GOD’S WORD “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.” Job 19:25
VIEWPOINT
Congress funds rural programs By Anna Johnson Center for Rural Affairs, annaj@cfra.org Last month, Congress passed its spending bill for this year, which funds the federal government through Sept. 30, 2018. We are glad to see that it provides support for rural America. First, Congress provided healthy funding for conservation. Not only did lawmakers refrain from cutting farm bill conservation programs for the first time in several years, they also increased funding for Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) technical assistance, to $874 million from last year’s levels. In addition, Congress rejected proposed cuts to Rural Development programs. The Value-Added Producer Grant Program, which allows farmers and ranchers to diversify their income, was funded at the same level as 2017, at $15 million. The Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP), which provides loan funds and technical assistance to rural entrepreneurs, remains at the funding level provided in the previous farm bill, at $2.8 million, without additional support. The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program received its highest funding level in 30 years, $35 million. We are encouraged to see our lawmakers demonstrate support for publicly funded research in sustainable agriculture. Finally, the Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program, also known as the 2501 Program, received $3 million in funding for 2018, which is in addition to the $10 million in funding provided by the farm bill. This program allows farmers and ranchers, who are new to farm programs, access U.S. Department of Agriculture support. Learn more at cfra.org.
Established in 1973, the Center for Rural Affairs is a private, non-profit organization working to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities through action oriented programs addressing social, economic, and environmental issues.
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018
myflorencetoday.com
PAGE 4A
Just a little trivia Don’t worry about the male mosquitoes, only female mosquitoes will bite you. In the early stage version of “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy’s faithful companion Toto was replaced by a cow named Imogene. Dr. Seuss was challenged to write a book using no more than 50 different words. The result? “Green Eggs and Ham.” Kool-Aid was originally marketed as “Fruit Smack.” In Shakespeare’s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes, the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase “Good night, sleep tight.” If you want your spouse to listen and pay strict attention to every word you say, talk in your sleep. The only difference between a yard sale and a trash pickup is how close to the road the stuff is placed.
Brenda Harrison Editor
Every woman wants a man who is handsome, understanding, economical and a considerate lover, but again, problem is the law allows only one husband. Every man wants a wife who is beautiful, understanding, economical, and a good cook. But, the law allows only one wife. When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: Either the car is new or the wife is. The San Francisco cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments. Reno is farther west than Los Angeles.
Michael Jackson’s 1988 autobiography Moonwalk was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The Procrastinators’ Club of America newsletter is called Last Month’s Newsletter. The Corduroy Appreciation Club celebrated 11-11-11 as The Day That Most Resembles Corduroy. Failed PEZ flavors include coffee, eucalyptus, menthol, and flower. Mark Twain invented a board game called Mark Twain’s Memory Builder: A Game for Acquiring and Retaining All Sorts of Facts and Dates. The 1975 Dictionary of American Slang defines “happy cabbage” as money to be spent “on entertainment or other self-satisfying things.”
Sources: ArcaMax and Mental Floss.
C O M M E N TA RY
If you like waiting, you’ll love single-payer By Sally C. Pipes “Hello, 9-1-1? I think I’m having a heart attack.” “We’ll send an ambulance right away. It’ll be there in, uh, four hours.” That’s the reality for patients captive to the United Kingdom’s government-run healthcare system. And it’s what the progressives who have lined up behind Sen. Bernie Sanders’s campaign to install single-payer stateside want to impose upon their countrymen. Britain’s National Health Service has been brought to its knees by an abnormally bad flu season. The spike in patients with the flu has overwhelmed the NHS’s ability to care for severely ill and injured patients. More than 58,000 people had to wait at least 30 minutes for an ambulance. Nearly 17,000 waited for hours in ambulances at the hospital. Rationed care and lengthy delays are deadly. One woman called an ambulance after experiencing chest pain. When it finally arrived at her home – four hours later – she had already passed away. Other patients have
died waiting in hospital corridors, according to NHS doctors. To make space for patients in immediate need, hospitals canceled all non-urgent operations – totaling about 50,000. These cancellations have forced people who need hip surgeries, knee replacements, and other procedures to linger in pain. Conditions aren’t expected to improve. One million patients will wait more than four hours for emergency care by 2020, according to the British Medical Association. The United Kingdom isn’t the only singlepayer nation where patients suffer. In Canada, patients face a median wait of more than 21 weeks to obtain treatment from specialists after they receive referrals from primary care doctors. Canadians in some provinces wait over 40 weeks. Long waits are the norm in countries with single-payer. Since patients do not face copays or co-insurance at the point of care, they have no incentive to seek out competitively priced doctors, cheaper medicines, or otherwise economize their consumption of care.
The government can only control costs by paying ultra-low reimbursements to providers and limiting access to treatments. Shortages are the result. As single-payer fails patients abroad, progressive lawmakers are advocating for government-run health care here at home. Sixteen Senate Democrats have cosponsored the single-payer bill that Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced in September. More than 60 percent of House Democrats have signed on to a similar bill. State policymakers are just as gung-ho for single-payer. California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom supports a single-payer bill that would cost $400 billion. Massachusetts’ state Senate recently passed a bill to explore the cost of single-payer. Lawmakers in Rhode Island introduced a single-payer bill in January; legislators in New Hampshire recently held hearings on their singlepayer bill as well. American progressives love to hype the “free” care that patients enjoy in the United Kingdom and Canada, but rarely mention the long waits, new taxes, and substandard
treatment inherent to single-payer. Once Americans learn they’ll have to wait hours for an ambulance and months for a routine surgery, “free” health care might not sound so appealing. Sally C. Pipes is President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book, The False Promise of Single-Payer Health Care (Encounter), is available now. Follow her on Twitter @sallypipes.
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