Medicare: Why Politics Matter for Your Health

There are actually many reasons why politics is important (as aggravating as politics may be) but the political battle over the future of Medicare that is going on right now is certainly one of the most important reasons, especially when it comes to your health and the health of your family.

Earlier this year the new Republican majority in the House overwhelmingly voted to end Medicare as we know it. This is not an overstatement or an exaggeration in any way. If it were not for a Democratic Senate (and of course President Obama in the White House) to keep it from becoming law we may have very well lost the Medicare system that so many Americans have come to count on.

Hopefully the importance of this is starting to dawn on you. If the Republicans also gain control of the Senate (and they are only a couple of seats away from doing so) and the White House they could easily make their plan of privatizing Medicare become law.

Remember in 2005 President George W. Bush and the rest of the Republicans tried to privatize Social Security – not long before the Bush Recession of 2008! Luckily for average Americans; Bush failed to make this Wall Street fantasy a reality.

But next time, when it comes to Medicare privatization, we may not be so lucky. This is why it’s important to get informed & involved in politics; at the very least it’s absolutely essential to vote (quite obviously against the Republican Party – for the Democratic Party by default.)

This Republican plan to phase out Medicare was a part of a bigger budget plan from Republican congressman Paul Ryan. 235 House Republicans voted for this budget (only 5 voted against it.) Zero Democrats voted for this.

It’s important to note that this terrible plan is entirely the work of the Republican Party because sometimes you hear the claim that there’s “no difference between the parties.” That is nonsense! There are very real differences, differences so big that they could literally mean life or death for you or a member of your family one day. I know some will claim that is being over-dramatic. But it’s really not.

The difference between a senior citizen having health care they can count on and not having it is very often the difference between life & death.

What Does The Paul Ryan/GOP Budget Do

  • Phases out Medicare as we know it. It would still be called “Medicare” but this would be in name only. The program itself would be entirely different. Instead of guaranteed health care for seniors; the government would provide subsidies for seniors to buy private health insurance. The most obvious problem with this is that the amount of the subsidy to be provided is insufficient. Most seniors would thousands more per year for health care under the Ryan plan (and they would have to deal with blood sucking private insurance companies instead of having the Medicare plan so many people are used to counting on.)
  • Significant cuts to Medicaid. One in six Americans is now on Medicaid so this would have terrible consequences on many (including millions of American children.)
  • Even more tax cuts for the rich. The Bush tax cuts for the rich cut the top tax bracket from 39.6% to 35%. This has been an obvious economic disaster and it is one of the biggest reasons our country went from having a budget surplus during the Clinton years to a huge deficit during the Bush years. The current Paul Ryan/GOP plan doubles down on this disaster cutting taxes on the rich even further pushing the top tax bracket all the way down to 25%.
  • Takes away tax deductions, tax exemptions, and tax credits that currently benefit the poor & middle class. While tax rates on the wealthy would go down significantly under the Ryan/GOP plan; tax rates on 90% of Americans would actually go up.

The Republican Party’s budget phases out Medicare, cuts Medicaid, and cuts taxes on the rich – all while raising taxes on most average Americans. The GOP is going forward with this “Robin Hood in reverse” plan despite the fact that the gap between the rich & the poor (the haves & the have-nots) is already at record levels.

Politics matter. Voting matters. If you care about the future of your health (and the health of your friends & family) then you must vote against the Republican Party. This is not meant to be a suggestion that the Democratic Party is perfect (far from it) but the Democrats are the only reasonable choice at this point because the GOP has gone so far to the right that they represent a very real danger to the future of the middle class (and obviously the poor) in the US.

The Day Off Diet

The Day Off Diet is a very different approach to losing weight than any diet that you’ve tried before. Unlike other diet programs it takes into account the psychology of losing weight and how hard it can be to stick with a diet over the long term (and what’s the point if you’re not going to stick with until you reach your goal weight?)

