Seriously, why do you fear Universal Healthcare as a solution for US?

I'm not suggestion anything, I was simply replying to Belch's ridiculous comment.
If you're asking me for a practical solution, I would first reel-in these skyrocketing college tuition rates and build more schools to teach more students. And Universal healthcare is not "Free" healthcare. Universal Healthcare just makes healthcare a more recognized part of our National infrastructure that would be paid for with tax dollars, and available to everyone. Would that be expensive? Yes it would be expensive, but it wouldn't necessarily have to be as expensive overall as it currently is now, because when the government is paying the bill they can regulate an acceptable cost. But the first thing we need to do to get any of that to happen is get rid of all the lobbies that are effectively bribing Congress.

 

What part of NON-PROFIT are you having trouble explaining and understanding? So who is going to be the non-profit, surely your not suggesting "The payer system" that would be stupid to suggest the PAYER not profit, right? So just who is the luck one to be the NON-PROFIT the employees at the administration level of the payers

 

Build more schools to teach more students... ? I wasn't aware of any school shortage. It would be nice to see schools do a better job of teaching spelling and grammar, given what I see written online every day, but never mind

I expect that the insane costs of healthcare could finally be brought down a bit by a single payer system, and that would be great. We need to have something with the clout of the government standing up against an industry that makes insane money essentially just handing out pills a lot of the time - pills that are also insanely overpriced, except when the government gets involved.

I'm tired of the hand-wringing fear over single payer and unreasoning crying about "socialism" that we hear. People are suffering under a system that doesn't work very well because a bunch of low-info groupthinkers have been told by their ideological sources and peers that the logical alternative is evil and won't work.

 

The more government gets involved, the more things get screwed up. We see this over, and over, and over again. Medical care should not be directed and controlled from Washington.

 

The best quality for the least cost models are single payer models. Our model is the most expensive with the worst outcomes for most people

 

90% of US citizens are already working NON-PROFIT. Yea Capitalism! Because you know what Capitalism really is right, it's built on exploiting someone else. Heaven forbid 90% of the US gets to have a turn. My God, that would ruin everything.

 

Gotta say when you run you zig-zag with the best of them You zigged when you should have zagged and ended up tackling To Firsts thing first! By the time your plan goes in to effect and your GUBMINT starts regulating out paychecks will be 40 cents on the dollar and we unlucky taxpayers will still have to provide our own food, housing, transportation or maybe the first thing should just go full on utopia and we all just get a plastic card with an unlimited balance and out regulators just print dollars and we all live happily ever after!

 

Corporate profit has no place in healing the sick. If the single payer system is run like a non-profit organization and you get the extraneous costs of marketing and administration of a zillion potential products streamlined, costs would be reduced far more. The bottom line is that insurance companies are in business solely to make a profit. In any other industry that would be fine but health care should be about healing, period. In a business, you have to not only show a profit but you have to find a way to increase your profit margin every year. That is always going to come at the expense of the sick.

 

I'm not saying that single-payer won't work, I'm simply saying it's not the best model. The US was built on Socialism, it wasn't until the Cold War that they switched gears and feared people into thinking it was the ultimate evil. I'm assuming you're not living up in the mountains somewhere in a log cabin you build by hand that's totally off the grid (or you wouldn't be able to communicate on-line), that grid "that's socialism", your public utilities, roads, gas stations, police and fire department, US mail, the list is endless. We actually do pay taxes expecting a "social" return. But there are a few social programs I'd like to see come to an end, starting with all the foreign aid we give away to non-US citizens or taxpayers.

 

We're all ready down to 40 cents on the dollar by 1950 standards.

 

So doctors will lower their costs? The doctors wont have to pay for the price of med schools anymore? They will have less to pay for malpractice insurance? The price of medical equipment will decrease? I don't think you understand the driving costs behind medical costs. The government involvement is the reason why the price for healthcare is as high as it is to begin with. If not for the government handing out higher and higher student loans, colleges wouldn't be charging so much for people to become doctors. If not for the government regulating the innovations or putting patens on everything, the price of drugs and equipment wouldn't be so high. Government is NEVER the answer.

 

Single payer always lowers costs and increases positive outcomes

 

Ahh the insult, well done!

"I am suggesting" so in other words you haven't a real clue what you're trying to say yourself! So United way "Assets: $103.19 million" you do understand assets right?

Unicef Assets $118,305,688
Peace Corp $14,757,792

assets.

