Matt Smallbone

One of my oldest Australian friends sent me this on Facebook this morning.

Matt,

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/22/2853179.htm?site=thedrum

(Note – The ABC pride themselves on non-biased journalism).

Here is another interesting (Australian) perspective on the US debate. The general attitude is “Of course they should fix healthcare.. it’s stuffed!” But this blog makes the point that that doesn’t mean it’s the right fix.

I hear there are death threats over it now… don’t go prompting too much debate Matt! Those Americans tote guns!

It is definitely worth a read.

This is my last day blogging on health care. Tomorrow will be about puppies… or something.

Matt

PS – My youngest Jack has a fever at the moment… please lift him up in your prayers.

As an Australian who lives in the USA, it must be said that the USA is a great country. I really do feel like American’s are tremendously misunderstood at a global level. In Australia, American’s are considered loud and obnoxious. I rarely find this to be the case. In Nashville, TN… it is probably fair to say that the ‘loud and obnoxious’ label better fits most of the Australian’s who have come and joined the CCM circus.

Just ask any road crew or CCM bus driver.

Anyway…

One of the main criticisms that the typical USA citizen receives is that they are ignorant of how the world views their particular brand of politik.

Therefore, I thought that it would be a worthwhile endeavor to include the basic ‘USA health care reform’ coverage from my local newspaper “The Courier Mail” in Australia.

And here you go…

Historic change for US after Obama’s health care bill passed

US President Barack Obama’s health care bill, which passed today in the House of Representatives, aims to bring the United States closer to universal coverage than ever before.

The plan is intended to usher in the most sweeping overhaul of its kind in four decades and extend coverage to some 32 million Americans out of the 36 million who lack it now, according to the independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The legislation carries an initial 10-year price tag of US$940 billion ($1.27 trillion), but would reduce the ballooning U.S. deficit by US$138 billion through 2019 and 1.2 trillion over the following decade, the CBO said.

Here are some other notable features of the compromise, which requires the House to pass the Senate’s health bill, followed by both chambers approving a package of changes to make the overhaul more palatable to the lower chamber.

- Tough new rules on private insurers

The bill would ban insurance company practices like denying coverage for preexisting illnesses, dropping people from coverage when they get sick, or capping lifetime coverage, and restrict new plans’ use of annual limits.

- No “public option”

After a year-long fight, Mr Obama’s Democratic allies opted not to include a government-backed program to compete with private insurers, which supporters and many analysts described as the best way to rein in costs.

- New insurance markets

Instead, the plan creates new state-based marketplaces called exchanges where Americans without employer-provided coverage could buy insurance.

- Requirements, subsidies

For the first time in US history, most Americans would be required to buy insurance or face fines, and larger firms could face penalties for not offering coverage.

But the bill would also offer subsidies to help individuals who earn too much to get coverage under an expansion of the government’s Medicaid program but under 400 percent of the US federal poverty level, which in 2009 stood at earnings of US$22,000 per year for a family of four.

- Elderly drug benefits

The bill offers a rebate to seniors who fall into a “donut hole” gap in prescription drug coverage under the government-run Medicare program for the elderly. The gap would be phased out by 2020.

Source: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/world/historic-change-for-us-after-obamas-health-care-bill-passed/story-e6freoox-1225843896004

Tags: Australian Media, health care reform

This little health care skirmish that is going on in Washington has been interesting to watch. The current bill is pushing democracy to its limits… and it seems like it is going to take a fair bit of legislative sleight of hand to make any changes at all. I can’t imagine how hard it is for the elected officials of differing world views to sit in a room and make a group decision that will affect one-sixth of the economy. ONE-SIXTH!

This is important stuff, and they need to get it right.

I am from a country where our income is highly taxed in order that the state can help with health care. We have public hospitals and a pretty well organized Medicare system. It works OK… sometimes. In saying that… I know very few Australians who can afford private health insurance who don’t have it. ‘Private Health’ as we call it down under costs about 33% of what it does in the USA, and it covers a lot more.

My health insurance in the USA protects me from bankruptcy… and that is about it. I gave my company over $4k last year and received a $13 benefit.

I have but one request of the USA medical insurance system as we move forward. Here goes nothing…

(Clearing throat).

