What privacy?

        In this day and age, many Americans are not aware that the government monitors majority of our technological activities on a day to day basis. You might be wondering “Who is in charge of interfering with our privacy?” The NSA (National Security Agency) is an intelligence organization of the U.S.  Government; they are responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign intelligence. The National Security Agency is in charge with the protection of the U.S. government communications and information systems against penetration and networking warfare.

Changed the way they used technology
Pew Research Center 2014-2015

     
       According to USA TODAY investigations, this secret program was enacted way before the 9/11 terrorist attack happened. The government monitored not just millions, but instead billions of Americans’ phone calls. The scary thing about this is that this program was being used when George H.W. Bush was still in office way before President Bush signed the Patriot Act on September 14, 2001. The Patriot Act states that the President has authority to use all necessary and appropriate force against terrorism. On the other hand, a majority of Americans say that it is okay, since the government is doing their job to try to protect our country. The remaining said it is not okay; they are digging into our privacy without any sort of consent.
       
        Ever since Americans started to become aware of the NSA and their sneaky activities, many citizens changed their behaviour due to fear of being reported or put under suspicion. According to the Pew Research Center in a survey conducted between 2014 and 2015, citizens changed their own behaviours on several different devices such as; e-mails, search engines, social media, cellular devices, mobile applications, text messaging and even landlines almost immediately. The fact that this spy program went on for decades has caused a lot of citizens to stop trusting our government and alter our own behaviour.

From my point of view, I feel that it is wrong of the NSA to go against the Fourth Amendment in the U.S. Bill of Rights which states; “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” The enacting of the Patriot Act can be seen as a weakening of the Bill of Rights. If the Fourth Amendment can be bypassed by an Act, then what could this cause for our other Constitutional rights? Let’s face it, our government spies on us. Without suspicion. Without warrants. Without probable cause. Without restraint. This would qualify as "unreasonable" in our old constitutional world (1789), wouldn't you agree? The government should stick to spying on American citizens through proper means, via a warrant, only if there is concrete evidence that a U.S. citizen could likely be under suspicion of appropriate crimes.

Commentary on colleague’s Blog #5

       On Wednesday April 1st, 2015 Guangqing Zhang wrote a blog titled “The Government should make a better Healthcare System.” In this blog her overall argument was that the government should reform the health-care system in order to become more efficient and improve quality for all US citizens. Guangqing then suggests different ways to make the healthcare system better. She first states that the government should offer more walk-in places for low income people because patients are usually told to wait multiple days with or without insurance until the doctors can start their procedures and examinations.

      Guangqing also brings up a good point, even with health insurance the amount of time it takes to pay off a medical bill can possibly take years to pay off. Have you ever gone to the emergency room? The bill is not cheap. This leads to another question “Why can’t the government reduce the cost even after insurance?” This makes a lot of sense; we are paying high premiums every month for health insurance. Why can’t those fees be discounted for insured citizens?  She believes that citizens should be able to have a say whether or not they want to be insured or not because there are plenty of people in America that live healthy lives and don’t necessary want insurance.

     Towards the end of her blog she then refers to The Washington post article titled “How to build a better healthcare system,” which basically says that healthcare practitioners can work though payment incentives. Practitioners can be rewarded by providing the best quality care possible for their patients, rather than cash in on the number of excessive tests and procedures they can set up. This can lead to a healthcare vision that can provide exceptional care for patients, reward practitioners for exceptional work, but also cost less with fewer unnecessary procedures.

      Overall, I agree with her reasoning for a more efficient and better quality healthcare system. Citizens have to pay a lot in general in order to live the American dream. We have to pay taxes, social security, transportation, living cost and so much more. It would be nice to have health insurance discounted, because we should not have to pay more for our OWN health.

Obamacare a step in the right direction

     We live in a country in which the majority of its population does not have any type of health insurance. As for those citizens who still don’t have coverage, they are highly recommended to go ahead and apply for Obamacare. Why not give it a shot? It’s better to be safe than sorry, and healthcare coverage always pays off in the long run.

     Obamacare lets its applicants keep a specific doctor of their choice. If you happen to like the current plan you are under, no one will take it away or change it. However, Obamacare lets you keep your insurance coverage. Obamacare is not a government takeover of health care. The reform legislation builds on our existing private health insurance system to fulfill citizens who had no access to affordable healthcare before the legislation.  This program is the largest health care tax cut in history for middle class families, again to help make insurance much more affordable and obtainable for millions of families living in the United States.

     Quality of care improvements under Obamacare has its benefits. Patient care under Medicare will improve as pilot programs work to help fix deficiencies. Doctors and hospitals are encouraged to work through payment incentives and are rewarded with bonus through quality, not quantity. This is also fixing the physician shortage from help by the PPACA. They include numerous policies to train more primary care physicians, increase medical supplies, and improve medical equipment.

     Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to tax citizens and spend money on welfare. This specific tax, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (PPACA) promotes the general welfare because it makes healthcare more available and affordable. In regards to where these savings are coming from, the reduction of out of pocket costs and lower taxes for Medicare and Medicaid will add up and reduce costs. Obamacare has its ways of preventing medical bankruptcy by limiting how much any family buying insurance in the exchange can be expected to pay out of pocket. This is done by not allowing you to exceed a certain percentage of your annual income in health insurance premiums. Providers will be willing to give time to help pay off bills, and even give discounts.

     Overall, I believe that we should definitely consider Obamacare a step in the right direction. The US is trying to fix what is broken and build on what works, slowly but surely. Citizens need to start thinking about what benefits them in the future.