Dueling Columnists
Showdown!
Stephen Goldstein & Kingsley Guy Face Off ...
... with Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio on "The Impact of the Florida Budget Cuts". Live at The Riverside Hotel - located at 620 E. Las Olas Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale. Luncheon, $25 per person on Friday, June 20. Doors open 11:30 a.m. Program 12:15-1:00 p.m. Reservations required. Call Chelsea Barker 954-377-5467.
Upcoming "Dueling Columnists" at the Riverside:
September 26, Former Senator Bob Graham
November 21, Former U.S. Congressman E. Clay Shaw
Visit The Slant's collection of recent opinions from Stephen Goldstein and Kingsley Guy
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5-23 Nicole Sandler Show hr. 3 The South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Dueling Columnist, Stephen Goldstein and Kingsley Guy sit in for Nicole today! Marco Rubio calls in. Listen Live Podcast To download the podcast, right-click "Listen" and select "Save As" from the menu. |
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5-23 Nicole Sandler Show hr. 2 The South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Dueling Columnist, Stephen Goldstein and Kingsley Guy sit in for Nicole today! Joe Garcia stops by. Listen Live Podcast To download the podcast, right-click "Listen" and select "Save As" from the menu. |
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5-23 Nicole Sandler Show hr. 1 The South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Dueling Columnist, Stephen Goldstein and Kingsley Guy sit in for Nicole today! Listen Live Podcast To download the podcast, right-click "Listen" and select "Save As" from the menu. |
| Listen to the Dueling Columnists every Friday morning at 10:40 a.m. on Barry Epstein Live, on WBZT , 1230 AM or on the internet at www.wbzt.com and click on listen live. The show also repeats at noon on Saturdays. |
News
"The Dueling Columnists"
From The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 6, 2008
Goldstein v. Guy - on Charlie Crist's New "Cover Florida" Health-Care Plan
It Ain't What It's Cracked Up to Be! - Stephen L. Goldstein
Caveat emptor, Floridians! Once again, the master of public flourish and photo-ops, Charlie Crist, gets an A for effort. But time will tell how consumers grade him once they discover how little his much-touted, new health-care plan, 'Cover Florida,' actually covers. He calls it the 'crown jewel' of his health-care reform efforts. But buyers better read the fine print before they sign on the dotted line. You get what you pay for: 'Cover Florida' is a zircon, not a diamond.
The slogans describing the plan are straight out of the afraid-to-look-anything-like-socialism playbook or the Legislature wouldn't have passed it. It's advertised as 'market-based approach' that doesn't cost taxpayers a dime, and involves 'partnering with private insurance companies.'
But the devil's in those phrases. "Market-based" means that it's set up so insurance companies can make a profit. So, consumers better understand that policies under 'Cover Florida' are 'stripped down,' 'bare-bones'; in Crist's own words, it's not the Cadillac of health plans.' The only way to make them affordable is to allow insurers to exclude the 50+ services currently mandated in standard policies offered in the state.
So, when a screening that's covered under the bare-bones policy reveals a patient's need for a costly one that isn't, even one that may be life-saving, Floridians may conclude that 'stripped down' really means 'fleeced.' Also, ironically, under 'Cover Florida,' insurers could choose not to cover treatment for autism, just mandated in standard policies under a new law signed by the governor--in another recent, public flourish and photo-op.
Everyone admits that no one would have designed the patchwork health-care system we have. So, a 'bare-bones' solution for the uninsured may make matters worse, not better. 'Cover Florida' is like treating a hemorrhage with a band-aid. Instead, Floridians deserve the Cadillac of health plans: cradle to grave, universal coverage under a statewide system administered by a nonprofit agency, for which everyone pays. It should take corporate profiteering out of the equation and re-establish the primacy of the relationship between patient and doctor. Call it 'Floridians "Completely Covered" and give the guv a meaningful photo-op!
It's as Good as It Can Get--at Least in Florida! - Kingsley Guy
Health care coverage costs a fortune in Florida, and one of the reasons is that the Legislature has gotten into the business of practicing medicine. Health insurance companies have to deal with more than 50 legislative mandates in setting rates, which drives up costs.
These mandates, for such things as acupuncture and certain screenings, come at the behest of health care providers and their lobbyists. While the procedures may have merit and not cost much individually, together they make insurance unaffordable for millions.
Gov. Charlie Crist this year pushed an idea to permit the sale of health care policies stripped of many of the mandates. The Legislature passed the plan by a unanimous vote, and policies should be available to Floridians next year for as little as $150 a month.
Radical egalitarians decry the legislation as unfair to those without sufficient means to pay for top shelf coverage. But what would they prefer, a two-tiered system, or no coverage at all for 3.8 million Floridians who currently don1t have health insurance? Besides, they should take note that two-tiered systems are the norm even in the socialist universe.