A few years ago, Al Gore (former VP of the USA from Tennessee) apparently was part of connecting our computers together with telephonic-like wires that enabled said computers to communicate with each other. He called this invention ‘The Internet’.

In most other first world countries, the Health Insurance companies have combined this technology with the use of a ‘credit card-like’ device that gets scanned at a medical practitioner’s clinic. With the use of big Al’s internet… the final amount owed is miraculously made immediately known to the sick person and it is settled on the spot. Wouldn’t that be something?

The saddest day of 2010 for the Smallbones came on October 16 when I was in Redlands, CA for a Michael W. Smith concert. I got a call from my wife with the devastating news that she was having a miscarriage. It was horrible to be away from home as our fourth child found his/her way to heaven in an ocean of his/her mother’s blood.

I only mention this for one reason…

Yesterday, March 15, 2010 I received my 13^th letter from my insurance company (just from the miscarriage) informing me that I “may or may not receive a $27.32 bill from Dr X of X Health Care Provider”.

Are you kidding me? Five- months later the bills are still coming? May or may not??!!

Something needs to change. The USA put man on the moon and gave us the assembly line. Health care is a problem that can and must be fixed. I hope that they can figure it out in Washington.

Actually… maybe Wal-Mart should be running the Health Industry. I’m pretty sure they have a system that involves the internet and card swiping. I’m nothing if not easily pleased.

Have a happy Tuesday,

Smalls

Tags: al gore, health care reform, wal-mart

My rock-n-roll swagger is slowing to a limp. I’m 32, have three kids and am starting to listen to nothing but talk radio. The final blow to my once hip exterior occurred at 8pm central last night… when I sat through the entirety of President Obama’s first State of the Union address.

I only really started to develop a real interest in politics after spending some time with Michael W. Smith’s tour manager (the real mayor of Springhill, TN). This guy just cares so much, and I felt like I cared so little.

I acknowledge that I have a poor man’s education in USA partisan politics. I learnt what the left thinks via Rolling Stone Magazine, and the right, via Fox news and every single church friend that I have in Nashville.

Last night I was surprised by the size of the socio-cultural-economic-blahblah gap between the Republicans and Democrats. They won’t both stand and cheer for tax cuts. They can’t even agree whether health care is a problem worth fixing or whether the planet is suffering from ecological abuse, or even which war is more important.

How did it get to this?

In Australia we are mostly born centrists. Everyone is required to vote at elections or you get fined. This means one thing to those who are running for office. They must appeal to the center. If you colour outside the lines too much… you have no chance. You may do enough to pick up a Senate seat or two and be a pain in the butt to the major parties every now and again… but that is about it.

In the USA, non-compulsory voting has pushed the left and right much further apart. To get elected, an American political aspirant must appeal to their base. This means that a Republican (conservative) must passionately defend the right to life, the right to bear arms, protect big business and limit the power of the Federal Government, whilst a Democratic (liberal) dude must pretty much stand for the opposite. You hear a lot of claims of socialist and fascist policy on any given day, and I guess after 200 years it is no surprise that common sense decision making in Washington has ground to a standstill.

I hope that they can figure it out and make some positive changes.

My health care costs about $400/ month, and from what I can tell the only thing it does is save me from bankruptcy if I get really sick one day. I was almost better off without it.

Unfortunately, the Christian worldview that powers my vision suggests that things are only going to get worse until we burst into flame and the earth is renewed. So what now?

Despite all that is wrong with the world, I must say that as every day passes, I feel happier, healthier and more at ease with myself. This is the fruit of placing one’s life in the hands of the loving Creator. It is a great mystery as to why God placed that tree with delicious fruit in the garden. Was it a cosmic set up? I don’t know. I’m glad that He did.

I am glad to have a go at life. It’s been a lot of fun.

If you are a Christian, please don’t spend today complaining about the state of the union. Remember that the Bible begins with man and God in a Garden on earth in perfect unity, and then concludes the same way. God desires heaven on earth.

Let us be known as a people of grace and love who usher heaven to earth, rather than a bunch of whiners who advertise the Hell that surrounds us.

We are in the middle of the story, a story with a happy ending.