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The choice is not "socialized" health care versus private sector healthcare.
Since 1935, we've been living under socialism - gradually implemented.
Frankly, you will never see costs GO DOWN if government "gives" us all access to medical care.
When has anything that the government was responsible for, go DOWN in cost?
If you want UNIVERSAL Health care, you need to reduce costs, maximize the number of care givers, and eliminate bureaucracy.
Government workers have great health coverage and much cheaper than what's available in small business. So, right there - Id much rather pay their rates.
Sounds like some sort of tinfoil hat conspiracy to me.
In reality the system we have in place does not work and hard working Americans are unable to provide the most basic human necessity for themselves and their family. National health insurance isn't going to be the end of the world and many people are sitting down at the table to make it a reality.
I agree with you. It's interesting that all the people who have government-sponsored healthcare and retirement aren't complaining about their benefits; it's because they are good. People who are uninsured or underinsured are the ones paying for the ones who are getting government benefits, yet get nothing themselves.
I can't believe that some people are so selfish as to not want EVERYONE to be covered and not worry about losing their homes, their savings, and everything they worked for should a medical catastrophe befall them. So many people lose everything they worked for in one fell swoop should anything major happen in their life, like the loss of their job/career, major illness, etc. and end up homeless and with nothing. I don't see how this is a good thing.
I agree with you. It's interesting that all the people who have government-sponsored healthcare and retirement aren't complaining about their benefits; it's because they are good. People who are uninsured or underinsured are the ones paying for the ones who are getting government benefits, yet get nothing themselves.
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You must not know a lot of these people. Most people who have to deal with the VA or have Medicare with no supplement insurance HATE their insurance/plan and having to deal with it.
Government run healthcare in this country already sucks *ss, and now you want to subject us all to it (despite many people being perfectly happy with their current private insurance)?
I agree wholeheartedly that health care should be more affordable and accessible to all. Cutting out a lot of unneccesarily bloated administrative costs and allowing more free competition across states will achieve this far better than allowing our idiot government who can't do anything without turning it into some bureaucratic nightmare to take control of it.
My husband and I both WERE enlisted, not currently. I know ALL about Tri-Care and their BS, thanks.
That's why I am against socialized health care.
I am sick and tired of some pencil pusher making the decisions about MY health. That should be up to me and my Dr, and not a bunch of bureaucrats.
Oh, as for who pays for our medical care? We do, uninsured out of pocket. We have a family Dr. (he's my cousin, so when I say family, I mean family, lol!) that charges us reasonable rates (not $300/visit for 10 mins of actual Dr. time), and we have another family member that is a dentist for our oral care.
Thank goodness we have been lucky enough not to have serious medical problems, but if we do, we will cross that bridge when we get there.
We choose not to have insurance, since it was costing us more than we were using it. We were paying $300/month for all 3 of us, and it was only taking off $5/script for my 2 scripts, and $50/script for our DD's script. What sense does it make to pay $300/month to save only $60?! Not to mention, our co-pay (for Dr. visits) was $30, and we only went to the Dr. once every 3 months.
Instead of letting the government run healthcare, why not take a page out of the law books, literally. One of my best girl friends husband is a lawyer, and the area he lives in requires a certain number of hours of pro-bono work yearly. Why can't Dr.'s do that was well? One reason why people have such stupid expensive medical bills, is due to the fact they aren't getting preventative care in the beginning (due to cost, time, etc...). If we could ask Dr.'s (part of the AMA req's or something?) to donate a few hours a week (maybe Sat mornings?) to basic care, and prevention, I think that would make a HUGE difference in the long run.
I don't know what your problem is, but private insurance companies are pencil pushers who make decisions about OUR/YOUR health.
And goodie for you that you have a relative who is a doctor/dentist and charges minimal fees. So, now we're all supposed to rely on the "kindness of strangers" in order to get medical/dental care? And we're supposed to rely on doctors/dentists/lawyers to do pro-bono work in order to get professional services rendered? I am not going to go that route, that's for sure.
Finally, you've been "lucky" not to get seriously sick so you haven't "crossed that bridge" yet. What happens when you do? What about all those people who have lived long enough to have crossed that bridge? Undoubtedly, we will all cross that bridge some day as we live and age.
Your post is full of holes and doesn't hold up at all as far as being a "standard" that is applicable for all or even most people.
You must not know a lot of these people. Most people who have to deal with the VA or have Medicare with no supplement insurance HATE their insurance/plan and having to deal with it.
Government run healthcare in this country already sucks *ss, and now you want to subject us all to it (despite many people being perfectly happy with their current private insurance)?
I agree wholeheartedly that health care should be more affordable and accessible to all. Cutting out a lot of unneccesarily bloated administrative costs and allowing more free competition across states will achieve this far better than allowing our idiot government who can't do anything without turning it into some bureaucratic nightmare to take control of it.
