Back to Basics

A real case of government healthcare…

One of my daughters became pregnant and found to everyone’s surprise she was going to have identical twins.  The news came with mixed emotions as well as difficult decisions.  This was not her first child and she, like many in the family, believes in natural childbirth without medication.  Only her first child was born in a hospital while all the others were born at home with a midwife.

She initially started seeing her midwife for prenatal visits, but when they discovered she was expecting twins the reality of government interference took hold.  The state of Arizona does not allow midwives to knowingly delivery twins, so they had to find a doctor.  They are on the state insurance, which poses it’s own challenges.  However, trying to find a doctor that not only would accept the state insurance but would also deliver twins and accept a patient at 10 weeks became almost an impossible task.  It took her a month to even obtain the booklet of doctors she requested from the state to start her search.  She went through the book and was more often turned down because the doctors no longer accepted the state insurance.  With the help of her midwife and fortunately a state employee willing to help, she was able to obtain the services of a high-risk OB team.

Through the ultrasounds they discovered the babies were identical twins, had separate bags of water but shared one placenta.  This put her in a higher risk category.  At one point during the pregnancy they determined she was experiencing twin-to-twin transfer and was then referred to a specialist.  Because of this the doctors wanted to see her 3 times a week and she underwent regular ultrasounds and non-stress tests.  During her third trimester an ultrasound indicated she actually had two placentas; that there was a division in the placenta that had not previously been noticed; the twins may not be identical.  At that time it was also revealed that she had not actual experienced twin-to-twin transfer, it was only borderline.  With only 4 weeks remaining until her due date the doctor told her she needed to find another doctor because she was now no longer considered high risk!

She took childbirth classes at the hospital she was to deliver at.  She is also a childbirth instructor so these classes were quite unnecessary from a childbirth aspect, but with this unusual pregnancy she wanted to be informed about the hospital, their procedures, as well as the special considerations in delivering twins.

During her regular doctor visits they discussed the expectations of delivery.  This resulted in a difference of opinion from the doctors and expectant parents.  The doctors believed in a medicated birth with a likely outcome of an induced labor as well as a cesarean delivery.  The parents believed in an unmedicated birth, as natural as possible, and only in an emergency to save the mother and/or babies did they want a cesarean.  They created their birth plan and the doctors made their modifications.  They were able to “negotiate” delaying an induction until 38 weeks.

She went in to labor naturally and the first baby came quickly.  They never made it to the hospital.  Labor never stopped and what seemed like a very short time later the second baby was delivered; he was a breech delivery.  Both babies were well and of good size, especially for twins (7 lbs. 14 oz. and 6 lbs. 9 oz.) with the mother and father cooperating during delivery; no one else was present.  This was a Sunday and at this point they did not want to go to the hospital because there was no need.  So they contacted one of their midwifes who came over to make sure mother and babies were okay – everyone was fine.  It also turns out the twins are identical, sharing only one placenta – the latest ultrasounds were wrong!

On Monday morning they contacted the OB doctors and told them the babies were delivered.  The parents asked if they should come in to be seen by the doctors and were told by the doctor’s office that they should come in 2 weeks.  The parents questioned this and the doctors decided they should make an appointment for that Thursday.  Everything seemed fine.

However, the parents received a call from the referring midwife indicating the doctor had issued a 911 call and told her to see the mother and babies immediately.  This second midwife came over Monday and checked everyone out – everyone was fine.

They kept their appointment on Thursday with the doctors, and again everyone was fine – or so they thought.  They expected to return to the doctor for her 6-week visit.

Corruption in government – it starts with the election process.  Special interest groups, labor unions, big pharma, all making campaign contributions supporting the candidate that is going to give them the back room deals they are after.  Why do you think this country is in this much trouble!  They have all basically bought and paid for the candidate of choice, the one who is looking out for their special interests instead of the interests of the American people.  The corruption needs to stop now, and reform needs to start with the funding of political campaigns.

The democrats seem to want to make everything equal – take from the rich and give to the poor.  So let’s start with campaign funding.  Let’s implement this equal for all system for the politicians, right from the start of the campaign process.  It’s time for a radical campaign funding change.

Instead of companies and individuals supporting one candidate over another, campaign contributions would be made to a government fund for each elected position.  There would be one fund for the president, one for each state senator race, one for each representative of the house race.  All campaign monies would go into this fund and NO OTHER funding for campaigns would be permitted.  The money from these funds would then be divided equally to all candidates running for that position, whether it be two or more.  Everyone would have an equal opportunity in campaigning for the desired position.

How the campaign spends this money would be up to them, but they would have to limit spending to only the money received from the fund.  It would be restricted, of course, to legal activities only.  At the end of the campaign a full disclosure of the money would be required within a specific timeframe and an audit would be completed on the final campaign funds.  Any money remaining from the election would be returned to the fund for the next elections.  There could be no “outstanding balance due” at the end of the campaign.

