Seriously, this proposition 15 has kind of got me between a rock and a hard place. We can all agree that cancer is a bitch and it would be great if we could find a cure. But, for Texas to spend $3 billion isn't something I'm sold on.
We kinda get screwed on this really, cause who's gonna vote against money for cancer research? But, if you do vote for it then thanks for approving a $300 million loan! Ugh. And now Lance Armstrong is asking me to vote for this thing. How do you say no to a dude that's only got one ball?
I think that $300 million is a tiny amount of money when it comes to cancer research. I think it's the feds responsibility and private partnerships with government to conduct sound medical research. I just find it difficult to get behind Texas spending $300 million a year up to $3 billion on cancer research unless: Texas money finds a cure and then makes a billion trillion zillion dollars selling it to the rest of the world. OR we only let Texans get cured of cancer and the rest of the world can go fuck themselves. Either way....it's where I'm settling in.
it's fucking cancer. spend whatever it costs.
and why the feds responsibility and not the state's? that's arbitrary.
From the National Institute of Cancer:
The financial costs of cancer treatment are a burden to people diagnosed with cancer, their families, and society as a whole. Cancer treatment accounted for an estimated $72.1 billion in 2004. This is just under 5 percent of total U.S. spending for medical treatment. Between 1995 and 2004, the overall costs of treating cancer increased by 75 percent. In the near future it is expected that cancer costs may increase at a faster rate than overall medical expenditures. As the population ages, the absolute number of people treated for cancer will increase faster than the overall population, and cancer cases will increase relative to other disease categories-even if cancer incidence rates remain constant or decrease somewhat. Costs also are likely to increase at the individual level as new, more advanced, and more expensive treatments are adopted as standards of care.
RSS
And don't forget the interest on the loan or the fact that we don't know whether we'll have sufficient federal funds for CHIP, or that we are at the bottom of spending per capita on health needs. Oh, and the fact that experts say cancer research is not underfunded - just funded inefficiently.