Ok. GOP what is your solution to the healthcare crisis in the US? Do nothing?

Obviously, continuing to dump the cost of care for fifty-million uninsured Americans on the taxpayer, whilst that taxpayer is also being forced to subsidize every individual covered under an employer-provided group plan to the tune of $250 billion annually, is not acceptable.

The most effective system to minimize the cost to the taxpayer, as a matter of actuarial science, if you opt for pragmatism over ideological dogma, is to create the largest, inclusive risk pool possible and eliminate the middle-man profiteer entirely.

Such efficiency is repugnant to hardcore ideologues. They'd prefer to burden the American taxpayer with the cost of the uninsured as well as their own subsidized coverage.

The GOP clearly has no solutions. They wish to continue to doubly victimize the taxpayer, and sustain a notoriously inefficient system that is twice as expensive as that of advanced nations that afford all their citizens superior care.

 

Of course the private insurers would return to their old practice of raising rates on sick people to levels that could not be afforded, and then dropped. And of course those with pre-existing conditions would never be able to find affordable insurance, oh, and think prices are high now, they would skyrocket under the conservative plan.

 

The prescription plan was 1. unpaid for and 2. specifically prevents Medicare from negotiating with suppliers for lower prices which, if they were able to negotiate (like veterans affairs can) would lower the cost of the program by several hundred billions over the next ten years. Just change that one thing, and the cost of medicare will become much more controllable.

 

You can have anything you wish but the question is are you willing to pay for the government which you are demanding? I'm guessing you are unwilling to pay higher taxes...so who would fund your universal health care system?

Currently Americans spend about $2.5 trillion per year on health care...you and others won't even fund the government which is in place and you want to spend more money?

How can you ask to even have a pot hole filled when your government is already $1 trillion in deficit spending this year?

Bottom line is your request is kind of stupid when the USA is $16+ trillion in debt, adding another $1 trillion in debt this year, and Americans so far refuse to reduce current government spending or pay higher taxes...just where do YOU believe the money will come from to fund universal health care?

 

Rated by who?

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Rest assured he's willing to make some other guy whatever it takes to get what he wants!

 

Actually it works well for those who have money and it does cover emergencies for those who don't. But it didn't work well for me. I have Bi-polar disorder. Had it been diagnosed when I was in my teens maybe I would've been able to hold down a job for more than a few months. It was diagnosed 8 years ago and I'm a much better person now because of it. But now my programing skills are out of date and I have no real job skills and am about to become homeless because I can't find a job. So maybe if we had Obamacare when I was 17 I would be a computer programer today owning my own home.

 

I am sorry to hear about that. Clearly anyone who needs medication for whatever need on an ongoing basis should be able to get it PERIOD. I am especially sensitive to a case like yours where it can really make a difference in your productivity as a person and your emotional well-being. My thoughts are with you.

 

Not a Republican, RTW, I'm a Constitutional Conservative. There is a difference. At this point I don't hand over 54% of what I make up front to the government like the people in other countries that you are touting do. True, the government gets that much and more but not right off the top. But the people in other countries that have government health care pay much more in the end than we do. Now, we can dump our over the top medical bills when we have had something unexpected happen in this country by simply declaring bankruptcy. It happens. But for the majority, we have health care either through our place of employment or on our own. There are about 19 million out there that can afford health care under the age of 30 that are making 50 thousand or better a year that feel they can play the averages and save money by not buying health care. But, then sometimes they get caught and THEN they cry about it. I learned over 40 years ago not to go to work for anybody that didn't offer health care as a benefit. That's right RTW, medical bills for the family put us into bankruptcy. I've then there, so you can tell me nothing about it. I learned from it, how about you??? Does your employer offer medical insurance???

 

What a crock. What we want you to do is leave out health insurance alone which you and Obama refuse to do.

 

No, it sound like a person that knows what they want and has it and those like you want to take it away from them because your to dumb to do it on your own. Hey, Gam, I only have a 9th grade education and I was smart enough to only work for those that offer health insurance, so what's your problem???

 

No, there's a regulation problem.

 

Ahh yes..the ever present "profit inhibitor" pesky government regulations whine puked out from the wealthy. I'll address it.

So tell me. Corporations enjoy the highest amount of wealth they've ever had today. They corporate wealthy are sitting on the most wealth they've ever enjoyed to date. Is it your opinion that we need LESS regulations to achieve MORE profit, or, less regulations to increase productivity? You guys seemed to weather the weather the awful regulations pretty well in my judgement so, I'm just wondering if you think those dreadful regulations need to be tailored more towards the super wealthy than they are presently. I'm thinkin' maybe the poor people have been causing all this awful interference with profit all along. Your thoughts?

I think if we could just kill medicare and social security for those troublesome poor people, all would be well and even more profitable.

