Healthier Care

I am shocked at how many friends in the US are against a national health care plan. The propaganda they are seeing can only be being fed to them by the rich - who can afford private health care. With the problems in the US economy I know many of my friends are suffering financially, having to give up luxuries in their life and forgoing what they can't afford - like private health care cover. It blows my mind when I see a friend post on facebook that they are going to work even though they are sick - because their employer doesn't pay sick days and worse they can't afford to go to the doctor or pay for medication to get well. How much worse can it get? I am talking about young fit people in their 30's with full time jobs and no children. What happens when you are too old to work, or if one of your children gets a serious illness or if you are in an accident and you have no health insurance?

In Australia - if I am sick, I can go to a doctor free of charge, some do charge an excess ( maybe $10 - $20)  but many don't. If I am too sick to work, employers pay sick leave or if I am going to be ill for 3 months or more I can get a government benefit and in turn receive discounted medication. This also applies to accidents. If I need to go to hospital - I go, if it is a non emergency I may have to wait a few months to get an appointment with a specialist but it doesn't cost me to do so through the public health system. Emergency rooms prioritise patients based on their level of emergency, ie if you have a broken arm you are going to wait longer than someone who's having a heart attack, but at least you will be seen without cost.

Of course we have to pay for this, it's called taxation. Of course if you want to choose your own specialists and don't want to wait for non emergency procedures and want a private room in a hospital you can take out private health care. If you choose to do this there is a tax break in it - and if you take out private health earlier in your life you save on your payments.

I cannot understand why the average American wouldn't want to be able to get their elderly parents the health care they need? I almost forgot to mention our aged & disabled get reduced medication prices as well as a government benefit. Health care is also about improving the general health of the population, not just fixing their problems. Education is the key to improving the general health of the country and in return reducing the cost of health care on the economy. You can't have one without the other.

So in closing I just want to say - are you being selfish when you say I don't want national health care? I don't want to pay for the sick and dying? What does this say about your society? What does it say about you?

Bragging Rights

We are told being confident is important, that we should be proud of who we are and what we do. Why is it when ever I get good at something and feel I have earned bragging rights, that then next time I do it - I somehow always screw up?

I like to think I am a reasonable cook and I like cooking from scratch. A white sauce takes a good 20 minutes to cook if you do it right - spend the time stirring, stirring until it thickens without any lumps. A friend recently visited and I offered to make a fish pie, which I have a gained a reputation of doing well - maybe one of these days I will make a fish pie instructional video. Bragging to my friend that, while my mum made a great fish pie - I thought mine was better and so would she, after eating it. Of course that afternoon I went to make the white sauce, as I have many times in the past and the for the first time the sauce curdled - WTF? If I had just kept my fat mouth shut and made the pie and waited for appreciation instead of blowing my own horn, I am sure the sauce would have been fine the first time around.

Just like my You Tube videos, I was doing fine, was inspired and having fun. I thought I was doing well and wanted to take it to the next level, so I went to film school for a year. Now that I am trying to make more professional videos and have bragged about going to film school, my videos are dull and boring and I am totally uninspiring.

Where is this leading to you may well ask, I am sure you have all felt the same way at times. This is what I think is happening in the USA now. For so long we have heard the chant "USA USA", " The greatest country in the world". Now while I am sure American's believe this, 64% have never left the USA, so how do they know? The other 95% of the world have been hearing these cries from you, many of us have come to check it out. While some stay, it is usually only fuelled by financial gain not because it is the "land of the free and the home of the brave".  I  think you have been bragging too long and have lost your mojo. The government has shut down - WTF?  with a population of over 300,000,000 people, how do you expect to maintain? It is time for the USA to do the head down, arse up approach and stop relying on the annoying midnight advertising version of pressure sales that you have been using the last 20 or more years. Who cares if anyone thinks you are the best?

I am going to try and be quieter, to let my actions speak my praises, rely on the kind words of others for support and try to be a bit more humble, it is free and doesn't require a great deal of energy. Who knows what could happen if I stop blowing my own horn, maybe I will have time to focus on doing something worthwhile and brilliant.