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Should the U.S. Have Universal Healthcare?

DeepDiveAdmin's picture

Nearly 50 million Americans are currently without health insurance, and many with insurance are still struggling to pay their medical bills. Everyone agrees that healthcare should be accessible to all, but the debate still rages on as to whether a universal system would be a wise or realistic solution. Is universal healthcare the remedy for what ails America?

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Thoma2012's picture

About Universal Health Care

I am interested in for many years, and examines the various countries of the world Universal Health Care systems. Immediately I can tell you the conclusion that the World is NOT between two identical Universal Health Care systems. In each Country it is different, as there are different Countries level of development, culture and yet a lot of other factors. Many countries developed their own Universal Health Care systems for many decades until they become so they are now. It can be concluded, that both the USA when setting up your Universal Health Care will go a long way to go before it can boast its own built top - level system The creation of a Universal Health Care system should be aligned with many very difficult compatible things - if health services will be for all residents, and then the inevitable increase in the taxes for which no one wants to pay more and will be even more similar problems. By the way, here is the information that is useful for anyone interested in Universal Health Care problems. I find not a lot time ago and often use a resource http://www.universalhealthcareadvice.com/, where you'll find very much information about all of the Universal Health Care system issues in one place. This is a very significant resource.

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syhcoach's picture

Points to consider

I work with many people from various parts of the world. This is my read based on actual socialized medicine programs:

a. All people I have talked to have said the US has the best doctors and the best medical facilities in the world.
b. For routine medical treatment (check-ups, strep-throat, sports-related injuries, etc.), Social Medical programs eclipse the US private-health insurance programs in cost and care.
c. for specialized medicine (e.g. hip replacements), our system is FAR SUPERIOR to socialized medicine. For example, a hip replacement in the UK can have a 2+ year waiting period. And in the UK if you have a cataract, you will have to wait until BOTH eyes have cataracts before you will be eligible for surgery.

Well, as a basically healthy person, I can't criticize the social medical programs. But if I had a cataract, I'd certainly wanted it treated as soon as possible. And if that cost me some money, I'd gladly pay it.

So you all have to make your own decision on what is the best policy for the US.

topapito's picture

Health Care...

Should be made available to all. Having said that, I have always paid for my own health care thank you, and I am from Canada. But if I one day could not afford to pay, I like the thought that I can always get health care regardless of my economic position.

Several problems come to mind from capitalist health care. Drug companies, hospitals, the industry as a whole, makes decisions based on the profits it will provide them, and NOT the health care they will provide patients. If you've got the bucks, step right in for your liver transplant, we'll buy one for you and move you here to the front of the line.

Medicine is much cheaper in countries with socialized health care, that's a fact. Now the question to resolve would be why other people do not deserve for you to contribute towards their care. But I will say one thing, democracy has nothing to do with capitalism. The act of democracy grants each citizen a rightful place in society, yet capitalism obliterates that place after the vote.

A true capitalist would see the benefits of providing health care to those in need, and by doing so, preserve capitalism by not causing the majority vote towards socialism. Venezuela, the rich grew rich and the poor just grew, they grew so much they voted in a full blown Socialist president who is now evening the score on behalf of the poor. Don't believe this could happen to you? I don't know a single Venezuelan who would have thought just 20 years ago that Venezuela would be Socialist today, and yet, there they are.

Pay for the poor to have health care or they will vote it into law a few years down the line. Your choice now, they're choice later.

Btw, none of this has anything to do with the good and bad or moral and immoral aspects. This has and always will be about money. And for the US government, the preservation of raw capitalism. Taking care of the less fortunate is an investment you cannot afford to miss. Personally, I don't like it either, but I am a business man first and an idealist later.

djhartmannn's picture

Look at the UK's NHS and what is Obama's real goal?

After living in England for 3 years I am surprised to watch their media to see a regular health insurance ads and a constant barage of ads for donations to support healthcare charities here in the UK. In the news the goverment struggles with NHS costs and in newspapers I have seen more than one article where families charge that the NHS killed their family member. A friend of ours almost died and lost their baby due to being set aside and ignored. In the end the friend's coworkers took her away to a non NHS facility.

Also, the video is out there. Obamas long term goal is a single-payer system.