 

When Obama's gone the GOP will pick up on their original position because they know that something has to be done. And that position will be nearly identical to Obama's position. Only it will be more drastic in nature and more socialistic. It never was anything other than rabid right obstructionism.

Relax, surely your country's life expectancy can't decline any more than it already has since 1990. No matter how much bagger obstructionism, you are better than Bangladesh and one position higher than Cuba for health care!

 

You need to get your facts straight; I had absolutely nothing to do with ObamaCare. I don't work for the government; if you think I do, then your sadly mistaken.

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It shows.

 

People believe the WHO medical care ratings as if they have some real meaning to the collective we. Maybe the USA is rated 26th in the world but what percentage of Americans would prefer to get their medical care from other nations...my guess is almost 0%. Can the USA as a nation do better...absolutely.

I've stated many times here and elsewhere that IMO all Americans each year should be sent an invoice from the federal government stating their share of government spending which they owe. This year, for the 155 million Americans who are supposed to pay taxes, each one owes about $22,580 to fund the government which they are demanding! I think a good rule might be when a majority of these 155 million can pay their annual share or more, then we can talk about adding and funding new programs...

 

You get a savings account. You put a little in it from every paycheck.


So, say you're 23-24 years old and suddenly get diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.....you'll have 800-900 bucks saved up for the doctors, oncologists, surgeons, radiation and chemo, lab work, and hospital stays.

You also, per Sue Lowden, the Nevada Republican who ran in 2010, might want to raise some chickens...and use them to pay off your doctors.

 

The most frequent cause of personal bankruptcy are healthcare bills so your plight doesn't surprise me in that aspect.

Conservatives and Republicans both vote republican so....no...there really isn't much difference when you get right down to it.

So....you're a proponent of a single payer system then? I'd think about dispensing with healthcare insurance if the employer made up the difference in my paycheck but, that's usually not an option. The ones that don't have it just don't have it AND pay poorly. I'm not sure what you advocate here exactly. Would you elaborate?

 

AFFORDABLE health care is a huge problem. No matter the costs of current health care in the US, we should not blame the health care system. After all, it's a for-profit, free enterprise, regulated, and people demand the best service with zero mistakes. For most Americans who believe in capitalism, it is a good thing to have an entire industry growing and profiting. So why do so many dislike what's going on?

One thing wrong is our current government likes to villainize the US medical industry. Another problem is government forces it's public programs into the private health care industry like Medicare and Medicaid, etc. And next government will force Obamacare into the private medical industry and time will tell how this goes??

Here is some logic; if most Americans don't like the current health care industry, and don't like the health insurance industry, then ask your government to create a parallel health care system and health care insurance. One question will be can government run a health care system cheaper than the private sector? IMO the answer is no so the way the government will provide less expensive health care is to provide much less health care. This would be something like Medicare in which there is a base program, then people need to purchase 1 or 2 more health insurances to cover all the costs.

BUT no matter what type of medical system is in place, the costs will remain an issue and more and more people are going to be fully funded by the government. So much higher taxes are needed from 'everyone' to pay for this and we see every day where most people refuse to pay another dime of taxation. So the bottom line is, as is with everything today, who is going to fund a public health care system for all Americans? You can have all the sad stories you can dream up but at the end of the day the program must be funded! Today we can't even afford to fill potholes; where will we get the money to fund a public health care system...

 

http://www.factcheck.org/2011/01/job-loss-health-care-and-bankruptcy/
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/12/health-care-bill-bankruptcies/
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/10/62-conventional-wisdom-or-dubious-research/

 

and...

http://www.volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_02_13-2005_02_19.shtml#1108558247

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/07/considering-elizabeth-warren-the-scholar/60211/

 

And this is typical. You cut out everything, so that all context is lost then respond to that. Let's try it again, shall we?

Wow, comes off totally different, does it not? Now I do not sound like a selfish twit, but as somebody who believes that people should pay as they are able to.

Try being honest next time, eh?

 

There are four things driveng healthcare costs. Technology, access, lawyers and bureacrats. Guess which one Nancy and Harry care deal with.

 

I don't believe it changed the context whatsoever. I'm reading it totally different then you are. You and I will have to agree to disagree on this thread.

 

It's a little more complicated than your four items.

Everything involved in health care is elevated...from the sterile facilities, to the required education, to the demand for perfection, to access 24/7, to the most complex product on Earth...the human, to the litigation, to state-of-the-art technology, to the well-being of people including life and death. When we create this type of system/industry...it will be very costly! And every day we find we can do more and do better with new innovations and technologies which all cost something.

IMO...the cost of medical care, the care which is needed to solve ALL of our medical/mental issues, to the levels we demand, will continue to rise in costs. Anyone who believes we can lower the cost of medical care is talking politics or BS. The ONLY way to appreciably lower the cost of medical care...to the individual...is to reduce the number of procedures and treatments, essentially providing less health care...

 

And Those four cover everything you just mentioned.