cost analyses
according the the nytimes yesterday, the war in iraq is costing about $200 billion each year. that's $1.2 trillion so far.
to put that number into perspective, the paper asked what could that money pay for if it weren't going to the war, considering the fact that our perspective of "fiscally irresponsible" and "impossible to fund" have changed dramatically since the advent of the tr- prefix to our -illions. here's a short list:
to put that number into perspective, the paper asked what could that money pay for if it weren't going to the war, considering the fact that our perspective of "fiscally irresponsible" and "impossible to fund" have changed dramatically since the advent of the tr- prefix to our -illions. here's a short list:
- treating both heart disease and diabetes - $50 billion/year
- universal preschool - $35 billion/year
- budget of the national cancer institute - $6 billion/year
- new orleans
- darfur
- our own deficit
- aids research
- education - primary, secondary, and higher
- afghanistan
- universal health care
posted by stella at 8:10 AM
3 Comments:
so our friend cid is from madrid proper, now lives here in the states. while in madrid i was sick. i fell ill with a seriously bad cold. oh, said cid, just go to any pharmacy (and believe you me, there's a pharmacy on every freakin' street in madrid, many open 24 hrs). you can get anything you need. just tell the pharmacist what's wrong with you.
don't i need a doctor?
please, cid said, rolling his eyes. por favor, inga. in spain if we need a doctor, we go to the hospital. otherwise, the pharmacy. we don't pay for our health care, remember?
oh, yes. how could i forget those days fraught with frustration, trying to explain how our health care system works here in the states to a bewildered cid.
long story short? i went to the pharmacy. a very kind pharmacist read my sign language and prescribe all sorts of medicine. i have no idea what, but trust me when i say worked like a charm. and i'm not even spanish! yet i can drag my sorry sick bod into a pharmacy and come out like aces.
and then there's the story of the $490 bill sent to collections because, in the midst of an emergency (the old inga-cuts-off-the-top-of-her-finger story), i (gasp!) went to someplace (an emergency clinic!) NOT covered by my plan. of course did i know they weren't? no, b/c insurance had paid for the previous visit (the infamous inga-slices-her-hand-while-washing-stella's-new-bread-knife story) to that clinic. and did anyone let me know my insurance company denied my claim? sure, the collection agency! grr.
y gads. but stella, c'mon, everyone knows that trillion + dollars is doing good in iraq. tsk, tsk. don't you read the news? who needs a solid health care system? sheesh.
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i know! i know! what was i thinking?!? ...
oh wait. i was thinking of the summer spent in england where i came down with a wicked case of the-something-bads. i, forgetting where i was, suffered for days, throwing up and feeling shitty, until the college porter said, "love, ya needa dock-teh." he was right, and i felt bad enough to know it. so he called me a cab and to the clinic i went.
the clinic and two prescriptions (filled at boots!) were free. the cab was not. the ride and my ability to retain my stomach contents were priceless.
here, i'd have been forced to make it on two bottles of pepto-bismol and some tropical tums. i'd have had to sell a kidney to afford those anti-nausea pills back then.
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