Universal Healthcare

Universal healthcare is coming to America, it is just a matter of time.
It's a bad idea because of the expense.
HOWEVER, i think Republicans and conservatives need to grab this bull by the horns and figure out how to do it the best way possible.
Why?

Because Republicans care about people.
Because this way we can at least do damage control.
Because the American people want it.


Just a thought

 

You say universal healthcare is a bad idea and then you have the nerve to say Republicans care about people when all you’re saying is you care more about money

 

Ignored.

 

It is a great idea .. one that many on the right have now adopted. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-conservative-case-for-universal-healthcare/

Our present system is broken .. it is a system of extortion and kleptocracy.

It is not that the bloated, expensive, inefficient bureaucracies in other nations are that great. It is about the fact that our system is far worse.
We give middle of the road care - relative to these other Nations - at near double the cost.

In 2017 we spend 3.5 Trillion - roughly the equivalent of the entire Federal Spend. This is insane.

If we were to just adopt the same system as the best of these other nations (some having private alongside public) we could reduce the cost by over 1 Trillion dollars.

 

I think there should be a form of high deductible Medicare available to all and people who cannot prove continuous health insurance coverage must be automatically enrolled and pay 5% income tax that is not subject to income levels.
That plan should have $10k deductible, 80% coverage with $15k out of pocket maximum. It should also be an HMO - visit to specialist must be approved by primary care provider. A doctor visit should be about $50. Annual checkup free. Annual breast cancer and prostate cancer screening + 1 annual trip to a mental professional (hopefully to reduce mass shootings) should be free as well.

I think such plan would be fairly inexpensive for taxpayers, will make doctor visits affordable and people who require treatment should be able to get it. Also, to meet the deductibles government could offer interest free loans that would be paid off in portions via tax returns. This plan also wouldn’t put insurance companies out of business, as it is pretty bad, but it’s definitely better than nothing.

 

Nice little echo chamber you are creating

 

For real savings it cannot be ran through an insurance company.

Also, if the deductible is 10k many people will still not use it until the issue has become a bigger issue.

 

Well, maybe $10k is too much, drop it to $5k.
Government interest free loans that are like student loans, would solve the problem for those who need to borrow. The repayment could be set to 5% of gross adjusted income on your income statement.
Please note, I specifically mentioned doctor visits at set price. Those visits + free annual checkups should capture 90% of the problems early on and the treatment would be less severe and expensive.

 

So basically a catastrophic plan with preventative healthcare?
This would solve many problems with medical bankruptcy that plagues the nation and hospitals and wouldn’t bankrupt the nation.

 

Yep, I think that would be the best middle ground for all - insurances will stay in business, less people will die from stupid preventable conditions and the taxpayer won’t break the bank. I think 5% income tax +5% of income repayment plan if one takes loans to cover the deductible is reasonable for everyone.
If you have insurance it won’t change and you keep your doctor. If you don’t have insurance your doc will be assigned to you and you will have a few free trips for preventive care and the ability to treat major conditions and borrow interest free to cover the extras.

 

And, because you like Medicare?

 

Republicans couldn't even come up with a good non-universal healthcare plan in 10 years so I doubt their ability to come up with a universal healthcare one. If you want suggestions, look at the Swiss and Singapore universal healthcare systems, as these are the most private-run ones.

 

There are no good options for universal health care but we have got to do something before Democrats push all the rich people out of America.

 

I am sure the republicans can come up with another tax cut for the very wealthy, maybe eliminate taxes on capital gains. That should be satisfactory healthcare for the poor, right?

The Republican healthcare plan for the poor is to die.

 

Universal healthcare is cheaper than our system.

 

So many advanced democracies having demonstrably achieved universal healthcare at around half the cost of the US that also consigns the medical expenses of the tens of million left uninsured to the taxpayer may have caused Fake Don to boast that he would also enact universal healthcare.The paradigm that is being repeatedly demonstrated is obvious.

Let's hope that he keeps his word!​

“We’re going to have insurance for everybody!”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2017/01/16/trump-my-healthcare-plan-is-going-to-cover-everybody-n2272035​

 

I'll jut put forward the financial case.
For about 3900 a year a 35 year old could have a Medicare advantage plan. No deductible, 6,000 maximum out of pocket and annoying people calling to tell you it is time for your checkup.
That same 35 year old will pay 5500 a year for a plan with 2 to $4000 deductible. About the same maximum out of pocket.

 

One of Dirty Donalds campaign promises was to not cut Social Security and Medicare yet his proposed budgets have done exactly that.His 2020 proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid if adopted would be the largest cuts since these programs were passed into law.And this years so called COLA for Soc.Sec. recipients of 1.6% would raise the average recipients 2019 average payment from $1461 to a whole whopping $1484 but wait the Part B premium for Medicare is rising from the current $135.50 to $144.30 an increase of $8.80,so S.S.recipient will only see a $14.57 increase in their monthly check,an increase of less than 1%.

 

The rest of the developed world has universal healthcare and they still have rich people. In fact other nations spend less on universal healthcare than our government spends on healthcare.

 

How many of those countries have our population?

 

Japan and Germany have very high populations. We could have our system administered on the state level.

 

Japan 127 million
Germany 83 million
America 327 million

America has almost triple the population of Japan.

 

But we spend more than twice as much, per capita. And this while having a much younger population than other developed countries.

 

What does population have to do with it?

 

Well we need to provide health care for 327 million people without creadting ant more nstional debt and without significant rax increases.

It's a rather large problem. Probably the biggest problem in our history. A much bigger problem than say. Slavery. At least in terms of complexity.
My first step. Eliminating health insurance companies and securing prices that allow hospitals to be lucrative enough to spur investment in them.