Conservatives. What SHOULD health care in America look like?

Okay. We get it. you HATE and LOATHE Obamacare. We get that. You want it repealed entirely.

So what should health care in America look like? In your opinion?

What should we do with Medicare / Medicaid?

What should we do with poor people who cannot afford life saving operations / care?

What should we do with someone who is unable to care for themselves and in need of long term or life time care? What if they have no family capable or willing to take care of them?

What do we do about pre existing conditions and high risk unaffordable pools?

So please, outline what you think the best way to deal with healthcare in America is, and why. What in your own opinion, SHOULD health care in America look like?

 

I'm not conservative or republican but I can answer the questions:
Healthcare should be as free market as possible with the least possible government intervention. Examples of how this could work are The Surgery Center of Oklahoma and Atlas MD in Wichita Kansas.

 

Let the free market run it.

People will learn that if they want to be treated they will have to financially plan for it.

If they do not posses that basic ability you have to wonder if that's the type of person you actually want in your society since they are not contributing to it's success but rather are a drain on it's resources.

I've no desire to carry someone that is too lazy to help themselves.

 

I was going to reply but @fencer did it for me.

 

So you can afford a $50,000 kidney stone operation? Even if you have good insurance, you're going to have to come up with a couple grand on top of monthly insurance costs. Back injury? Car crash?

I watched may dad burn thru $700,000 on a pre-existing respiratory problem - and he had insurance, but it wouldn't cover a pre-existing ailment. He thought putting away $1.4 mil. would be enough - it was, but barely. I've watched a friend's family burn through $300,000 on their dad's alzheimer's care.

Do you think the free market will take care of you if you need long term care from a car crash? A stroke? A four day ICU stay will cost you close to $100,000.

Ask any American over the age of 55 what their biggest worry is - 90% of them will say health care costs. It's been that way for the last 40 years.

When you're young, it's easy to say that free market economy will fix it all - but when you actually see that first big medical bill - reality slaps you across the face.

 

But there is no free market in the health care or insurance sectors. So blaming the free market seems misguided.

 

Insurance providers and government policies on healthcare is what is driving costs so far up. Insurance providers and the government are willing to pay more for these operations than an individual would be. These programs add more money to the overall healthcare economy driving the costs up for everyone

 

The very questions belie a fundamental misunderstanding of conservativism. You keep using "we" when the correst pronoun is "I".

For medicare/medicaid, get rid of it. For poor people, I dunno. Let them decide. For people are unable to care for themselves, I have a few suggestions, but really it's up to them.

 

The free enterprise system always works best.

 

Ever heard of things called catastrophic insurance where everything is paid 100%?

lol

No offense to your father but it sounds like he could have used some better health insurance advice.

So yes, the free market will accommodate you.

 

Forget for a moment what you’re saying about government policies paying above market (laughably wrong btw). Why would private insrurers pay above market? They have every incentive to pay as little as possible.

 

You need to read more closely - he wasn't covered because it was a pre-existing condition. You're young, so you probably never had to worry about a pre-existing condition because Obamacare changed that. No - absolutely NO insurance was available for his condition - and he could have afforded to pay for it if it was.

You have been pampered by Obamacare.

 

How can an insurer insure against something that has already happened? An insurer won't insure my house after it has burned down.

 

I don't think any of us support pre-existing conditions.

This thread is about what we conservatives would do so yes, drop that pre-existing stuff but still keep it free market.

I think you are aware of the few parts of Obamacare we do agree with, keeping kids on parents insurance is fine...stuff like that.

Anything resembling a nationalized healthcare system is not needed however.

It creates reliance on the government to take care of you and rids the individual of personal responsibility.

 

I think everyone should be forced to buy health insurance. Yes. FORCED.

 

I don't have insurance, I never get sick.

I had the chicken pox once, that's it.

Never even had a cold, no broken bones...I think God made me for a purpose.

 

Let the free market handle it. Stop creating laws that favor insurance companies and offer more protections for doctors and patients.

To be clear though, this would take a shift in mentality among people. Its not something a law could do. We need to treat health insurance like car insurance. Pay cash for routine care and have insurance for catastrophic care.

 

I tend to eschew master-slave relationships. I am not the master of my fellow man, and I have no right to FORCE her to purchase anything.

 

You think a doctor with $200,000 in school loans is going to charge you $50 bucks for a medical exam if only the government would step aside? You think a hospital that just purchased $4 million in medical scanning equipment is going to charge you $100 bucks for an MRI if only government wasn't involved?

Let's be real - 50% of Baby Boomers have not put away enough for medical care. And they're just starting to enter the high medical problem years. Reality doesn't care about your "if only's" ... it just doesn't care.

 

Do spikes come out of your knuckles?

 

Um....not my knuckles, no.

 

Healthcare would be a lot cheaper for everyone if everyone had insurance.

I’m sure you refused to sign up for the selective service, right? Because who are they to force you?

 

Free market would let anyone you wish give you a medical exam. No $200,000 necessary. Prices drop. Health care becomes more affordable.

 

On Little House on the Prairie the doctor does an exam for a few chickens.

 

Uh...ok. I making a wolverine reference, but you went all weird with it. Bless you.