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Seniors love their Medicare. Citizens of other countries that have single payer healthcare love their system. The only function health insurance companies have is to take money, skim profits, and call the shots for what treatments they will pay for. Do profit sucking insurance companies own Republicans?
Because it's expensive and we're $21 trillion in debt.
Granted I'm no Republican, but that much is obvious to anyone.
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Combined, the nation's top six health insurers reported $6 billion in adjusted profits for the second quarter. That's up more about 29 percent from the same quarter a year ago — far outpacing the overall S&P 500 health care sector's growth of 8.5 percent for the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data.
Republicans abhor anything where there isn't a clear path to private profit. And, clearly, they have no interest in the general welfare of most of the population. The sad thing is that they've been able to gull the public by screaming "socialized medicine!"
I'm not ashamed to say that I don't know the answer to the healthcare problem in this country. I see both sides of the issue and I don't know that there is an easy fix. On one side I have friends in both the UK and Canada where the holy grail of Democrats; the single payer system, live. No one has to declare bankruptcy due to a medical condition, the whole 'pre existing conditions' problem is non existent over there. But on the flip side there are waiting periods for treatments, which can stretch days, weeks and even months. Rich Canadians come to the US for medical treatment as they can get it promptly with no delays. And of course, the taxes are way higher to pay for it.
There is no question that American healthcare offers the most advanced medical treatments in the world. Constantly ground breaking in the quest to heal the human body. Yet one might ask what is the point of all this incredible medicine if 99% of Americans will be unable to afford the care or medications in some instances. The fact remains that if God forbid you or one of your loved ones comes down with certain forms of cancer for example, then there is a good probability that you will end up bankrupt due to the cost...and that's the luck of people who have medical insurance.
As thorny as the problem is, my gut leans towards single payer just because I don't believe that you can really treat healthcare as a business. Medical care is not an 'elastic' product with variable supply and demand. If you or your loved one comes down with pneumonia, you WILL be going to the doctor. You don't have the option to do without, and you really shouldn't be looking for 'alternative' products due to safety/legality reasons. Most Republican solutions revolve around high deductible plans, which distilled down to their truest form, essentially force you to limit how much care you use. And it's WONDERFUL if you are healthy, single, no kids and don't go to the doctor more than once a year. If those do not apply to you, then it becomes a massive burden.
That being said, I realize that single payer presents its own set of issues; long wait times, poorer efficiencies, etc. I would love to hear someone come up with something that works for everyone. Trump found out that this is harder than it looks.
As thorny as the problem is, my gut leans towards single payer just because I don't believe that you can really treat healthcare as a business. Medical care is not an 'elastic' product with variable supply and demand. If you or your loved one comes down with pneumonia, you WILL be going to the doctor. You don't have the option to do without, and you really shouldn't be looking for 'alternative' products due to safety/legality reasons. Most Republican solutions revolve around high deductible plans, which distilled down to their truest form, essentially force you to limit how much care you use. And it's WONDERFUL if you are healthy, single, no kids and don't go to the doctor more than once a year. If those do not apply to you, then it becomes a massive burden.
That being said, I realize that single payer presents its own set of issues; long wait times, poorer efficiencies, etc. I would love to hear someone come up with something that works for everyone. Trump found out that this is harder than it looks.
I see your points and I think you make good, reasonable arguments. But I happen to think anything the government touches becomes plagued with corruption. People get a job for the government and no longer feel obligated to be stewards of taxpayer money. Maybe it's because I am from Illinois, the corruption capital of the US. But when you involved the government in anything, you just get more waste and fraud.
I see your points and I think you make good, reasonable arguments. But I happen to think anything the government touches becomes plagued with corruption. People get a job for the government and no longer feel obligated to be stewards of taxpayer money. Maybe it's because I am from Illinois, the corruption capital of the US. But when you involved the government in anything, you just get more waste and fraud.
Agreed. Which is why I mentioned poorer efficiency when you go single payer. Playing devil's advocate though, one could argue that the introduction of the free market in the form of the insurance companies as the middleman is one of the big reasons why healthcare costs are skyrocketing. When all the big insurance firms are making massive profits yet the costs are going up for the consumers, and revenue going down for independent doctors, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to identify who is benefiting from this system. I guess the question is would the removal of the middleman insurance company outweigh the increased waste that comes with government interference? That is the question.
