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Why ask this question? The US is number one in medical innovations and yet 37th in medical care. Why not simply go to countries that have a good working plan in place and start with a duplicate of that system updating as any special needs by Americans surfaces.
For Medicare, simply remove the cap. Everyone who is entitled to Medicare pays their share regardless of income and earnings.
There is no cap on the Medicare tax. Why is it that SO many people DON'T know that?
The meteoric rise in healthcare costs since the 1980's coincided with the rise of Big Insurance. The whole HMO/PPO system has been an epic failure. They interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. They second-guess your doctor's diagnosis and deny some treatments. Like a parasite, they make profit off of our illnesses while adding little or no value to the care being given. They force your doctor to waste time on stifling paperwork.
Why should some big corporation milk profits out of your illness? It makes no sense. And it makes zero sense for people to depend on employer-provided healthcare. What if you get laid off? And if the Chamber of Commerce had any brains, they would fully support a single payer system to get the healthcare monkey off the backs of US businesses, which would lower their overhead, make them leaner, and more profitable.
Medicare is popular and is a proven success, has the lowest overhead of any healthcare delivery system, and is non-profit. Going to Medicare For All does not eliminate private insurance, because everyone will need to buy (or get subsidies for) private Medi-Gap insurance.
I support the public option -- let people choose to keep their private insurance or switch to Medicare. I have no doubt most will switch because they will see the increased Medicare tax will be less than the premiums they pay now, with better co-pays and no large out of pocket charges.
That ship sailed many decades ago. Now it’s time for sensible, reasonable people to create a practical, affordable Program that covers all, and keeps American businesses competitive.
Translation: Once you've penetrated your rape victim you might as well...ahem..."finish"...before you retreat your member.
I am putting this thread under Politics and Controversies, because healthcare was a major part of the Democratic Debate on Tuesday night, and the healthcare insurance controversy continues to generate a great amount of debate here on City Data, also.
So, forgetting what has already been proposed by various politicians, (1) what kind of medical insurance would you like to see for the U.S. as a whole for those who cannot afford private insurance, and (2) what kind of insurance would you like to see for yourself (and your family if that applies) personally as private insurance, IF that is different from what you would like to see for the country? And also, what is the most you would be willing to pay for that insurance in the form of taxes and/or premiums? (Either a dollar figure or percentage of income.)
(And, please, I do not want this thread to turn this into any kind of debate or be filled with attacks of what people write because there is already enough of that going on on other threads! I am just asking for people to give their own personal ideas about on this issue and to say what would be ideal for them personally.)
P.S. And, no, I am not a data-mining troll or robot!
***No government involvement, free market, buy whatever plan you want no matter where you live and be able to use it no matter where you are in the country, provide the costs of each procedure up front with a list of what the charges are - since they like to send out multiple bills for the same visit, do not force anyone to buy insurance, and let cash payments be part of the competition.***
I want the government completely out of it. Repeal Obamacare, do not replace it with anything that involves the government.
I would like a free market - we did not have that before, despite what some people think. As I mentioned in another thread, we used to have about 1500 different plans to choose from, only a handful of them competed with each other.
I don't want "state plans" that have crazy rules that subject the person to total nonsense when trying to use it. I would like to see competitive plans, by private companies, that you can purchase no matter where you live. And you can use that plan no matter where you are in the U.S. and nothing changes just because you might be in a different state.
The competition drives prices down. No competition means companies can get greedy and jack prices up.
I also like the idea of listing the prices, out in the open, for all to see - makes it very easy to compare plans. No more surprises when getting a bill. You should know, upfront, what it's going to cost to do whatever it is that needs to be done.
Do not force anyone to get health insurance. If one pays in cash, one can negotiate the bills. You can really bring some of those bills down if you pay with cash and negotiate.
If there were 1500 plans before, with competition, there is the possibility that even more plans will become available because of competition.
Poor people already get free healthcare - in the state of CA it's called "MediCal" and they pay nothing. Zero. They already have their "insurance". Poor people in other states have their version, whatever fancy name they've come up with to call it. The idea that we "needed" Obamacare because "poor people can't afford health care" was false. Poor people do, and have had, free health "insurance".
The absolute ONLY thing that Obamacare brought out that was worth a damn was the pre-existing conditions nonsense. If you have a free market with competition, that will happen - it will be one of those points that they bring up as to why you should buy their plan and not the other guy's plan. "We cover pre-existing conditions!" Enough of them do that, they will all end up doing it if they want to stay competitive.
Again, we did NOT have "free market" before Obamacare - yet people still try to claim that "we already tried that". No, we actually haven't.
