But our premiums double every ten years, which is unsustainable. And we pay far more than other countries do for the same services and drugs. Doing nothing is as unacceptable as effing it up. Any plan must address the waste and profiteering to work. As far as the uninsured, we are paying for them anyway. They bring every little ailment to the emergency room and hospitals make up for it in higher costs to us. We already pay taxes for state charity hospitals and county clinics for the uninsured. Diverting that money from those socialized-medicine gulags to health insurance makes sense to me. The horrible VA hospitals could go away, too, and be mothballed for future war casualties. The vets should receive VA health insurance that they can use to go to a doctor or hospital of their choice. This freedom of choice is why universal health insurance is not socialized medicine like Canada. Hospitals and clinics offering effective and affordable care would get more business and those that were ineffective or too costly would drop by the wayside. Private insurers would still be tightly competitive in what they offer.
The 20% number includes illegal aliens (not americans so they definitely don't count in the "americans uninsured"), everyone eligible for medicare/medicaid who just haven't enrolled, and people who can afford healthcare but choose not to purchase it. I have tried to substantiate these numbers and the only ones I am sure of are that non americans are in the number. I went to seminar by BCBS laying out the other two categories but haven't found verification. They claimed it was 16 million or so. I agree with this but have to wonder, if we're already paying for all of this anyway, and the goal is to provide that care anyway but make it less costly, then why will it cost the government $1 trillion and not put a dent in my health insurance costs.
It is supposed to put a dent in your health insurance costs. That Trillion dollars is over a long period and its not like we would be spending nothing if it weren't enacted. We're going to spend that much anyway with our premiums soaring.
the govt bought products. if the govt pays for private companies to do basic research without buying a product of that research from them then they are de facto public workers. i wasnt debating their merits, just pointing out that certain goals require govt to do them.
What makes you imagine that research produces no product? Government contracts call for strict production of what they call "deliverables". They certainly consist of a very large and detailed (often multi-volume) report and often also comes with a huge database, maps, samples, prototype devices, and other very real products.
I don't disagree with any of that. I just don't want the government in the insurance business and I want to have some say in what I want to do.
So, what do you propose? And I mean it seriously. if you think the dems have it wrong, what is the answer?
I don't know if they have it wrong because I don't know what their plan is. Hopefully I'll find out tonight. I've already said that I want regulation to stop medicare fraud, insurance price gouging and prescription drug cost abuses. I also want serious tort reform to cut out millions of frivolous med mal lawsuits. I don't want the government to manage and give out insurance to whomever can't get it. Proper and effective regulation will curb abuses and result in more affordable health insurance. There are those who will never have health insurance and that will always be the case.