I am all into looking into improving the system, but single a payer system is not the answer. The multi-million adjustments required to manage that large of a piece of the economy is too much for an "agency" to handle (ref. the invisible hand, The Wealth of Nations). Also in economics there is a concept called the multiplier effect. The multiplier effect in simple terms that when you put money into something it's productivity can be measured. Some spending loses money, some breaks even, and some creates GDP increases. At this time of economic uncertainty we should be focusing our spending on education , infrastructure, technological development, and stablizing the lives of the unemployed.

We should increase financial insentives for companies who give good healthcare plans. We should help small businesses , either through subsidy or insurance pools to encourage them to provide insurance. We should remove the interstate barriers that reduces the protection insurance companies have against natural competition. We should give incentives and advantages to non-profit healthcare organizations. We should use our university systems more effectively and aggressively in the development of new drugs and medical technologies. Included on this would be an overall increase in public education standards to increase the effectiveness of our healthcare education programs. We should press for more agressive education of and require coverage of preventive healthcare. (something that will suffer under a socialized medical system)

There are a percentage of people who cannot help themselves. Our focus ref "social" solutions should be on them. But there are many people who choose not to spend their money on insurance (ages 20-30), there are those who are fine w/o socialized medicine (>3/4 of the population), and there are those who just made poor choices in life. We have a social network to support those who cannot help themselves. I do not think it is the goverments job to extend this to those who make bad choices or lack the motivation to help themselves. You are robbing them of their right of self determination and robbing them of the motivators to lift themselves and their families to a better place in life.

The other loss will be the demise of American generosity. Dispite the picture that is often painted, Americans are the most generous people on the face of the earth ... yes on the whole earth. This will crush this great strength of our people and socialized medicine goes against the notion that we as a people do help people ... but we do not like helping those who can help themselves, but don't.

skeeterart's picture

Thank you for your insightful comments

While I know your comment was written back in 2010 it is never-the-less informative and helpful. I now know more than I did before about the Single Payer System. I agree with you on the point you made regarding "people who made poor choices - lack the motivation to help themselves". We DO need health care for all but it should be on health care insurance ONLY no other insurances should be affected. As you have said there needs to be more in the way of incentives to employers and small businesses to carry insurance or facilitate the purchase of health coverage by their employees.

BUT, we should go ALL THE WAY if we are going to bring health care into the government and eliminate the ability of insurance companies to charge whatever they please for coverages. Just like automobile inspection services, there should be a defined amount for every service and a specific fee not to be exceeded. We should eliminate the ability for people to be allowed to bring suit against doctors unless it is determined that there is malicious or gross incompetence. In these cases many insurance companies end up paying massive death benefits to families for malpractice. There needs to be a ceiling on all malpractice awards, but with the penalty to the doctor responsible severe (Including loss of their license). It is mainly the insurance companies that are at fault for the high cost of medical care here in the states. I sold insurance for a time and I know this first hand.

The problem with the latter solution is that the insurance companies have a strong lobby in Washington and they give massive dollars to the members of congress through Super-Packs and directly as well. The whole money for favors system is a part of politics and has been since before God talked to Moses. There are low cost alternatives for the younger people whom for the most part are healthy. I.E. FIRST DOLLAR COVERAGE policies - these coverages cost very little and are used only if someone is injured and is sent to the emergency room. AFLAC has a great policy for young healthy adults for when they get laid up and can't work; but, most young people have the invincibility factor.

Too often I see so much effort on explaining why WE CAN'T do something instead of what COULD be done. Thanks again for your insights. -R. McMullen

renndawg's picture

I will never live under Goverment Health Care

I will gladly go to prison before I live under Goverment Health-Care. I will not submit to this anti-liberty and unconstutional program.

Notasdumbasyou's picture

Really???

This is a pretty bold statement, don't you think? You might not agree with a universal health care plan, but a statement like this only means one thing. You have absolutely no political knowledge supporting your statement. Prison? Anti-Liberty? Unconstitutional? Well lets look at that shall we? Well I am not even really going to say anything about prison , because it is PRISON. Don't be foolish renndawg. Prison? To think that you thought typing this was clever makes me laugh.

