Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 12, 2013

16

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, January 12, 2013 

HAIL Hamilton My Turn

STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE

Mountain 
Views

News

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

CITY EDITOR

Dean Lee 

EAST VALLEY EDITOR

Joan Schmidt

BUSINESS EDITOR

LaQuetta Shamblee

SENIOR COMMUNITY 
EDITOR

Pat Birdsall

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

CONTRIBUTORS

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Ron Carter

Rev. James Snyder

Bobby Eldridge

Mary Carney

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Wellborn

Dr. John Talevich

Ben Show

Sean Kayden

Jasmine Kelsey Williams


PPACA: A Big Step in 
the Right Direction


JURY DUTY: It is Not 

Inappropriately Named

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), 
commonly called Obamacare, is signed into law by President 
Barak Obama on March 23, 2010. It represents the most 
significant regulatory overhaul of the U.S. health care system 
since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. 

PPACA is aimed primarily at decreasing the number of uninsured Americans and 
reducing the overall costs of healthcare. It provides a number of mechanisms--
including mandates, subsidies, and tax credits--to employers and individuals in 
order to increase the coverage rate. Additional reforms are aimed at improving 
healthcare outcomes and streamlining the delivery of health care. PPACA requires 
insurance companies to cover all applicants and offer the same rates regardless of 
pre-existing conditions or gender

On June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of most of 
PPACA, and a report lat July by the Congressional Budget Office projected that 
the PPACA will significantly lower both future deficits and Medicare spending. 

This said, now might be a good time to compare the proposed U.S. reforms to what 
is generally considered the standard among developed nations around the world--
namely, universal single-payer health care--and answer the question: What are the 
characteristics of a good and fair health care system?

As far back as 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a 
groundbreaking report, with data on the health care systems of 191 member 
countries. In its analysis, WHO developed five primary goals for what a good 
health care system should accomplish: 

1) overall good health (e.g., low infant mortality rate and high disability- 
adjusted life expectancy); 
2) a fair distribution of good health (e.g., low infant mortality rate and long 
life expectancy evenly distributed across populations groups); 
3) a high level of overall responsiveness;
4) a fair distribution of responsiveness across population groups; and 
5) a fair of financing healthcare (whether the burden of health costs is fairly 
distributed, based on ability to pay, so that everyone is equally protected 
from the financial risks of illness).


Here are some sobering facts that stand out comparing the current U.S. health care 
system with the health care systems of other developed counties around the world:

1) COST: The United States has the by far the most expensive health care system 
in the world, based on health expenditures per person, and on total expenditures 
as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). For example the U.S. health 
care system is nearly twice as expensive as its next door neighbor Canada. 
2) ACCESS to health care: The U.S. is the only country in the developed world, 
except South Africa, that does not provide health care for all its citizens. Instead, 
we have a confusing hodgepodge of private insurance coverage based primarily 
on employment, along with public insurance coverage for the elderly (Medicare), 
the military, the military, veterans, and for the poor and disabled (Medicaid), that 
until the PPACA left an estimated 45 million Americans uninsured. 
3) HEALTH AND WELL-BEING: There are many indicators of the overall health 
status and well-being of a country’s population, but among the most commonly 
used measures are infant mortality rates, and life expectancy, particularly 
disability-adjusted life expectancy (e.g., the number of healthy years that can be 
expected on average in a given population). The U.S. currently ranks 27th in infant 
mortality and 38th in life expectancy. 
4) RESPONSIVENESS: The U.S. is still the first among the 191 WHO member 
countries in the category of responsiveness, the extent to which caregivers are 
responsive to client/patient expectations with regard to non-health areas such 
as being treated with dignity and respect. However, this figure almost certainly 
covers over the existence of extreme disparities in responsiveness among different 
populations. 
5) FAIRNESS IN FINANCING: This measures the degree to which financial 
contributions to health care systems are distributed fairly across the population. 
While such countries as Luxembourg, Denmark and Germany have health care 
systems are very fair in financial contributions, other countries such as the U.S. 
and Italy have very unfair systems of health care financing.


Despite the efforts of insurance companies and managed care providers to limit 
the range of political choices in health care reforms, there appears to be growing 
broad-based support among Americans for the PPACA, which it is hoped will help 
resolve, or at least diminish, some of the more serious problems of cost, access and 
fairness. Although the PPACA is not a universal single-payer health care system, it 
is a big step in the right direction.

 Earlier today, while I sat idly meeting my obligatory jury 
duty obligation, my wife and her nephews visited the Orange 
County Discovery Science Center. They had a terrific time. 
According to our nephew Jake, “It was awesome. There was 
an Indiana Jones Exhibit that made use of a Touchpad that showed certain 
clips of the movie to display hidden clues. Then using those clues you solved 
a puzzle to unleash your inner archeologist. Cool! There were four other neat 
exhibits involving water, air, fog, and a bowling ball.” He beautifully described 
the bowing ball exhibit as involving a pulley which compresses air in another 
plastic tube which contains a tennis ball that eventually rockets to the sky. 

