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You take out the middle man (the insurance company), streamline/reform everything, computerize medical records and hospitals become "trusts" and are primarily financed by government grants, not by their own endless billing cycles. That means far fewer admin staff, less overhead and no profit margin to protect.
So, all the hospitals were government owned and operated?
In the United States, most (not all) hospitals and clinics are privately owned and operated.
What would be your suggestion as to these private hospitals? Close them? Have the government take them over?
Open up something like that to everyone, with reform as BCreas suggested.. and it the pool of people spreads out.. dispersing the cost among an entire population.
Ah - so you WOULD support legislation that would allow insurance companies to sell their products across state lines - as it would increase the pool of potential insureds - lowering the costs.
But, another poster said that in their case, the premium was LESS THAN 10% of their income - is 10% too high?
It's not 10% for everyone. Americans pay far more on healthcare than any other nation on earth. Personally, I see a lot wrong with that picture.
People seem to be under the impression that every other country on earth is taxed to death because of universal healthcare. This simply isn't true. The standard of living in UHC countries is just the same as the US in most cases.
Some municipal employees in Colorado contribute to PERA, the Public Employees Retirement Fund, instead of SS, and in Illinois (when I lived there), some contributed to IMRF, the Illiniois Municipal Retirement Fund instead of SS. I don't know how that all jibes with SS and medicare.
That's great and that is a part of their municipal employment.. not available for a majority of citizens. AND are they not then required to contribute to one or the other.. in otherwords, they can't opt out of SS unless they put money into the Retirement Fund? So at the end of the day it's almost equivelent or the same thing.
If you're talking about getting absolutely FREE care without any type of copays, then yes.
However , that's not what we're talking about.
IN the UK system, I believe, that there is a segment of the population .. like the poor and elderly, that are not required to pay copays at visits. Everyone else is.
I don't object to $20 copays for Dr. or $10 - 15 copays for prescriptions and slightly more for generics based on a tier. I believe that this would NEED to be implemented in that way, in order for it to work.
It may also need to be higher percentage than currently contributed for medicare/medicaid.. but the difference would be that the person contributing would actually benefit from it. 5% even slightly higher certainly beats over 30% of income for private insurance (refering to an earlier post with a real life example.. which, btw, is not my own).
You're wrong again.
Free??
We certainly do pay co-pays...20%
plus we continue to pay almost $100 a month for Part B of Medicare
Since that 20% could mean many many thousands of a hospital bill, that means needing a supplemental policy...in our case $175 each per month.
I won't even get into the prescription plan because for anybody on expensive meds, that is disastrous.
Our FREE Medicare is eating almost 30% of our income.(and thankfully, we have income other than Social Security. I don't know ho those on SS alone can possibly manage.
Ah - so you WOULD support legislation that would allow insurance companies to sell their products across state lines - as it would increase the pool of potential insureds - lowering the costs.
GD.. if that's what is needed right now to change something yes.
But i am opposed to a blood sucking profit mongering middle man standing
between me and my healthcare. ..PERIOD.
My hope is that private insurance as the main access to healthcare fades away.. and they become more supplemental than anything else...similar to that of the UK.
You're wrong again.
Free??
We certainly do pay co-pays...20%
plus we continue to pay almost $100 a month for Part B of Medicare
Since that 20% could mean many many thousands of a hospital bill, that means needing a supplemental policy...in our case $175 each per month.
I won't even get into the prescription plan because for anybody on expensive meds, that is disastrous.
Our FREE Medicare is eating almost 30% of our income.(and thankfully, we have income other than Social Security. I don't know ho those on SS alone can possibly manage.
I was mistaken on including medicare in that statement.. Medicaid however, is s different story. I also acknowledged that contribution would have to be higher than currently, but that certainly beats paying 30% of your income for a third party so that you can have access to healthcare.
AND.. in the UK model, seniors are not subject to the copays as well as the poor and I believe college students (I could be mistaken on that last part).
GD.. we've already established onanother thread that you opted out for religious reasons and on religious grounds.
Ah - that is your assumption girlie. That is the vehicle I took. But, its simply because I did not like, nor want to pay into, social security. Social security is a scam - a major Ponzi scam. And, its going to run out of money - and they admit it.
Starting in 2014 - they will begin paying out more than they are taking in. So, in addition to everything else - you can expect to see your SS taxes GO UP - they are going to have to.
Add this increase in this tax - add it to your health care tax and ....
Well - hopefully, you get the picture.
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