I don't want to subject you to anything. I don't want to be subjected to your absurdities either. From what I understand, Medicare/Medicaid is on the verge of bankruptcy, private insurance companies do not have to insure everyone and drop people like a ton of bricks at any time for anything. They don't cover (or won't cover) procedures that are necessary. So, they aren't perfect either.
People complain about bureucrats running programs; bureucratic office workers also run private insurance companies. Seems to me that our healthcare system in this country is broken and needs re-vamping or re-constructing or something. But people like you will never let that happen because you continue the mantra of how good things are now and how horrible things will be if people even WORK on various solutions and put things out on the drawing table. I can't stand people who are status quo on things that aren't working because they live their life in fear and too much paralysis by analysis. There is a problem, Houston. It's not a joke, and it's not a political thing either. We have reached a point in our country where it is not the same as when Country Doc Joe made house calls. Our healthcare system is very fragmented. We might have good healthcare in our country; it would be nice if people could access it without the fear of bankruptcy.
I have to amend my post as I see you're into "privatization". I think that privatization sounds good on paper. If privatization is so good, then why are private insurance companies constantly raising rates and reducing coverage? And what about pre-existing conditions?
I dunno...but when my patients are begging me not to transfer them to the VA hospital (from our private one, bc the bill won't get paid if they stay), I think it says a lot....
When working at the VA hospital, the government workers who knew they weren't gonna be fired sat on their butts expecting the med students to get all the work done for them and patients languished...
When people I know are losing their doctors left and right bc they absolutely refuse to take medicare or medicaid (bc of the extra paperwork and poor reimbursement relative to the regular insurance companies)...
When friends and colleagues from all over the world marvel and envy the resources at my fingertips...
I work in this world every day and I see the 'absurdities' far more often and more clearly than you do. This is not something you want to do.
and you do not think the government would not make thousands of excuses not to pay? Well it takes a min. of 2 years to get approved for disability, and you have to jump through hoops and pray you do not die before you get the coverage. YEA um... no, the government would also come up with thousands of reasons not to pay the bills, or you will get say government approved treatments IE low cost treatments, instead of other treatments that may be more expensive.
That is completely untrue. I have known several people who were approved for disability and it sure did not take 2 years and many hoops to get it. It took the report of two doctors attesting to the disability and they were approved from between 3-6 months. On the other hand, I have known a woman who lost her insurance when the company for which she worked closed down and went bankrupt. At the time she was under treatment for breast cancer. When her insurance ended so did her treatment....and her life. I've known another woman in her 60s who had worked hard all of her life, lost her job and insurance, got sick, had to spend what she had saved for retirement just to survive. I know people WITH insurance who can not get the treatment the doctors say they need because the insurance company refuses to pay. It drives me nuts when people try to use the scare tactic of "the government will keep you from getting health care and you'll have to wait in line, etc. etc." I'm retired and have to tell you that Medicare is just as good if not better than any insurance I ever had. It's been working just fine for us old folks for decades now....and it beats some HMO accountant deciding that because I'm not 20 I don't deserve treatment.
I dunno...but when my patients are begging me not to transfer them to the VA hospital (from our private one, bc the bill won't get paid if they stay), I think it says a lot....
When working at the VA hospital, the government workers who knew they weren't gonna be fired sat on their butts expecting the med students to get all the work done for them and patients languished...
When people I know are losing their doctors left and right bc they absolutely refuse to take medicare or medicaid (bc of the extra paperwork and poor reimbursement relative to the regular insurance companies)...
When friends and colleagues from all over the world marvel and envy the resources at my fingertips...
I work in this world every day and I see the 'absurdities' far more often and more clearly than you do. This is not something you want to do.
That is completely untrue. I have known several people who were approved for disability and it sure did not take 2 years and many hoops to get it. It took the report of two doctors attesting to the disability and they were approved from between 3-6 months. On the other hand, I have known a woman who lost her insurance when the company for which she worked closed down and went bankrupt. At the time she was under treatment for breast cancer. When her insurance ended so did her treatment....and her life. I've known another woman in her 60s who had worked hard all of her life, lost her job and insurance, got sick, had to spend what she had saved for retirement just to survive. I know people WITH insurance who can not get the treatment the doctors say they need because the insurance company refuses to pay. It drives me nuts when people try to use the scare tactic of "the government will keep you from getting health care and you'll have to wait in line, etc. etc." I'm retired and have to tell you that Medicare is just as good if not better than any insurance I ever had. It's been working just fine for us old folks for decades now....and it beats some HMO accountant deciding that because I'm not 20 I don't deserve treatment.
And Medicare is bleeding money, and is fiscally insolvent as it is. Premiums will have to be tripled plus additional taxes raised to offset its cost to make it solvent.
Right now you are the recipient of an extremely subsidized health plan. Of course you like it, you're not paying your fair share for it. The big question becomes when we find put the total cost for the proposed health plan and find out how much it affect every person: is it significantly cheaper and better than the system we have now for the majority of people and not just the ones getting subsidies?
Until we get the financial facts, everything is just heresay skewed by peoples' political leanings.
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