Socialized healthcare

[markomalley]

We can guarantee the health of everyone just as we guarantee the education of everyone.

That is a TRULY terrifying thought.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Nobody wants to put you in Hillarycare. There are ways to let you keep your private insurance while providing government funding for those who are less fortunate. This is not an all or nothing approach. We can guarantee the health of everyone just as we guarantee the education of everyone.

I wish you hadn’t said that! The Public School system is as close to communism as it’s possible to get – the government owns the schools, hires the teachers, and so on.

And miserably fails to educate the poorest students.

 

[pathia]

Many without healthcare insurance drive new cars, satellite TV, go on vacations, new houses etc. They CHOOSE not to have insurance, becaue they don’t wanna give up something. They roll on till they have something happen, or develop some kind problem (diabetes comes to mind) and all of a sudden they lament the system for not insuring them. If they had taken care of their health insurance in a mature matter, they wouldn’t be in that situation.

I have good insurance, same company (BCBS) for 30 years. One the reasons I joined the fire dept, the benefits package was excellent. Never been denided one claim. Fixed my hernia a few years ago no problem. I had a private suite, cable TV , Wi FI, private bath, DVD, round the clock nurses and staff. From diagnose to getting fixed up, less then 2 weeks. NEVER gonna get that in the UK or Canada. In fact I’d still be waiting!

A few things.

I have no car, I use mass transit, the only computers I own were given to me by work, or I built from scrap parts from work (I am a computer technician as my primary job). I do not have a TV, thus I do not have cable. I have a cell phone, but again that is provided by work. I live where I can, currently on a friends couch, because my credit is so bad I cannot secure housing on my own.

BCBS was the insurance company that dropped me and treated me horribly as soon as I became independent from my parents after they disowned me. They rejected an appendectomy, a CAT scan for a concussion, a broken arm, shattered kneecap and blood tests to determine why I was having endocrine system issues to the point of passing out from walking up two flights of stairs, this was one year into coverage by the way, long after the pre-existing clause.

This was all by the time I was 22, and then things only got worse!

 

[goofyjim]

That is a TRULY terrifying thought.

We provide the shcool voucher system hopefully. It gives people a choice and gives everyone an education. Healthcare is the mark of a civilized society. It has been suggested here that the cost of covering mental illness will be too high and that it shouldn’t be guaranteed. I have yet to hear why someone through no fault of their own should bear a financial burden for the rest of their lives. A blended system will not take away the private insurance from those who already have it. It will just provide for those who don’t and have no other means. It seems like the well to do in this country are afraid of sharing their blessings.

 

[goofyjim]

I wish you hadn’t said that! The Public School system is as close to communism as it’s possible to get – the government owns the schools, hires the teachers, and so on.

And miserably fails to educate the poorest students.

See my previous post. I’m not talking about the public school system. Unless that is what people choose.

 

[goofyjim]

As someone pojnted out either in this thread or another it is all about money, money, money. Just try getting struck with a mental illness before you have a chance to ever hold a job. Then you are told when you try to work that they don’t cover a preexisting condition which means you are bankrupt from the start. The cost would be inconsequential to keep this as mandatorily covered like anything else.

 

[vern_humphrey]

See my previous post. I’m not talking about the public school system. Unless that is what people choose.

The people – that is the consumers of health care – will unfortunatly have very little to say about it.

 

[goofyjim]

The people – that is the consumers of health care – will unfortunatly have very little to say about it.

Do you ever read any of what I write here? I propose a system that lets those who have private insurance keep that while providing public funding for those who are not able to do so for conditions that for some strange reason or another are not covered. Is this so dreadful?

 

[johnnydigit]

watch the movie Sicko by Michael Moore. it’s about the US health care system compared to other countries. of course take it with a grain of salt, but it’ll still make you “sick”…

 

[markomalley]

See my previous post. I’m not talking about the public school system. Unless that is what people choose.

There are not many people who are wealthy enough to self-insure. Most of us utilize employer-financed health insurance schemes. Those benefits are provided as fringe benefits that are non-monetary compensation for our labor. It is provided at considerable expense by the employers. I have little doubt that employers will, gradually, opt out of private insurance schemes for employees, once government-financed insurance is universally available.