Go look up some definitions before you make yourself look even more uneducated.

This Health care plan is in play to help out millions of people that either do not have healthcare or can't afford their healthcare.

Unconstitutional? I really doubt that any of your constitutional rights are in jeopardy. I would then recommend going out and reading some political views rather then watching the t.v. for your sources.

The best thing to do before typing ignorant statements about your political views is to probably say to yourself "How stupid do I sound?" If the answer involves you to think more then a second, I would recommend not typing anything.

sunshiner424's picture

Overboard, sir

Before you bash on someone with the heavy blunt object of poor sarcasm, let me point out some things you may have missed.

Prison means food , health care , and housing for free (for the inmates). It also means you aren't paying taxes to support someone else.

The program IS unconstitutional. The constitution lays out very specific jobs for the federal government and then says all other powers belong to the states. Health insurance is not listed as a federal power so it IS against the constitution.

"This Health care plan is in play to help out millions of people that either do not have healthcare or can't afford their healthcare."
Is that really a definition? Or a vague, generalized goal? Is it even relevant?

Notasdumbasyou, perhaps you should think of a better name (or think before you comment).

Almighty Altruist's picture

We must not forget..

That if this legislation passes in its current state that we will be paying 10 years worth of taxes for 6 years of benefit. Does that strike a nerve for any of the "yays"? Rahm Emanuel said to not waste a good crisis. I say fix the economy first. Allow people an oppurtunity at getting their own health coverage, then reform this idea. 61 percent of American's are opposed to universal HC but it's being jammed down everyone's throat with a partisan approach. You can say what you want but the republican party was not invited into these closed door meetings. The republican party essentially represents the 61 percent in the sense that they oppose it (its current state). Being a conservative, I oppose the amount of money it will take to cover 30 million American's (excluding illegals) or 45 million if you wish to include them. Either way the amount of money it will take is TOO MUCH. Superflous special interest just to buy votes. We are not an uncompassionate nation, nor an immoral nation, but there is no reason to not take time and get this thing right. The majority doesn't want it (its current state) but the delegates don't care. It's annoying and it will have reprecussions in the next election .

TexasGurl's picture

NO NO and NO

My comments are strictly from of my personal opinion and experience.

I am natural born American citizen.My parents worked for the pay -check and the benefit of paid health insurance . When I was of age - it was find a job that could offer insurance so I could be covered. That is called responsibility. If I was unable to achieve the job that offered insurance....I paid for it even if it meant working 2 jobs .I have raised my kids the same way. DON'T expect a hand-out. I am sure that someone will say,"what about the people who can't get a job" or "can't afford insurance". Well, there are jobs - people just choose whether or not they will take them for a lesser salary, pride or until the unemployement check runs out. As for the affordability - some people have to make a decision as to whether having luxury items is a need or a want. Is it fair for a portion of my taxes to go to help the mother who keeps having kids and refuses to work because she has to stay home? NO. Stop having kids if you can't support them financially or provide health insurance for them. This country is based on a democracy not a dictatorship and/or communist.You have the right to work and provide for your family. You have the right to purchase the type of health insurance but not the right to be "given" health insurance or anything for that matter. Paying for the insurance allows you to choose the type of insurance, have a say in what doctor you see and how you are medically treated. With this Universal Healthcare....you can kiss those rights goodbye (not to mention your paycheck because we will all be paying for the Joe or Janet Schmoe's helath insurance because they don't want to work). Should one choose not to take advantage of those options....then that is their choice - but don't complain when you are put last in the line for seeing a doctor or asked how you plan to pay for services? Has the Obama administration thought about the repercussions on the insurance industry? Now they will put more companies out of business. I worked for an insurance company. Believe me...they do not make six figures salaries at all. THey are able to make a living. From the doctors that I have spoken to -they are not thrilled by this at all. Now the government will be telling them how and who to treat. Where is the democracy? England has this exact plan and had realized that it doesn't work. Maybe focus should be on regulating costs rather that providing for everyone. Remember....what the government officials decide for us does not apply to themselves. Do you really think that President Obama or his staff will be sitting in an emergency room for a hour or two. NOPE. Do you think that they will receive the same type of "universal" medical treatment as they are trying to pass onto us? Think again...and again....and again.....

