J. Michael Roach

The health care debate is good.  I support it.  I don’t care which side you’re on, just jump in the water and get involved.  After all, the Federal Government is not them … it’s us.  We live in a representational republic based on the backbone of a government of the people, for the people and by the people.

That said, here is my take on the health care debate.

I dear friend of mine wrote the following to me:

Do you support the constitutions right to life. When you fail to provide access to health care, you are allowing your fellow Americans to DIE and thus not preserving their right to life. This is NOT a political issue this is an American issue. You care when soldiers go to war and die. You care for elderly men and women by providing Medicare. You care when people lose their jobs and use COBRA to continue their coverage. You care when the poor are provided Medicaid. Health Care Reform is for those who are still falling through the cracks. They are too young for Medicare. They may be self-employed and not have COBRA options. They are working, but don’t make enough to cover their premiums. They can afford the premiums, but are provided a policy with pre-existing condition clauses. Why punish these individuals and families? Do they not deserve the right to have affordable access to health care?

I don’t think there should be any question in anyone’s mind about the need for health care reform. People are dying every day because of lack of access to health care due to a number of reasons.

It does not matter whether you are a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Liberal or Conservative or any other political view because health care is an American issue.

We need to stand us as Americans and make sure that not one more American dies from inability to access adequate health care.

Tell your congress person and your senators that you want the following:

1. Insurance companies must cover everyone even if they have a pre-existing condition. Those who have a pre-existing condition need health insurance the most and are denied. This can and often results in the death of fellow Americans.
2. Make it so insurance companies cannot cancel you when you get sick. This saves American lives too.
3. Make health care accessible and affordable. This means that competition must be a part of the equation to bring the highest quality of health care for the best possible price. This means laws in place that previously allowed monopolies must be changed and competition must be introduced into the health care industry.
4. Address the costs of health care. This includes malpractice insurance reform, tort reform, insurance claim fraud and medicare fraud.
5. Make health care patient focused. This means the patient makes decisions regarding their health care.

My sister died due to lack of access to affordable health care.

First of all, I appreciate the sentiment here, and my heart aches for Ann and anyone else who would have to deal with that kind of tragedy.

Second, #1 and #5 will never be addressed by the current bill just passed by the House and headed to the Senate.

Third, the untimely death of a close relative, especially a young sister, is a travesty, and that shouldn’t happen. As American’s, we should band together and do something about it. But not this.

Now, I don’t mean to get on a rant here, but what your government is doing is disgusting. Your government, with your vote, is taking advantage of your tragic story and telling you they can make it right. All you need to do is vote for health care reform.

Ann, I personally guarantee you that, if you were to write out everything you thought should be done to fix the problem, you wouldn’t need 1900 pages. I also guarantee you that, if you had access to all you money you wanted to fix the problem, you wouldn’t need a trillion dollars. Let me help you with that number:

$1,000,000,000,000.00

There are about 300,000,000 people in the country, and the government is looking to take an average of $3,300 from every man, woman and child in the country … just to get things started (if you think they’re only taking this money from the rich, you need to read the bill … very carefully). Furthermore, there are (depending on who you ask) about 50,000,000 uninsured people (others says it’s closer to 15,000,000). So the government says we need between $20,000 and $60,000 per person to provide them with health care?

Seriously! How many of us spend that much on health care per year. Yes, some people have illnesses and other conditions that would require a large expenditure, but most of the uninsured are healthy enough they do not require that. There is a difference between “uninsured” and “dying because of a lack of access to affordable health care”.

Should we, as Americans, have organizations, agencies and charities in place to provide those in need with access to health care to prevent them from dying? Yes.

Should we, as Americans, encourage our legislature to pass legislation empowering the Federal government to “guarantee” access to health care by making it a criminal offense to not have health insurance? No!

Your congress is seriously considering legislation that would make, as a condition of citizenship, mandatory the purchase of a product or service, whether you want or need that service. Seriously? What the Hell kind of country is that?

And do you really believe the Federal government will do a better job of “distributing” health care dollars? Really? Obama himself, in response to criticism that a government option would drive private companies out of business said, “Look at UPS. Look at FedEx. They’re doing just find. It’s the Postal Service that’s in trouble.”