(BTW, what my opinion continues to be is that the system needs to be overhauled completely to make people moreso consumers of health care rather than beneficiaries of it…)

 

[vern_humphrey]

Do you ever read any of what I write here? I propose a system that lets those who have private insurance keep that while providing public funding for those who are not able to do so for conditions that for some strange reason or another are not covered. Is this so dreadful?

And my comment was there is so much politics and money involved the people will never be allowed to have a system that serves them.

 

[goofyjim]

And my comment was there is so much politics and money involved the people will never be allowed to have a system that serves them.

So waht do you propose? And don’t tell me about the HSAs because those who are starting off on the footing of a disability don’t really have that option. Now do you want us to go back to the days when if you couldn’t afford anything you just stayed home and quietly passed? We can let people keep their private insurance and provide public assistance for the rest. It can be done. That would not be socialized healthcare to the extreme that everyone is so worried about. But it would provide for the general better health of everyone.

 

[ribozyme]

watch the movie Sicko by Michael Moore. it’s about the US health care system compared to other countries. of course take it with a grain of salt, but it’ll still make you “sick”…

It is honest about the American system, but I believe it exaggerates some aspects of other systems. It wasn’t worth 800mb on my hard drive, so I deleted it.

I thought Moore’s presentation of the person with renal cell carcinoma was deceptive though.

 

[wabrams]

Do you ever read any of what I write here? I propose a system that lets those who have private insurance keep that while providing public funding for those who are not able to do so for conditions that for some strange reason or another are not covered. Is this so dreadful?

Do those with private insurance get an exemption from paying higher taxes to fund the public insurance system?

 

[cynic]

So waht do you propose? And don’t tell me about the HSAs because those who are starting off on the footing of a disability don’t really have that option. Now do you want us to go back to the days when if you couldn’t afford anything you just stayed home and quietly passed? We can let people keep their private insurance and provide public assistance for the rest. It can be done. That would not be socialized healthcare to the extreme that everyone is so worried about. But it would provide for the general better health of everyone.

that’s the kind of system found in just about every western country outside the U.S (except for Japan and Germany where the government subsidizes the poors insurance premiums). The real issue is “I don’t want to have to pay tax towards it”.

 

[goofyjim]

that’s the kind of system found in just about every western country outside the U.S (except for Japan and Germany where the government subsidizes the poors insurance premiums). The real issue is “I don’t want to have to pay tax towards it”.

It should be a standard expense of the government like the military budget. Noone gets to withhold the portion of taxes going towards the military so they should just pay taxes and let the government spend it on this as well. The poor recipients of the health insurance usually cannot pay tax to begin with.

 

[jman507]

Socialized health care or private insurance health care I really don’t see as the biggest issue. The major issue is the staggering rate of health care inflation. So long as the aggregate total cost is fairly manageable it really doesn’t matter between the two. Once the aggregate total cost start to sky rocket you can pick bad coverage via private insurance or bad coverage via a socialized health care system. So in that case the problem comes down to who do you want to be mad at the insurance companies or the government? Well what types of care do you want to cut out so the health care system and infrastructure can remain solvent? I suppose one of these days instead of people talking about people from Canada coming down to the US for quicker care, they’ll be talking about going from the US to India.

 

[goofyjim]

Do those with private insurance get an exemption from paying higher taxes to fund the public insurance system?

Go ahead. But with enough of that the government will have to work at a deficit to supply this system or raise the overall rate. Why are we so afraid to treat our neighbor to this? Are we worshipping money?

 

[Newbie2]

Go ahead. But with enough of that the government will have to work at a deficit to supply this system or raise the overall rate. Why are we so afraid to treat our neighbor to this? Are we worshipping money?

There should be plenty of money in government to cover health care for the poor…it just gets wasted away. Improve government effeciency, and there’ll be more money than necessary.

Sadly, that will never happen.

 

[ribozyme]

There should be plenty of money in government to cover health care for the poor…it just gets wasted away. Improve government effeciency, and there’ll be more money than necessary.

Sadly, that will never happen.

Well, people are paying attention to the Heritage Foundation who generally say no to government, while no one listens to the Brookings Institution and EPI/CBPP/CAP who do possess the brain power to construct policies to make it efficient.