Its simple, they have been bribed to vote against it. Too much money in our existing system. I pay 1600 a month with a 6k deductible and I'm healthy. Now imagine if that's the norm. Imagine how much of our money that is being diverted to for-profit insurance companies, hmo's and big pharma. Now, with a single payer, it all goes into one fund. No insurance company reps, no referrals needed, no huge billing departments, no huge bureaucratic mess, it could be very streamlined and efficient. The doctors can still make 250k year, all health care providers can still make a nice income, big pharma can still sell drugs, but can't repackage generics and charge Medicare $600 for 2 $5 drugs the patent protection should be shortened and we should let any company import generics. Now imagine a society where health care no longer being profit motivated but care and prevention motivated.
Let's take all that money we are spending on basically catastrophe insurance and put that back into the economy. Lets do some math.
I pay 1600 a month.
1600 x 12 months - $19200 This is correct. almost 20k a year and I'm healthy, god forbid I use it because then I'd have to spend $25000 before insurance pays a dime. THINK ABOUT THIS. it's a racket. Now, think, what if I did not have to spend that much, but only spent say $600 a month with no deductible, this is 12k a year, that's 12k that I can use to buy something, a new car every 2 years a house every 10 years, my kids college, hell even an ivy league college at that rate. Heck, I can start a business or invest in someone else's, renovate my kitchen, or a new bathroom, buy new furniture, that is a lot of money getting siphoned out of the economy going directly to a very few players. Most of our savings from healthcare would go right back into the economy that would directly benefit from a single payers system. There is a massive amount of money going into a very broke system and only a few larger companies are getting it. The healthcare/pharma lobby is HUGE. No, I don't believe for a moment that the system could be worse with a single-payer system. How could it be any worse than it is now? Doctors aren't making crap, Patients are paying through the nose for crappy care and insurance is a bloated, disorganized, expensive bureaucratic mess. I pay my share for in-network cost for dental when having it done, and without fail, every time I go, I get a bill a month later from my dentist for $300 for stuff the insurance company would not pay but should have. No, not a fan of health insurance companies and I hope I live long enough to see us kill them off. But it won't happen, there is too much money in it and they are making sure the GOP line is that it's bad for the country. That is a lie. Our biggest danger from this system is waste and corruption from doctors. but there is an easy fix for this. When they break the rules and cheat the system you take their license, sue them for the balance and put them in jail. I suspect that the problem will not be as prevalent as you think. We also could pay for doctors to go to school and pay them a smaller salary for the first 10 years. This will get the money motivated people out of the system, so they can focus on care.
quotes:
"If you or your loved one comes down with pneumonia, you WILL be going to the doctor."
"That being said, I realize that single payer presents its own set of issues; long wait times, poorer efficiencies, etc."
so...if i have pneumonia i will Have To wait a long time for inefficient care which i Have To pay for with higher taxes.
i would rather pay more to the doctor (when needed), pay less taxes (whether or not), and be examined today.
Seniors love their Medicare. Citizens of other countries that have single payer healthcare love their system. The only function health insurance companies have is to take money, skim profits, and call the shots for what treatments they will pay for. Do profit sucking insurance companies own Republicans?
Those people from other countries that have single payer systems have them because the United States pays for their defense, which is something that Donal Trump is ending. So if you want healthcare improvements here, vote Trump. What is more, they are all going broke, and their socialist ponzi schemes will be ending soon enough. You should probably follow European news a little more closely than just listening to CNN tell you how great it is over there.
"Medicare for all" would bankrupt the system that seniors have paid into and deserve to have.
America was the leader of the health industry, which is why rich Canadians and Europeans would come here for treatment when they got cancer and the like. That is now all going to change.
The simple answer is that it costs too much and is not fair to the people who are paying into the system. My health care dollars are for me and my family, not for bankrolling chronically unemplyed alchoholics, illegal aliens, etc.
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