Amongst all the news of today...there is an interesting bit from Germany which relates to the structure of the health care package that they run there.
Several thousand doctors at Germany state-run city or county hospitals....started a simple one-day strike. The hope is a payraise will come out of this.
Currently, there are around 55,000 doctors who fall into this category and could be participating in some fashion.
Their request? They basically want a five percent pay increase....and more compensation for being on call.
Now, there are several ways of viewing this. Currently...German doctors are among the top state-run medical doctors on the wage scale. Note, I didn't mention the private physician wage scale because those guys make a fair amount more than the state-run hospital doctors.
Another side of this coin is the nurse situation....and they are just as bitter about their compensation.
Then you have the episode of 2005, where 5,000 doctors eventually left the country that year....for various other countries. By the time that the authorities figured out the actual number and got real serious about a pay raise.....the damage had been done.
The key to Germany's entire health care package....is tough control over wages. Once you expand that wage....you start to mess with the percentage rate that you take from folks....and they get all upset about that.
At this point in our game....you just might want to start paying attention to the mess in other countries and how they adjust or fix their problems.
Monday, 22 March 2010
The Next Round
After all of the ups and downs of yesterday with the heath care bill and its passage....there is a little story which really hasn't gone too far with any of the networks.
Based on the way we have the bill business set up in America....because of differences between the House and Senate version...there is this movement of the bill back to the Senate and the eventual passage there.
People don't worry much about this because Harry Reid has gone to the new "51 is enough" scheme and it could the scheme to make this work.
However, there is this little extra issue....dealing with the Parliamentarian. The Parliamentarian was never mentioned in high school civics or even college civics. He basically decides what's legal and what's not. He's not a Republican or a Democrat....he's more a college professor and keeps the laws as clean as possible.
In this case....the Republicans are of the idea that they might be able to add something to this bill...and with the current Parliamentarian...he would force the bill back to the House for yet another passage. I'm not of the mind that this would be possible with only only forty-one Republicans....but there's always this weird chance that something might happen.
Some people think that Reid has another trick left to play....in bringing the VP back to the Senate and have him out rule the Parliamentarian. If this were to happen, it might be an unusual event that no Parliamentarian has seen in a hundred years.
So as we continue toward this conclusion....you have to wonder if there is ever an end to the mess.
Based on the way we have the bill business set up in America....because of differences between the House and Senate version...there is this movement of the bill back to the Senate and the eventual passage there.
People don't worry much about this because Harry Reid has gone to the new "51 is enough" scheme and it could the scheme to make this work.
However, there is this little extra issue....dealing with the Parliamentarian. The Parliamentarian was never mentioned in high school civics or even college civics. He basically decides what's legal and what's not. He's not a Republican or a Democrat....he's more a college professor and keeps the laws as clean as possible.
In this case....the Republicans are of the idea that they might be able to add something to this bill...and with the current Parliamentarian...he would force the bill back to the House for yet another passage. I'm not of the mind that this would be possible with only only forty-one Republicans....but there's always this weird chance that something might happen.
Some people think that Reid has another trick left to play....in bringing the VP back to the Senate and have him out rule the Parliamentarian. If this were to happen, it might be an unusual event that no Parliamentarian has seen in a hundred years.
So as we continue toward this conclusion....you have to wonder if there is ever an end to the mess.
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