I guess the next thing the government will try to universalize is all individuals will receive new cars and/or houses - whether they work or not....oh and by the way...the American people will pay for it too.

PROHEALTHCARE's picture

YES!

I have the somewhat unique view on this because i was born in England but grew up here, and England does have free healthcare , the NHS and we don't, obviously. i have TWO points to make.

1. For the people who walk around saying that with universal healthcare, they would just let the old people die to save money , and that our system is better, that is a BUNCH of CRAP. My grandfather is 74 years old and has pulmonary fibrosis along with half of his large intestine gone, he has had a skin disease on his nose which also caused breathing problems, and he had issues with his eyes that was causing him to go blind. He is relatively POOR, living off of pensions. If he were in the USA he would be DEAD, probably would have died 20 years ago. But because he lives in the UK they have kept him alive and done everything in their power to keep him that way, they arent just "leaving him to die" like alot of americans walk around saying. He is living proof that universal healthcare can only be good. He is on drugs , not yet available in the US to help slow his pulmonary fibrosis, and he has been on them for 6 months and the disease has completely stopped spreading, his eyes are getting better and hes on oxygen and is seen by doctors weekly or monthly and they even COME TO HIS HOUSE! imagine that. and its ZERO pounds out of his pocket.

2. England isnt a struggling country, everyone i knwo lives comfortably and are healthy, and dont have to worry about medical bills thanks for the NHS, meanwhile, I have 2 children (an infant and a toddler) and a husband and because we're not "poor" and we're not well off, we cant afford health insurance for our children or us. So we have endless amounts of medical bills that just sit on our desk not getting paid. Since I have an insurance-less family(but still pay taxes for the poor to get what i cant) and my grandfather is living a pretty damn good life in England with free healthcare, im pretty freaking jealous of the poor here and my family there. Tell me how this is fair????

limeysue's picture

limeysue

For sure we should have Universal Healthcare the insurance companies can be in the car, house and life insurance business but not in the health care business. I want my doctor to decide what treatment I should have not the for profit health care insurance we presently have. The Health care insurance profit more by denying we the people coverage, Universal Healthcare is practiced in most of the other nations I know England, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries have it why not here. I was born in England where they have Universal healthcare and it works perfectly there. My Dad who passed away was able to stay at home through his illness as his Doctor came and visited him even on a Sunday and it did not cost my Mother a penny. My Mother who lives in England is now 85 and she does not pay a penny for her doctor or medication . Old people should be taken care of, they work hard and pay their taxes . I have worked hard all my life and paid my taxes I want to be assured I will be taken care of when I get old. I exercise and try and eat right. UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE is what we need in this country

notarealperson's picture

It's communism all over again.

Before you call me unpatriotic, or whatever you can think of as an insult, listen to my argument.

Universal HealthCare, like communism, works out great on paper, but never in practice.

Quite honestly, you just can't expect a semi-corrupted, inefficent government with another branch.
Especially if that branch is Healthcare. We are better off with privatized healthcare and medicaid.

quantummechanik's picture

Why medicaid?

I'm interested to hear how you define "corrupted" in reference to government. If it's the search for personal gain in a public field, I agree that it is semi-corrupted. However, corporations--that's their raison d'etre. They're profit driven. Fully corrupted as opposed to semi corrupted. Why do you believe a company out to make a buck is more likely to take better care of you than the government? Same thing with efficiency--Insurance companies have marketing departments, CEO salaries, etc. to cover with the money you put in. UHC would have none of that.

PreferBetter's picture

We can do better than this.

I would be glad to have socialized medicine if it meant I could get medicine for 5 dollars what would cost 1000 now. And my senior elderly mom could afford her diabetes and cancer medicine without beeing stuck in a giant donut hole of greed. I would be glad to have socialized universal healthcare if it meant I could go to any doctor or specialist I want without hassling with an HMO. And that other US citizens would not be discriminated against if they had pre existing conditions . And that the emergency rooms might not be as crowded if everyone had access to normal basic care. And that people on welfare did not feel like they had to stay on welfare or loose their medical benefits. However I would not call it Socialized or try to stigmatize it since it would be a giant improvement. Some countries already have this and they dont know why we are stuck in the stone age. Just for your entertainment check out this documentry called Sick Around The World, Frontline, PBS Video. The video is free to watch online. You can watch the whole thing or go straight to chapter 4 Taiwan: A New System They Coppied From Others. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld /

mike1948's picture

Mother may I?