Anytime the government gets involved (see: student loans) the prices skyrocket. What it does is actually makes everything unaffordable for everyone. If a student aged person can't connect the dots here - your student loan is high, the cost of school is high - when it didn't used to be that high because the schools weren't guaranteed money by the government - I would suggest that they got robbed with their education. How do people miss this, even when it affects them, personally?
Any time the government gets involved, the prices go through the roof, and the problem gets worse.]
Good old Randian's, think society doesn't exist, everyman for himself, and screw everyone else^
Sounds like a great way to go through life #sarcasm
It is a great way to go through life. You take care of yourself, first. If you can't take care of yourself, you can't take care of anyone else. Someone on one of these threads likened it to being on a plane and getting the safety briefing. What does the steward/ess tell you? You put the oxygen mask on you, first, before you try to put it on your children.
This is the land of "do for yourself". Society exists, but I'm not beholden to the rest of society living in comfort. You have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The right to life doesn't mean I have to make sure you stay alive, it means I can't kill you. (General "you"). However, when someone demands that the government force people to pay for other people, they have trampled on the people's right to liberty.
If you care as much as you say that you do, then you feel free to pay for someone's medical care out of your own bank account. Don't force other people - Vol did a great job explaining that - it's theft. It's pure and simple theft to take money from someone by force. That's the very definition of theft: It's the taking of someone's property without that person's consent. I never consented to pay for someone elses health care, but that hasn't stopped people telling me that I have to "hand it over and nobody gets hurt".
"Caring" is not "let's ask the government to do this", caring is you actually going out and providing for the very people you claim to care so much about. ONLY then can you wear that badge and lord it over everyone else. Until you've done that, you're not "caring". You're stealing.
Robin Hood is not a role model. Keep in mind, while he was busy stealing from people, he was also murdering people.
Private insurance has been a miserable failure to bring down costs in healthcare. They have had their chance to do so now we need to try something else which is single-payer. Have all payments funneled through a single payer, whether it is a government or a private payer does not really matter, but it must be publicly regulated just like the public regulates utility companies now.
If the single-payer is Medicare, it is unfunded with tax dollars. It operates like an insurance company and relies on premiums balancing payments. It is only a payment processor but because it makes all payments, and because it is publicly regulated, it can set ceilings on how much it will pay for treatments.
Any provider is free to set their prices to whatever they want, but once the price is set that is what everyone pays regardless of insurance. And each provider publishes their costs. This is the only way to have true market competition to bring down prices. No more secret deals between provider and insurance co.
The plans are all two-tiered, with part-A and part-B, just like Medicare is now. You can get either one, or both, from the single-payer. But if you opt to not get a plan and you need healthcare, you must pay out of your pocket.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,619,501 times
Reputation: 9169
Quote:
Originally Posted by Three Wolves In Snow
It is a great way to go through life. You take care of yourself, first. If you can't take care of yourself, you can't take care of anyone else. Someone on one of these threads likened it to being on a plane and getting the safety briefing. What does the steward/ess tell you? You put the oxygen mask on you, first, before you try to put it on your children.
This is the land of "do for yourself". Society exists, but I'm not beholden to the rest of society living in comfort.
If you care as much as you say that you do, then you feel free to pay for someone's medical care out of your own bank account. Don't force other people - Vol did a great job explaining that - it's theft. It's pure and simple theft to take money from someone by force. That's the very definition of theft: It's the taking of someone's property without that person's consent. I never consented to pay for someone elses health care, but that hasn't stopped people telling me that I have to "hand it over and nobody gets hurt".
"Caring" is not "let's ask the government to do this", caring is you actually going out and providing for the very people you claim to care so much about. ONLY then can you wear that badge and lord it over everyone else. Until you've done that, you're not "caring". You're stealing.
Robin Hood is not a role model. Keep in mind, while he was busy stealing from people, he was also murdering people.
It's not theft, and Canada and the UK definitely have better healthcare than us
Guess a pretty simple and easy health insurance set up...
Pull Government out of regulating health insurances
Have opitions for private insurance either U.S. base or from another country
Also have the option of health savings account or flexible savings account
Then have the option of a Government Healthcare plan that covers 90% of health services and so forth. Rest is put of pocket. Covers 100% of generic pharmaceuticals. Three tier for non generic medications (80%, 85%, 90%). To be eligible have to be a U.S. citizen or pay income taxes. Monthly premium is 10% of monthly pay.
Then a 65% coverage of care for those who need care at any time but have no insurance. Available to all.
Do away with Medicaid.
100% care for those 70 and older who are U.S. Citizens, a dependent of a U.S. citizen, or has a VISA.
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