. Without a strong American military, you'll have to invest more of your money into your armed forces, and without a strong economy down south, your economy will suffer.
I'm painfully aware that when America sneezes we catch a cold (though that changed a lot in the most recent recession). The point I'm making, and I think it applies across the board, is that the citizens of USA need to answer your question and make the hard decisions to trim the budget.
When others tell somewhat how to solve a difficult problems it usually harms a relationship rather than building the relationship.
I'm kind of amused that there is nothing behind your cut and the entirety of the discussion is upfront. Are you suggesting that everyone should be interested?
The cut off must be higher then that. They put my daughter in Head Start, when we were making around 30k a year back five years or so ago. That or they have more guidelines then just income mabey?
Head start is not technically a CSBG program so the guidelines may be different. It is simply another one of the programs typically (but not always) run by Community Action Agencies. They are related however, in that many families who are at the federal poverty guideline are referred to family assistance from Head Start so it's an important gateway program for us to work with entire families on self sufficiency.
I'm not sure what you mean by "premise." Are you saying that you feel that we can dramatically increase taxation and that we have significantly more money available to the federal government? Or are you saying that there are no real limits to federal spending capability in general?
I'm going to assume the first, and follow up on taxation. You say that we have a fairly low per capita level of taxation, and that is true. However, my response is to ask what happens when taxes are raised? How are other, more highly taxed, economies doing? Are they increasing or decreasing? There is no doubt that we are currently in the worst economic situation since the 1970s. Taxes, as a whole, are a drain on an economy, how would increasing that drain improve our economy?
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A society is judged by how it treats its weaker members. The cost of basic medical care is ugly enough, but catastrophic medical care is crippling to middle class families. These are the same middle class families that PAY taxes, Spend money on Things that build the economy, and try to save money for retirement.
When something happens, cancer, accident, whatever, they can no longer do any of that. They are then going bankrupt and making the economic situation worse for other people too.
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Pass Federal Legislation that denies the ability of Private Health Insurance Companies to be operated as For-Profit Businesses. Secondarily, require those same businesses to adhere legally to the Hippocratic Oath.
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IF I was an American I would recommend following the advice of one of the two recent commissions that looked into this very complicated problem.
One thought is to look at the size of the problem, look where the money is spent and start to reduce somewhat proportionally. IMHO every American citizen should take one day's time of entertainment (what is that 2 to 4 hours per day) and study this chart.
http://www.wallstats.com/deathandtaxes/
Oh and don't forget your state and local situation too.
Good luck cousins. You have important heavy lifting to do.
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When others tell somewhat how to solve a difficult problems it usually harms a relationship rather than building the relationship.
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I'm going to assume the first, and follow up on taxation. You say that we have a fairly low per capita level of taxation, and that is true. However, my response is to ask what happens when taxes are raised? How are other, more highly taxed, economies doing? Are they increasing or decreasing? There is no doubt that we are currently in the worst economic situation since the 1970s. Taxes, as a whole, are a drain on an economy, how would increasing that drain improve our economy?
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