I'd like to have health insurance that I didn't have to ask each time to make sure what part they were going to pay.

taylaht's picture

yes

i think that we should have universal health care . look at it this way, alot of people are dying because they cant afford medical insurance or that they have another helth issue going on. thoes who dont agree need to try to see things from thoes who dont have point of view. what if that was you who might need an liver or heart transplant and you were told that you couldnt get it done because you didnt have enough or ANY funds at all and was left for dead.

isotope's picture

socialism

I'd rather be dead than red

quantummechanik's picture

I wish this could be an article, Part I

Because I'm just going to go to town and summarize my position. Just going to town. Hoo-ha. Okay.

Health Care is really, really important. It's important to determine whether health care is actually in need of serious overhaul, or just a bit of trimming around the edges. I'm going to try and prove to you, with sources and everything, why we need the public option that's currently on the table in congress .

First of all, I'll say that US Health-care is indeed the most technologically advanced health care in the world. I firmly believe that. Unfortunately, all of that great technology doesn't do us much good if it can only be used by ten people a year. Living in a country with a high-tech machine that can save your life is meaningless if you can't afford it.

So here are the facts.

47 Million Americans don't have health insurance .
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/04/uninsured.epidemic . obama /

Millions more are under-insured.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/business/17health.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

That's why most bankruptcies in the US are about medical bills.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31103572 /

And a third of people responding to surveys say that they aren't complying with perscriptions because of the cost, up from a fourth about three years ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/04pharmacy.html?ref=todayspaper

Yes, you can go to an emergency room no matter what. Unfortunately, an ER visit doesn't give you any preventative medicine . I don't have a link for this, but if you doubt me please go to an ER and ask for a colonoscopy or a mammogram.

The American Cancer Society found that (and this is sort of a duh thing) cancer kills more often if you don't have adequate health insurance.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/opinion/03thu3.html?scp=1&sq=case +for+providing

If you want the statistical cost of our current health care system, there are three numbers you need to remember. 12,000, 18,000, and 100,000. Feel free to repeat those.

12,000 is the number of children that would live, not die, each year if the US's infant mortality rate were as low as Japans, Sweden's, France's, Germany's or Italy's. An American mother is three times more likely to lose a child before the age of 5 as a mother in the Czech Republic.
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/opinion/21kristof.html?scp=5&sq=kristof +infant+mortality+rate&st=nyt

18,000 Americans die every year because of a lack of health coverage. They don't get preventative care, timely diagnoses, or specialist treatments.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/healthcare/2002-05-22-insurance-deaths.htm

And lastly, the big number--100,000 Americans would survive every year if our health care system did as well on prevantable deaths due to treatable conditions as health care in Japan, France, and Australia. The US has the worst ranking throughout industrialized nations in this area.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0765165020080108?rpc=28

So that's just death, that just refers to who dies. Who knows who survives the subpar treatment, who lives with chronic injury and crippling pain, a lowered quality of life?

So how does that measure up to how much we spend on it?
Not well...
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/other/business/20061018health.xls
We spend twice as much as a lot of countries that are outperforming us.

So we're at the big problem stage, I hope you/d agree. This isn't something that needs trimming around the edges. Next up? Explaining what Obama is talking about.

sunshiner424's picture

I don't agree

I am sure all of your facts are valid even though I did not click the links.

I do not agree that these numbers mean that we need a significant overhaul of the current insurance company system. I think there are some small ways to fix all of these problems without going to UHC. I will get to those after I finish reading your essay...

quantummechanik's picture

Part the Two!

I think when it comes to health care , pragmatism is more important than ideology. What works, we go with. Whatever gives us the best health care to everyone for our buck, that's our choice.

A single-payer system is what almost all of the rest of the industrialized world has. I'll explain this concept below, because I think there might be confusion about it.

What single payer means is, you pick your doctor. You pick your hospital. Government picks up the bill.

