Nor do you need to look past the mortgage and banking industry to see what happens when government allows the giant capitalists to regulate themselves. Real socialist medicine, like the VA system, would be history under universal coverage. You could have a VA insurance card that you could carry to the hospital and doctors of your choice. Private hospitals, private doctors, and lots of private insurance companies to choose from, all having private employees. Plus a public insurance option for those now using socialized medicine--gulags like the VA, state charity hospitals, and county free clinics. Those could all disappear along with their government employees.
But it doesn't need to bankrupt families left behind. Agreed. But there is also a ton of waste, duplication, unnecessary middlemen, dubious administrative costs, and shameless personal and corporate profiteering going on. It all must be addressed to fix the situation. If Obama's plan addresses all of these things, I want to hear more, and I'm not scared by the prospects of it costing something up front to confront an impending crisis.
We should do more than nothing. We should go reverse and stop the tax payers from already footing the bill for those that don't pay. Last time I checked insurance was suppose to be a measure of risk not a pay-for-service type of plan which is why premiums have gone up. Don't get me started on inflation and the depreciation of the dollar again. And who wants a healthly old population? Not me. At the end of the day if this "public plan" goes into effect I hope every employer in the country drops their own plan so they can stuff their own pockets instead of paying for the employee's private plan. Then we can sit back and watch it implode. Not to mention I'm sick of the whole "we can't do nothing" crap. People tend to think that means the answer is the nanny state when it needs to go in reverse.
Just close the VA, the charity hospitals, and free clinics and eliminate medicaid? Let epidemics run wild? Cause people to commit crimes to pay for medicine and health care? Let the US drop to the worst health care in the industrialized world. Do you ever think before you speak? "I'm a fool and so am I." So you are bitching about everything but think we must do nothing? :insane: You have your life on backwards, chief. No, we trade a profiteer for a non-profit civil servant. Even better, we eliminate the need for either.
dont you think there would be more hell to pay (something would have already been done) if health insurance wasnt an employee benefit? i KNOW i dont get $800/month worth of medical care, but, still, if I had to write that check every month I'd be more likely to write and picket and throw bags full of dog$hit, etc.
Free lunch? That should be the name of Heussin's proposal, free lunch for all those that refuse to pay their own way. Reform is definitely needed, but it shouldn't be funded by the hard working middle class that already bears too much of the burden for the freeloaders in our country.
Apparently all you think about is what the GOVT owes you and others. Keep the VA and Medicaid for Children. Rid Govt funding in free clinics and charity hospitals.
I'm pretty sure it's a "healthy old dude" that's paying for your clothes, food, school, phone, car, etc... You think you'll be a pissant punk forever?