This is the principle reason this diet program includes a weekly “day off” from dieting (most people select Friday or Saturday.) If you have a day every week where you don’t have to worry about what you eat and where you can eat all of the things that you most desire than it makes it much easier to stick with the diet over the long term.

Why is that? Because most of us just can’t control our temptations over very long periods of time and then once we do break our diet and have a big bowl of ice cream then we usually give up entirely not long after that! I bet that sounds kind of familiar to you, doesn’t it?

The Day Off Diet allows you to indulge one day a week every week so there is no chance for those unbearable cravings to build up to the point where they take you off course.

On top of the obvious benefit to taking a day off from dieting every week (it makes the diet much easier to stick with) there’s also another benefit that may not be so obvious to you: It can actually increase your metabolism and help you to lose weight even faster to occasionally indulge yourself.

“Day Off” = Fat Burning Metabolism Booster

On most diets the metabolism begins to adjust because you are eating so few calories day after day. Basically the body goes into “starvation mode” and that makes it much harder to burn off of the fat. The “side effect” of taking a weekly day off from dieting is actually a really positive one: It “tricks” your body into not going into this starvation mode and keeps your metabolism boosted so that you lose weight faster.

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  • Increases your energy level (without annoying jittery feeling.)

Universal Health Care in Vermont

In case you haven’t heard the exciting news yet; Vermont is leading the way into the future as the first state in America with a true universal health care system.

It’s my hope that Vermont is just the first of many states that will take this path until eventually the entire country catches up with the rest of the western world and the US finally has a single payer health care system like the ones that provide better health care (for everyone) at a lower cost in countries such as France, Canada, Japan, England, and Germany.

President’s Obama’s health care reform (“Obama Care”) was certainly a step in the right direction. Some of its important positive points are as follows:

  • It requires insurance companies to cover those with preexisting conditions.
  • No more lifetime limits on coverage. Before this law an insurance company could stop paying for your medical bills at a certain point which could leave you with huge costs to pay along with dealing with a terrible health nightmare.
  • Free preventative care with no deductibles. No excuse not to see the doctor on a regular basis!
  • Extends coverage to the children of people with health insurance up to age 26 (this covers a period in many young people’s lives when they find it difficult to pay for their own health care.)
  • Increased funding for community health centers which should double the amount of patients seen over the next five years.
  • No Rescissions. Prior to the enactment of “Obama Care” insurance companies would regularly drop people who became sick. Seriously! How insane is it for you to get dropped from your coverage when you need it most? What’s the point of having health insurance if it’s taken away from you when you get sick?
  • “Obama Care” will lead to millions more Americans having health insurance coverage.

So yes, President Obama’s health care reform was an important positive step in the right direction but it’s still nowhere near as good as the single payer plans in Europe and in Canada. Hopefully Vermont is now showing the way towards a better healthier future for America.

The Insanity Workout (with Shaun T)

I’ve tried a lot of different workouts in my life but nothing really compares to the Insanity Workout with Shaun T in my experience. If you want to get really fit really fast then I think you need to check it out.

But I should warn you: This workout is as advertised. It really is insane. You are going to have to give it every thing you have for the full time period (the workouts during the first couple of months of the program are about 40 minutes each.)

I understand being a bit skeptical of a “As Seen on TV” product (apparently there are infomercials for this thing on all the time, although I’ve never seen them as I don’t watch much TV) but in this particular case there’s nothing to be skeptical about.

Of course the real truth is that most workouts and diets really do work. The hard part is actually doing them! And then it’s even harder to keep doing them, isn’t it?

But it does help to keep motivated if you are seeing real results real fast and that’s definitely the case with Insanity.

As you can tell, I love this program. I find it inspiring and very effective. But I should say that it’s not for everyone. In fact, I know a woman that stopped doing it because she didn’t like how much jumping is involved (there is a lot of jumping and that can be hard on your knees.)

Check out this Insanity Workout Review if you want to read another perspective before making your decision on whether it’s right for you or not.

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