We actually already have this in the US. It's called Medicare. Medicaid is SIMILAR, but because I'm a stickler for terminology I have to refer to it as "dual payer", in that both the federal and the state government pays for it.

I think having a system like this that covers everyone would be...just fantastic. However, it doesn't seem too likely.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/opinion/21sun1.html?ref=todayspaper

So what's being talked about right now isn't that as much as it is a heavily regulated new system of private insurance companies. It's just more regulation being discussed, in an attempt to make insurance from private companies provide affordable insurance to everyone.

What progressives would like--what I'd like--is to add a ' public option ' to the insurance exchange system, allowing people to buy into a medicare-type system administered by the government.

Why is this a good idea? A public plan would have lower administrative expenses, they wouldn't have profits as their bottom line, and they'd be in a stronger bargaining position to obtain discounts. This would enable them to charge lower premiums. Win win.

For example, a public plan could haggle with drug companies to get drugs at bulk discount prices. Medicare is currently forbidden from doing this. Thanks, Republicans! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/opinion/26krugman.html?_r=1

Private insurance companies have a lot of--well, I'm going to charitably call them expenses--like CEO salaries, marketing and ad creation, dividends, etc.

I'll summarize a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"After analyzing the costs of insurers, employers, doctors , hospitals, nursing homes and home-care agencies in both the U.S. and Canada, they found that administration consumes 31.0 percent of U.S. health spending, double the proportion of Canada…Streamlined to Canadian levels, enough administrative waste could be saved to provide comprehensive health insurance to all Americans."
http://www.pnhp.org/single_payer_resources/administrative_waste_consumes_31_percent_of_health_spending.php

How is this a bad thing?

It's really not, and I'll tell you why it's really not after these important messages from our sponsors.

sunshiner424's picture

HERE is the problem:

"What single payer means is, you pick your doctor. You pick your hospital. Government picks up the bill."

government = everyone

If we could "buy into" the public option , I'd be all for it. But we can't. We all pay no matter what. I just checked my old paycheck stubs... I paid 245 for medicare in 2008. I have no health insurance , I am struggling to pay rent, and I can't afford textbooks . I live off of ramen and pasta because they're the cheapest I can get. How is this fair? I'm paying for some old person to live a little bit longer when I could be buying textbooks and saving for a car. Even worse is social security which I paid 1043 in 2008 and which I expect to see none of when I retire because the country is bankrupt. Total in taxes , I paid 3382 in 2008. I am a model citizen in graduate school, planning on being a college professor, never broken the law , working as a full time TA to get through it, and I am in serious debt right now because I can't afford living expenses. This is all easy for you to say up there in Canada but you don't know what it's like for college kids and grads right now who can't get jobs and whose parents are losing jobs. Taxing everyone more is not going to help. I'd rather have the cash to spend where I choose than to have public health care . Again, If we could "buy into" the public option, I'd be all for it.

quantummechanik's picture

Fairness of taxation

Being a poor student sucks. I agree, I know the pain, my student loans speak for themselves. But you ask a valid question. Why should we pay for something we don't ourselves use? This, unfortunately for us as individuals, is just sort of the way things work out.

The higher taxes thing is debatable. It's not so much about country charges the highest percentage of income on average per citizen, you also have to take what's provided into account. France is often cited as high tax hell. So take your taxes, but add this stuff to them. The cost of health care . The cost of university--whatever one you can get into, even Yale or Princeton. Maternity leave for a year. Two weeks paid vacation a year. So if we added all of that stuff onto what you pay in taxes, you'd find that you actually don't pay as much for what you get as a french person does.

Now, you can argue against UHC on two fronts, it seems to me. The first is practical, or "This plan won't work!". The second is ideological, be that "This is immoral" or "This is Unamerican" or what have you. I think you're trying to take the latter side. So my question is, how is this different than, say, the fire department or the army? I've never needed to call either of those in to rescue\invade something. I spend much, much more on those than I do on health care. How is that fair?

j30a1's picture

Please do not

Recommend your own posts.

quantummechanik's picture

The person that recommended this

Did so a while ago--I think it was the guy that recommended the whole series. When did you see me recommend this?

j30a1's picture

i was

being a smart ass. you told this to other people without proof of them doing so, so i said it to you.

quantummechanik's picture

Parto Numero Tres.