Are you listening? ARE YOU LISTENING?

He knows it won’t work. Why don’t we just pass a law that makes it against the law to die? Would that help?

Ann, I don’t know much about your sister’s story, and I’d like to hear more. I agree that no one should die because they lacked access to affordable health care. No one should die for any reason. Ever. But we do. It’s not fair, it’s how it is.  Life isn’t fair, and death isn’t, either.

The only thing worse would be for the Federal government to milk $1,000,000,000,000 from our economy by playing on your emotions and put it in their pockets … without ever solving the problem.

I ran across this quote the other day.  I have never seen the concept communicated so clearly, so I thought I’d share this with you.

“You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

“When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”

Adrian Pierce Rogers (Sep 12, 1931 – Nov 15, 2005)
American pastor, conservative, author, and a three-term president of the  Southern Baptist Convention (1979-1980 and 1986-1988).

SOURCE: Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source

I ran across a piece from David Pasternack today that makes the following point:

Despite the mythology that big ad agencies are populated exclusively with people who can’t even figure out how to open their email messages, the truth is more complicated. The main reason that more ad dollars aren’t flowing into digital is that digital is too hard to buy. If you wanted to reach a million people 10 years ago, you could execute this buy in less than 10 minutes with one phone call. To reach the same million people today, you’d have to have a team in place, which would have to spend a week planning, constructing and executing such a digital campaign.

I inherently disagree with the simplification model. I don’t see how agencies would want digital to be easier to buy. The easier it is to buy, the easier it is for clients to buy and bypass the agency.  He goes on to say:

Every form of “traditional” media, including print, radio, TV and outdoor, has an agency discount associated with it. Agencies make a significant share of their earnings from the spread between wholesale and retail media prices — except with Google and the other search engines. When buying this kind of media, agencies pay retail, even if they’re buying millions of clicks a month. So at the end of the month they’re faced with a truly rotten choice: either present their clients with a very high bill (retail price plus media management fee) or a bill without a markup (which means they’re going out of pocket running the search campaign).

It’s the not 15% model that’s outdated, in my opinion, but the traditional agency model. Or more accurately stated, agencies will begin to move full-circle into the role of buyers of ever-complicated digital campaigns. Access to the minutia, and the resulting tweakability, is the very reason digital advertising offers so much promise. Eliminate the tweakability, and you might as well buy something else.

It’s not up Google to simplify for the agencies, it’s up to the agencies to simplify for the client. And therein lies the value for the next generation of agencies.

SOURCE: iMedia Connection: Follow the money: inside the Publicis/Google deal

Marathon Office Interiors launched a new website today. The site features a great-looking intro page with fading two-stage javascript rollovers and a unique javascript navigation system.

The site offers links to the dozens of manufacturers Marathon represents, a complete catalog of pre-owned furniture and a showcase of client and showroom photo galleries. What’s more, Marathon has complete control of the content through a customized content management system that couldn’t be easier to use.

As Frank would tell you, “It’s magical!”

See more at: Office Furniture and Commercial Interior Design

This has been around for years, but with all the campaign promises, it bears repeating…

This song makes you want a Macbook Air. No doubt about it – Apple knows how to pick ‘em.

Welders at the core (and brilliant welders, at that), the guys at HRI developed a unique protective suit system that allows them to work in up to 1800 degrees. Why? So they can fix problems with equipment in refineries, power plants and other such environments without having to shut the plant down.

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Every year, millions of people rush to prepare income tax returns at the last minute, then stand in line until midnight at the post office. Really, there’s no need for that.

Grab your W-2 and bank statements before you lose them and head to Tax-Quick. Drop it all on the desk and they’ll prepare your return while you wait, e-File it for free and you’ll have your refund in a week.

Check it out: Tax Return Preparation

The Mid-Missouri Advertising Federation presented the local ADDY Awards on Feb. 8 at the Courtyard by Marriott.

This year’s winners will have the chance at gaining a spot in regional and national competitions within the American Advertising Federation.

SOURCE: Columbia Business Times – 2007 ADDY Awards