 Alas, this is not what my day was like. It began at the crack of dawn as I 
prepared to arrive at the Downtown Los Angeles Courthouse at the required 
time of 7:45 a.m for Jury Duty. My heart condition, combined with my diabetes 
require that I take diuretic pills in the morning and the combination of these 
medications and maladies were causing me some concern as I need to urinate 
very frequently. Would I be forced to tell the judge that I could not sit on a jury 
because my frequent need to urinate would be too disruptive? I hated the idea 
of exposing myself as some kind of ineffectual invalid. I’m not going to tell 
them. I will tough it out. Strangely enough I actually wanted to serve on a jury. 

 With great difficulty I found the Jurors assigned parking lot, the entrance 
to which is located in the basement of the Disney Concert Hall. Unfortunately, 
it was not lit well and I was bewildered as to what direction to proceed. In 
the distance I observed a person with a flag who directed me toward a distant 
person who also carried a flag. This went on for a total of about eight highly 
spaced flag carriers who directed me four levels below the ground where I 
finally found an open space. Now I was worried that I would never find my car 
again but, ignoring this fear, I found an elevator and ended up at ground level. 
Okay, I admit it, at my age I do not walk up hills very rapidly. Now here I was 
walking up hills and being passed on all sides by pedestrians. Breathlessly, I 
walked up more hills, crossed the street and saw an entrance. I approached 
the entrance and was informed that this entrance was not available for jurors 
and was directed back around the block. Soon I saw another entrance which 
I approached and was told this was not for jurors. I walked another couple 
of long blocks and came to a huge line. I was told that this line was not for 
jurors and was directed to the front door. I walked up to the front door and 
showed the guard my jurors summons and was told that jurors had to wait in 
the long line which stretched back another block. At this point I was exhausted 
and really could not face walking to the back of the line. I was dressed in my 
customary coat and tie and was carrying a brief case. The guard asked if I was 
an attorney. I said yes and he said “Go right in.”

 I next walked the long two block hall back in the direction from which I 
had come. I took an escalator and arrived at the jury room and presented my 
summons. I sat in the room with a few hundred other people and eventually 
was sent with about 25 other people other people to a Courtroom two flights 
up. Eventually, after an hour and a half someone came out and started talking 
to crowd. She said something like, “Oh, I didn’t know you were here. We don’t 
really need you. Go back to where you were.” Honest, that’s what happened. 
We went back to the Juror Assembly Room and sat without direction until noon 
at which time we were told to go to lunch and come back at 1:30. We came back 
and sat around without any direction or presentation and were told to leave at 
about 4:00 p.m. We received our green proof of attendance cards and were told 
to go home.

 What a colossal waste of time! I contrast my wasted day with the entertaining 
day my wife and nephews experienced at the Discovery Center. Every 
opportunity to educate our woefully uninformed and uneducated population 
should be utilized. Instead of worrying about our own fears and problems 
we might become better able to adapt to the conditions of our changing 
environment and changing economy. Who knows? Exciting learning could 
occur not only at the Discovery Center; it could become part of our daily lives. 

Mountain Views News 
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OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

SO THIS IS WHAT NEW LOOKS LIKE

It was just before 
New Year's and the 
Gracious Mistress 
of the Parsonage 
and I were relaxing 
after a busy week 
of toil and labor. Not paying much attention 
to my surroundings, I had immersed 
myself in a favorite book.

As far as I am concerned, nothing compares 
to a favorite book when you are 
trying to relax and unwind. I turned 
the page and happened to notice on the 
other side of the room my wife was all a 
twitchy. I have seen this behavior before 
and I knew she was anxious to say something. 
I pretended not to notice.

Finally, it was as if she exploded. "I can't 
wait for the New Year. Aren't you excited?" 
I answered in the affirmative to try 
to keep the conversation as minimal as 
possible.

"No, I mean aren't you really excited 
about the New Year?"

I knew if I was going to get back to my 
book I would have to let her say, what 
was on her mind. According to her, the 
approaching New Year was going to 
be spectacular. Everything old, she explained 
to me, would be new again.

We have been in this New Year for a couple 
of weeks now and, I will not contradict 
my wife, at least aloud, but this New 
Year looks suspiciously like the Old Year.

I am not quite sure what she thought 
would be different this year, but to me 
it is just the old year run through again. 
And, that is good with me. I am not one 
of these persons that needs the latest 
flash in the pan. I quite prefer the tried 
and true.

It was about two weeks after the New 
Year and my wife said, "I'll be back in an 
hour or two, I'm going shopping."