1. items of ownership convertible into cash; total resources of a person or business, as cash, notes and accounts receivable, securities, inventories, goodwill, fixtures, machinery, or real estate (opposed to liabilities ).
2. Accounting. the items detailed on a balance sheet, especially in relation to liabilities and capital.
3. all property available for the payment of debts, especially of a bankrupt or insolvent firm or person.
4. Law. property in the hands of an heir, executor, or administrator, that is sufficient to pay the debts or legacies of a deceased person.

 

"Universal healthcare" does not address the quality or cost of our health care issues- only who pays. It is the redistribution of wealth- where those who produce the most pay for those who produce the least. Where those who contribute the most value to society- pay for those who contribute the least. Now that is a general picture, not an individual one- but it is why universal healthcare is just another welfare give-away.

What needs to be addressed in the outrageous costs of health care in America- highest by far in the world, outpacing natural inflation by 500%. Why?

Too much regulation- ineffective regulation that only adds complexity and gives government agencies power. Complexity take time from productivity needs, increases cost- but provides little benefit. This is not to say no regulation is required, it is to say the regulations must be clear, as simple as possible to meet and produce helpful benefits.

Too much litigation- We have a major industry now which thrives on suing doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, medical device makers. Television is loaded with ads from these ambulance chasers, implying that if everything didn't work perfectly, somebody owes you money- and we want to grab half of it. They are literally promoting the idea that the medical industry should be perfect. Medicine cannot be perfect- far too many variables that nature, rather than doctors, control. On the other hand, the law is specifically written, and all the issues are man made, in the control of- Lawyers. Why don't we demand the same degree of perfection in the practice of law? Recover billions of dollar because they didn't get proper results? Attacking and distorting the practice of medicine is a huge industry- and the majority of it should be abolished

Because of the legal issues, medical costs have exploded. For example and OB/Gyn delivering babies- a basic medical service- now must have liability insurance that in some areas costs $200,000 a year. Who wants to obligate themselves for that expense? Make themselves the target of lawyers calling them accountable for all of the natural issues that may occur? Doctors decide to take easier routes. Specialists numbers reduce, costs rise.

Why is it that we always seem to want to fix the symptoms of the problem- but never address the disease behind them? Less profit for the ambulance chaser industry, less government for control if we did it right. POOR priorities. If we had affordable health care- insurance would also be affordable.

 

You want the govt to take over the health insurance industry, the hospitals, all of the individual practices, the pharmaceutical companies, the medical device companies, and the medical supply companies?

Might as well take over Dodge cause they produce so many ambulances. Definitely need to take over JB Hunt and Schneider as they ship a lot of the devices and supplies all over the country.

Who else am I missing that the govt needs to take over in the name of medical care?

 

I cannot believe you actually included the concern for doctors to pay for malpractice cost as a justification for their pay-rate. And college tuition rates didn't go up because the Government was handing out bigger loans. Tuition rates went up for the same reason that pharmaceutical cost did, because they lobbied to Congress to not put caps on their rates. And Congress sold us out, because "better us than them" when they're only focused on their interests. But they never say that come election-time. No, no, their too busy buying another yacht.

 

Then why do so many well to do from single payer countries come to the US for advanced medical care?

 

I'm a conservative, one of my primary complaints originally about the ACA (and i'm in the insurance biz) was that it fell well short of some form of single payer system, I think we are long overdue for one but I think people (myself included) fail to understand the pressure against it, the Dr's, nurses, hospitals, pharma, insurance industry, legal profession, all are profiting with our current system and I don't think they really want it to change.

One of the things I liked about Bernie was the general idea of Medicare for all, didn't research it because he was left off the ticket but I liked his idea on paper.

 

Ahh so now I know who they mean when they say "The Non-Profits", thanks

 

Where? The price for coverage in WI for teachers was higher with a single payer than after Walker broke the monopoly. And just cause the government is paying more, you are ignoring the fact that it is coming from higher taxes. Kids (late teens early 20s) in the EU who have this "single payer" thing, have a lower quality of life than kids in the US because they are taxed so high to cover things that they don't always need, want, or use. The "40 million uninsured" in America were mostly young, healthy adults who chose not to spend money on something they didn't feel they wanted or would use.

 

Short answer: Universal Healthcare run by the government is an entitlement. We would be better off with Healthcare reforms in the private sector as opposed to our government footing the bill.

 

The WHO ranks country healthcare outcomes. We always get beat by first world single payer countries at a fraction of the price. And these countries love their healthcare system

 

And they call right wingers "Fascist".

 

That's almost what we spend on our cars.

How about you stop telling us what to spend our money on?

 

Why should we stop? It's our money too