An honest day's work.

According to the Federal Government's own website "Federal employees, retirees and their survivors enjoy the widest selection of health plans in the country." So if you are listening to Federal employees (aka Congress) telling you we don't need Health Care Reform, maybe you can see why.

If the taxpayers can't have the health care plan their "employees" enjoy, then we should indeed start over. No more health insurance for public employees until their employers have it too. Seems simple to me.
Any takers?

I thought not. Because it is way too easy for the "anti" Health Care Reformers to say no, when it has no impact on them. How can they empathize with something they don't understand? I find it difficult to understand their point of view. Really. I find it almost impossible to comprehend how one can look at the disparity in our health care system and not be overwhelmed with sadness. As a nation, how did we ever let it come to this?

Where federal employees fight tooth and nail to prevent us from having what they have. It costs too much they say. Of course it does. And that might cost them their job. Those who say we need to pay as we go are right. So, we will. If providing health insurance costs (just an average) $10,000 for a family of four for one year, then for every 5 families, we'll cut one paper shuffler from the Federal workforce. That works for me. For the next 5 families, let's lose a few "Senate Aides" they should be able to handle the job themselves. Read the bills themselves. Do you know we pay salaries for Congressional and Senate assistants to do all the work, whisper in their bosses ear, so that they in turn can go say Yea or nay? Seriously? Let's just make these guys do their own homework, read their own stuff, write their own stuff, and we can cover Thousands upon thousands of uninsured Americans. Yeah, my math is probably screwy, and I exaggerate the point, but the concept remains sound. Let's downsize government the correct way. If you run for office, you do the work you get paid for. Hire staffers to handle the BUSY work, not ALL the work.

So here's some more math, and you can check this for yourself: Senate Staff Salaries
Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona: April through September (6 months): $1,539,758
That's 1.5 MILLION DOLLARS for one senator and his staff, just their salaries, not expenses. That's $3 MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR. Now, lets add McCain, and the Congressional Reps staff too. I'm up to $14 MILLION DOLLARS in Salaries alone, per year, for the State of Arizona.We haven't even touched the benefits they get with that.

But let's think about this. If Senator Kyl had to actually read a bill himself, and all his colleagues, imagine how short those bills would be. No more 500 or 1000 page documents. Not when they have to actually write them, and review them. I'm not advocating we fire all the senate staffers. I'm saying we don't need that many. As Kyl himself might say, they're a "disincentive" for him to do the work.

And in this day and age, technology has reached a level that will allow government to operate far more efficiently! So, here I am, a liberal democrat, telling you that we are truly wasting tax payer dollars. I want my tax dollars spent on health care. Infrastructure. Education. Programs that benefit the health and welfare of our Nation. And a minimum number of qualified people to administer them. Not Senate and Congressional Staffers who form layers upon layers of waste. Downsize the staff. Current staff levels are based on 25 year old administration models. We have email now. We have Web based research. Times have changed, and our staffing model needs to change with it. Put the money back where it belongs. Into delivering the services that best improve our Nation's well being. Starting with Health Care Access for everyone.