How would you fix the US health care system?

[Trey of Diamonds]

Here is some background info.

Socialized Medicine
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5989
http://www.cato.org/pubs/catosletter/catosletterv3n1.pdf

Socialized Insurance
http://www.hr676.org/
http://www.pnhp.org/publications/the_national_health_insurance_bill_hr_676.php

Current Government Programs
http://www.ctelderlaw.org/BenefitPrograms.asp


General Reform Info
http://www.kff.org/uninsured/reform.cfm

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Hmmm, votes but no comments. I voted for the Socialized Insurance. For those who voted for Socialized Medicine, why socialize medicine instead of insurance?

 

[Valjean]

Insurance, socialized or not, is a middle man. The actual medical treatment still costs money, and then you're paying for this insurance on top of that.

What would cost more. Med treatment X or Med treatment X + Insurance?

 

[Buttercup]

Socialized medicine all the way. Doesn't scare me a bit.

 

[Valjean]

I'm not sure about socialized medicine, but we definately need a single payer system.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

I'm not sure about socialized medicine, but we definately need a single payer system.

Socialized Insurance is what a single payer system means. See HR 676.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Other.

I would abolish all health insurance. Then market forces would take care of the problem. Dentists do not make as much as other Doctors. Why? because less folks have dental insurance but they all have teeth.

Think about it, if you where a mechanic and people offered car repair insurance, you could charge more for your services. Insurance is the problem. It enables the medical profession to charge what ever it wants instead of charging what the market will bare.

Think some more. When you get your car worked on, you recieve an estimate which you can compare to other repair shops. Competition keeps prices down. Go to a hospital and ask them how much?

Repair shops itemise their bill. You have the right to an itemised bill from the hospital which charges 7 dollars for an aspirin. Why? because you have to fund other folks who do not pay their bill. What if the repair shop did that too?

Health insurance enables the health care industry to charge fees that almost no one could afford.

If no one had health insurance, medical rates would have to be cheaper or no one would be able to go to the doctor and they would be out of business.

I am an electrician. I believe everyone should go out and buy electrical insurance so I can hose you when you have electrical problems. Health insurance is a scam.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Other.

I would abolish all health insurance. Then market forces would take care of the problem.

Interesting but I don't think it would work. If you don't have the money to fix your car you can take the bus for a few weeks until you save up. If you don't have the money for your heart transplant I doubt you can just not use it while you save up the money.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Interesting but I don't think it would work. If you don't have the money to fix your car you can take the bus for a few weeks until you save up. If you don't have the money for your heart transplant I doubt you can just not use it while you save up the money.

We are all dieing from the day we where born. A transplant is a luxuary.

 

[3.14]

just put a limmit on how much money a single person can own like 100 miljoen that way you can give free healthcare to everyone in the country for atleast the next 10 years

 

[Reverend Rick]

just put a limmit on how much money a single person can own like 100 miljoen that way you can give free healthcare to everyone in the country for atleast the next 10 years

What do you have against rich people? Do you really think it is fair for rich folks to pay for everything? Why, because you don't want to pay your fair share?

Let me tell you a story about a great American. He had a motorcycle accident and was paralyzed. The government sent him a check and he sent it back to them. This guy went back to work in his wheel chair.

 

[3.14]

great amarican or not if you need more then 100 miljoen to be happy your greedy and if you don't need more then 100 miljoen then what better way to spend it then to make your country the healthyest country in the world

ps. fair share? i have almost never needed healthcare and still a large chunk of my paycheck goes to it. it would be fair if only the people who used it payed. but they do not have enough money to support it by themselfs

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

We are all dieing from the day we where born. A transplant is a luxuary.

Wow, how very cold and callused of you. Let's hope it is a luxuray you never need.

 

[misanthropic_clown]

I think socialised healthcare is a good principle. I think it is dangerous to leave something essential to your well being in the hands of people seeking as much profit as they can get.

 

[Valjean]

Socialized Insurance is what a single payer system means. See HR 676.

No. It's a little more complicated than that. Socialized medicine is where the health care system is like a government department. The government owns and runs the hospitals. Physicians are like civil servants, on a government payroll.
The UK, for example, has socialized medicine. The US Veteran's Administration is socialized medicine.

A single-payer system is not necessarially socialized. Canada and the US Medicare system are single-payer, but not socialized medicine. Drs and hospitals are private, independent entities.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

No. It's a little more complicated than that.

While it is certianly more complicated than that, Socialized Insurance is still a single payer system.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Wow, how very cold and callused of you. Let's hope it is a luxury you never need.

Why? I am not afraid of death. News Flash! Life is short and we all are going to die. It is not how long you live that matters. It is what you do with your life that matters.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Why? I am not afraid of death. News Flash! Life is short and we all are going to die. It is not how long you live that matters. It is what you do with your life that matters.

Why? You are saying that if a person doesn't have the money for a transplant, oh well, have a nice death. That is pretty cold in my opinion.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Why? You are saying that if a person doesn't have the money for a transplant, oh well, have a nice death. That is pretty cold in my opinion.

Are you saying that as technology advances that we should spend millions to sustain people indefinitely?

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Are you saying that as technology advances that we should spend millions to sustain people indefinitely?

Yes. Are you saying only the rich should be able to sustain themselves indefinitely?