Government funded Medicare covers elderly Americans, but private 'medigap' policies are available to those who can afford to enhance their Medicare coverage.
Great Britain has national health insurance, but it also has long waiting lines for procedures that are considered commonplace in the United States. As a result, a thriving private insurance market has developed across the pond for those who can pay the freight.
Propagandist Michael Moore praises Cuba's universal health care system in his film Sicko. But a person would have to be delusional to actually believe the Castro brothers and the rest of the Communist Party elite receive the same quality of medical care as a comrade on a commune.
It's great to drive a luxury car, but a Honda Civic can also get a person from here to there. Florida's new medical insurance plan may not have all the bells and whistles of a Mercedes Benz, but it could provide millions of Floridians with the medical coverage they need.
"The Dueling Columnists"
From The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 6, 2008
Goldstein v. Guy - on Charlie Crist's New "Cover Florida" Health-Care Plan
It Ain't What It's Cracked Up to Be! - Stephen L. Goldstein
Caveat emptor, Floridians! Once again, the master of public flourish and photo-ops, Charlie Crist, gets an A for effort. But time will tell how consumers grade him once they discover how little his much-touted, new health-care plan, 'Cover Florida,' actually covers. He calls it the 'crown jewel' of his health-care reform efforts. But buyers better read the fine print before they sign on the dotted line. You get what you pay for: 'Cover Florida' is a zircon, not a diamond.
The slogans describing the plan are straight out of the afraid-to-look-anything-like-socialism playbook or the Legislature wouldn't have passed it. It's advertised as 'market-based approach' that doesn't cost taxpayers a dime, and involves 'partnering with private insurance companies.'
But the devil's in those phrases. "Market-based" means that it's set up so insurance companies can make a profit. So, consumers better understand that policies under 'Cover Florida' are 'stripped down,' 'bare-bones'; in Crist's own words, it's not the Cadillac of health plans.' The only way to make them affordable is to allow insurers to exclude the 50+ services currently mandated in standard policies offered in the state.
So, when a screening that's covered under the bare-bones policy reveals a patient's need for a costly one that isn't, even one that may be life-saving, Floridians may conclude that 'stripped down' really means 'fleeced.' Also, ironically, under 'Cover Florida,' insurers could choose not to cover treatment for autism, just mandated in standard policies under a new law signed by the governor--in another recent, public flourish and photo-op.
Everyone admits that no one would have designed the patchwork health-care system we have. So, a 'bare-bones' solution for the uninsured may make matters worse, not better. 'Cover Florida' is like treating a hemorrhage with a band-aid. Instead, Floridians deserve the Cadillac of health plans: cradle to grave, universal coverage under a statewide system administered by a nonprofit agency, for which everyone pays. It should take corporate profiteering out of the equation and re-establish the primacy of the relationship between patient and doctor. Call it 'Floridians "Completely Covered" and give the guv a meaningful photo-op!
It's as Good as It Can Get--at Least in Florida! - Kingsley Guy
Health care coverage costs a fortune in Florida, and one of the reasons is that the Legislature has gotten into the business of practicing medicine. Health insurance companies have to deal with more than 50 legislative mandates in setting rates, which drives up costs.
These mandates, for such things as acupuncture and certain screenings, come at the behest of health care providers and their lobbyists. While the procedures may have merit and not cost much individually, together they make insurance unaffordable for millions.
Gov. Charlie Crist this year pushed an idea to permit the sale of health care policies stripped of many of the mandates. The Legislature passed the plan by a unanimous vote, and policies should be available to Floridians next year for as little as $150 a month.
Radical egalitarians decry the legislation as unfair to those without sufficient means to pay for top shelf coverage. But what would they prefer, a two-tiered system, or no coverage at all for 3.8 million Floridians who currently don1t have health insurance? Besides, they should take note that two-tiered systems are the norm even in the socialist universe.
Government funded Medicare covers elderly Americans, but private 'medigap' policies are available to those who can afford to enhance their Medicare coverage.
Great Britain has national health insurance, but it also has long waiting lines for procedures that are considered commonplace in the United States. As a result, a thriving private insurance market has developed across the pond for those who can pay the freight.
Propagandist Michael Moore praises Cuba's universal health care system in his film Sicko. But a person would have to be delusional to actually believe the Castro brothers and the rest of the Communist Party elite receive the same quality of medical care as a comrade on a commune.
It's great to drive a luxury car, but a Honda Civic can also get a person from here to there. Florida's new medical insurance plan may not have all the bells and whistles of a Mercedes Benz, but it could provide millions of Floridians with the medical coverage they need.