[fabsroman]

jl,

I am an avid cyclist, and even raced as a junior against some of Lance Armstrong's teammates (e.g., George Hincapie). When Lance got cancer, he wasn't a millionaire. He hadn't even won the Tour de France yet. After he beat cancer, he almost decided to quite cycling. Now, if you know anything about cycling, you would know that his two biggest rivals in the Tour de France, Ivan Basso and Jan Ulrich were both kept out of the Tour last year because of a doping scandal. It turns out that Ulrich had a regimen set out on paper for doping during the Tour that included the use of steroids on certain days and EPO on other days. Oh yeah, the winner of the Tour last year, Floyd Landis, got busted for high levels of testosterone in his blood. He tried to argue that his body naturally created these high levels, and when they tested the testosterone they found it to be synthetic.

Do you really think that Lance won 7 Tours without doping. Do you stop to think that Lance might have gotten testicular cancer and all those other cancers because he was using performance enhancing drugs? Don't steriods increase your chance of getting cancer? Didn't Lyle Alzedo die from brain cancer and admit that he had been taking steroids like crazy while he was playing football for the Oakland Raiders. Do you ever wonder if Lance was "sponsored" behind the scenes by Bristol Myers or another big drug company that he currently does advertising for?

As far as the war in Iraq is concerned, I guess you wouldn't mind terrorist attacks all over the US as long as health care was provided free of charge.

As far as CEO's and their salaries are concerned, I have already covered this in another thread. Suffice it to say that companies are paying millions to CEO's, but they are paying BILLIONS in health care costs. Do you really think that if all CEO's salaries in the US were cut, that we would be able to pay for all health care?

In the end, Americans are very unhealthy and we go to the doctor way too much. We also have the ability to perform very complicated surgeries and procedures which cost a lot. Do you think people in Vietnam get the same level of health care as we do here? The level of health care that you get is directly related to the amount you pay for it. Why should the poor get the best health care available?

If we really want to make sure that everybody is healthy, we might as well go with complete socialism. I mean people will be much healthier if they eat well, are clothed well, and they are housed well. So, lets divide up all the money in the US and see where that gets us.

Last I checked, people did qualify for Medicare when they turned 65. My dad qualifies for it this year and my mom next year. Since my dad retired 3 years ago, they have been paying a good amount for their health insurance even though it is partially subsidized by his previous employer. Now, once they get on Medicare they will be able to stop making that payment.

So, exactly where is there a problem with health care? Oh yeah prescription drugs are the problem. Again, I think a lot of the prescription drug problem could be avoided if people just took care of their health before it became an issue. Kind of like retirement. Read an article that American spending habits did not change between 2005 and 2006. Americans saved a (-1%) of salary in 2006 just as they did in 2005. Also read that 45% of Americans were unable to pay the balance on their credit cards on a monthly basis. Americans live for the short term and don't worry about retirement or their long term health until it is too late.

I have a 35 year old brother that drinks a lot and tells me that retirement is so far away that he isn't really interested in an IRA. My other brother used to smoke a lot. I say used to because he "quit" last week. This is his 4th attempt at quitting so we will see how that goes. On the other hand, my two sisters drink moderately and they are both very active with athletics and they stay in shape.

Why is it that the grasshoppers are always looking to the ants for salvation.