A radical move, but the problems we see in the government today are because every special interest group and every company has their own agenda and they have all made deals with the politicians to get what they want.  They donate and expect to receive benefits in return – and they don’t just mean a thank you letter.  The government is no longer run by the people, for the people.  It is being run by special interests and big business.  This has got to stop!  Start the reform where the corruption begins – the campaign funding.  Equal opportunity for everyone.

The automobile industry and the labor unions have caused the problems they face today.  They have been on a free ride for years, taking advantage of the American consumers, and it finally backfired on them.  Mismanagement, gasoline prices, government regulations, labor costs and an apathetic attitude have all contributed to their failures.  The taxpayers should never have been held responsible for their actions.  This is unconstitutional, but no one in our federal government seems to be awake.  Is anybody home?

Gasoline prices are one of the problems.  Guess what, this is nothing new!  Back in the 1970’s gas prices started rising to a whopping 50 cents a gallon.  People were outraged.  Speculation was that if gas went over $1 a gallon people just wouldn’t be able to afford to drive any more.  My husband owned a foreign car at that time that got 45 mpg.  It was nothing special, just your basic automobile.  You can’t find cars today that can produce that kind of mileage.  We also purchased a new car – a 1975 Pontiac Trans Am equipped with the V8 400 engine.  One of the less efficient cars of the time, it only got 20 mpg.  Wow, a muscle car that actually beats many of the vehicles today in gas mileage standards.  So, back in the 70’s with the impending doom of higher gas prices, nothing was done to combat the issue.

In the 1980’s gas prices again became an issue.  American cars just weren’t providing the gas mileage consumers wanted so they turned to foreign imports.  Foreign cars were not something I had ever imagined owning, I always stuck with American products.  But in trying to find a car that would get better gas mileage the foreign cars provided something American cars could not.  We found a Datsun that could get 35-40 mpg, and as a second car found a Mazda that got 30 mpg.  Gas prices during this era would rise and fall even dipping below the $1/gallon mark.  It was still a concern of the American public, but nothing was being done by the automobile industry to address the issue.

Back in the 1990’s my daughter joined the electric car club in high school.  These high school students created alternative fuel vehicles and had yearly competitions between schools to see whose car was the best.  These students were able to design and build cars that ran off alternative fuels.  With limited resources they were able to succeed.  But their efforts didn’t impact the auto industry and gas prices continued to rise.

Occasionally you would hear of alternative fuel vehicles on the market.  Most were very restricted in marketing and often only available to government agencies or only on lease agreements.  They were never made readily available to the public.  One big problem with these alternative fuel vehicles is that they took the gasoline version and then converted it to an alternative fuel.  This made the car cost prohibited, because you not only were paying for the original car but all the additions to convert it.  Other manufacturing changes came along, like going from carbureted engines to fuel injection.  Emissions played a factor in the changes, and not always on the positive side of the mileage factor.  Yet no real alternatives had been produced.

During this time we again were looking for a new vehicle, and once again opted for a foreign car, one that gets 35-40 mgp or more.  American cars just didn’t offer what we were looking for.  They didn’t get the gas mileage, were uncomfortable to drive and cost more.

A few years later it looked like there might be some alternative fuel vehicles, at least some hybrid versions, being released that might fit the bill.  Saturn had announced a hybrid and we were extremely interested.  Unfortunately it seemed to die out, never to be heard from again.

Now it is almost the end of the first decade of the 2000’s and still no real alternative fuel vehicles are being produced by the big auto manufacturers.  We’ve had almost 40 years of dealing with higher gas prices and yet in those 40 years no automobile manufacturer could produce a vehicle addressing this issue.  40 years of failure and we need to bail them out!  If any one of them had put forth the effort and developed an alternative fuel vehicle at an affordable price they would have the market edge of every automobile manufacturer.  Bailouts wouldn’t have been necessary.

So due to the auto industries own deficiency we face more government regulations, including the government telling you what vehicles you can and cannot drive.  This is a ploy to force people into purchasing vehicles since the American automotive industry can’t seem to draw the consumer in without government interference.  Cash for Clunkers was just that type of program.  Give people government money so they can go out and purchase a car, because they surely won’t do it on their own in this economy.  To make it sound legit, we’ll sell it as an environmental strategy taking old gas guzzling vehicles off the road making way for more efficient vehicles.  Since the government now owns GM, we have to get the market rolling.  People took advantage, but most bought foreign made cars.  More tax dollars wasted.

Are there alternatives out there?  There might be.  A small auto manufacturer in California has developed a vehicle that runs off battery power/solar power with a gasoline backup system.  It is a rather unusual vehicle, but could provide the technology for future vehicles.  The solar power charges the batteries and when the batteries are fully charged, the excess power can be used to cool your car while parked.  Imagine actually looking to park your vehicle in the sun instead of the shade in the summertime and being able to enter a cooled vehicle!  The gasoline backup system is supposed to get 300 mpg and cars are equipped with a 2 gallon gas tank.  They have been addressing the government imposed issues as well as manufacturing problems, so the cars are only available to California residents.  Interest has peaked around the country and they have a huge waiting list.