It did not dawn on me at the time but 
about 10 minutes later, it did. The reason 
my wife was so excited about the New 
Year was that she was going to go out 
and buy some new clothes.

After all, according to her calculations, 
the New Year deserves new clothing.

I smiled as I thought about her going to 
the store trying on dresses, seeking one 
that would fit her both in size and in 
fancy. As for me, I am quite comfortable 
in my old clothes. They fit me just fine, 
thank you.

Women have to look fine all the time. 
Men, on the other hand are not that particular 
about what they wear. I can wear 
the same shirt for days on end and feel 
just as comfortable as the first day I put 
it on.

My clothing does not make me feel any 
younger. I go along with the saying that 
says you are only as old as you feel. Of 
course, I do have some of those Methuselah 
moments.

Everything old was once new and if 
new last very long it ends up being old. 
Therefore, whatever is old was once new 
and whatever is new will one day be old. 
This is where most people make their 
mistake. They fail to see the relationship 
between old and new.

For example, as much as our culture pretends 
to be youth oriented, it does everything 
to get old while looking young. 
I often have this conversation with my 
wife. I am not old, I am just getting older 
and my plans are to get older and older 
and older.

The great object in life is to get as old as 
you possibly can while looking and feeling 
new. Nothing to me is sillier than a 
40 year old trying to act 20. The mind 
may say 20, but the body really knows 
it is 40.

If people would put the money they 
spend to look young in a 401(k) their 
golden years would truly be golden. 
How much money is spent each year on 
plastic surgery? What I want to know is, 
who in the world do they think they are 
fooling? Their mirror?

Right after the New Year's celebration, 
I got up one morning feeling terrific. 
There was a bounce in my step, a giggle 
on my tongue; I was feeling like I was 20 
something. I had not felt this good since 
I cannot remember how long. Then it 
happened.

No matter how good you might feel 
some day, there is always something or 
someone who can undermine that and 
put you in your proper place.

My mistake was going into the bathroom. 
There in the bathroom for all the 
world to see, especially me is this ghastly 
object called a mirror. When I looked 
into the mirror, I was shocked to see I 
was not alone. I thought I had come 
into the bathroom by myself but there 
in the mirror was this old guy I hardly 
recognized.

My first reaction was to ask him to leave 
the bathroom and then I noticed something. 
That person in the mirror was me! 
All of those exhilarating feelings dissipated 
as reality grabbed hold of my soul 
and soundly shook me.

In my Bible reading that morning, I read 
what the apostle Paul said. "And be renewed 
in the spirit of your minds; and 
that she put on the new man, which after 
God is created in righteousness and true 
holiness" (Ephesians 4:23-24 KJV).

Only God, in His wisdom, can create in 
me something that is truly new.

Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God 
Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 34483. He 
lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. 
E-mail jamessnyder2@att.net 


RICH Johnson

AIN’T TECHNOLOGY 
GRAND?

 Remember Charles Holland Duell? Probably not. He was 
a lawyer who was the United States Commissioner of Patents 
from 1898 through 1901. He is famous for allegedly saying 
in 1899 that, “Everything that can be invented has been 
invented.” And for encouraging President McKinley to shut 
down the Patent Office. 

 He probably never said that. But it is fun to think he did. And the truth is, 
plenty of people have made funny comments and predictions about technology 
that ended up being as far from reality as is possible. At the advent of train travel in 
the early nineteenth century, scientists predicted that the human body could not 
sustain traveling for long periods of time at speeds approaching 40 miles per hour. 

 Harry Warner (one of the famous studio executive brothers known as the 
Warner Brothers) said in 1927: “Who in the he (double hockey sticks) wants to 
hear actors talk?”

 An internal Western Union memo from 1876 told employees, “The ‘telephone’ has 
too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication…”

 “Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” French Professor of 
Strategy

Lord Kelvin, a brilliant mathematical physicist and engineer who is credited for 
wonderful discoveries, is also known for several prognostications that did not 
turn out the way he thought. For example:

 “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” 

 “X-rays are a hoax.” 

 “Radio has no future.” 

When it came to computers:

 “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Tom Watson, 
Chairman of IBM (1946)

 “Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons” Popular Mechanics 
prediction made in 1949. 

 “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” Ken Olson, 
President/Chairman of the Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977.

Guess who said this:

 “So we went to Atari and said, “Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built 
with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give 
it to you. We just want to do it… And they said ‘No’. So then we went to Hewlett-
Packard, and they said, “Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college 
yet.” Steve Jobs, Apple Computer founder, on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested 
in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.

Even Bill Gates can be wrong. He once said: “640k ought to be enough (ram) for 
anybody.” 1981.

A last diversion from technology. Gary Cooper said this about Clark Gable:

 “I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.” 
Gary Cooper commenting on his decision to not take the leading role in “Gone With 
the Wind.” 

All I can say is, “oops”. Have a good week friends.

Mountain Views News

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