And I've eaten!

OK, so why do we not like this? There's a lot of misinformation being thrown around, and quite frankly, a lot of lies, so I'm going to try and correct the ones I hear most often.

First of all, people are calling it single payer. It's not. A single payer system is one where the government pays for everything through tax revenue, like they have in Canada. This is a public option .

Second of all, people are calling it socialized medicine . It is also very not. Socialized medicine is where the government actually owns the hospitals and the doctors are government employees. That's what England has. That's what the VA is. That is not what this is.

People who oppose this like to tell horror stories about the other countries that have systems like that, single payer and socialized. The best example I can think of is this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmm87LytlgQ
Which I'll summarize again. Feel free to act this out on your own.

"
Morris:  And what's going to happen is the same thing that goes on in Canada.  Because of the long wait for colonoscopies, the incidence of colon cancer in Canada is 25 percent higher than in the US.
And because the two top drugs we use for chemotherapy for advanced stage colon cancer are not available in Canada because of costs, the death rate is 2 % higher.  41 percent of Canadians die of colon cancer compared to 32 in the US.
O'Reilly:  That is one of the most compelling things about your book, is that you deliver statistics that say Americans are a lot healthier than Canadians are in the vital disease category—heart disease, cancer, things like that. 
Morris:  Let's quantify it.  6 percent lower death rate from heart disease and a 16 percent lower death rate from cancer in the US.  And Canada has more poor people."
There are two possibilities here. One is that Dick Morris is telling the truth. If he is, then you have to compare the survival rates to the amount of money going in. Remember, Canadians spend half as much as Americans per capita on health care . 6% for 50% less money? Okay.
The other possibility is that he's not telling the truth. Remember the 12,000, 18,000 and 100,000 numbers. Also, check THIS out.
A large study found that five-year survival rates for many diseases in this country are no better than they are in countries that spend far less on health care. People here are less likely to have long-term survival after colorectal cancer, childhood leukemia, or a kidney transplant than they are in Canada.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/business/economy/17leonhardt.html?ref=todayspaper
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, we spend $412 per person on health care administrative costs, versus an average of $72 for peer OECD countries. Six times as much. Here's a cool graph thing.
http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/publications/healthcare/slideshow/interactive.asp
Something else I keep hearing is about wait times. Canada, the UK, oh the Wait Times. Often there are anecdotes.
So I went to Business Week magazine, the INCREDIBLY LIBERAL SOURCE, who was studying the issue. "In reality, both data and anecdotes show that the American people are already waiting as long or longer than patients living with universal health care systems."
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_28/b4042072.htm
So remember. We've got the same wait times, but we spend twice as much money.
If Canada, France, GB, etc. doubled the money they were spending on health care, it would be incredible. There'd be house calls! Best hospital food ever! Wait times wouldn't exist!
Now, if we in the US cut our medical expenditure in half, how long would our wait times be? How bad would it get?
So why are people ACTUALLY hating on this?
Same QM Time, Same QM Channel!

sunshiner424's picture

Just to be clear

"First of all, people are calling it single payer . It's not. A single payer system is one where the government pays for everything through tax revenue, like they have in Canada. This is a public option "

So what is a public option? Will individuals get to choose to pay or not to pay?

Everyone keeps saying it's like medicare but I hate the concept of medicare...

quantummechanik's picture

Part Four!

So why do people dislike this plan so much?

The New York Times recently wrote:

"The prospect of competing with a government plan terrifies the private insurers. But in our judgment, if that many Americans were to decide that such a plan is a better deal for them and their families, that would be a good thing. Innovative private plans that already deliver better services at lower costs would survive. Inefficient private plans would wither."

So if we've got a public option , private insurance companies would wither and die.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/politics/08daschle.html?ref=todayspaper

Is this a real thing?

Some analysts say no, and point to the fact that over half of the states offer state employees the option to buy into a public plan, as opposed to private health insurance company products. The PHI companies in these states are still doing fine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/health/policy/07health.html?ref=todayspaper

Some maintain that the state coverage model above isn't an applicable comparison to the nationwide coverage option.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/health/policy/07plan.html?ref=todayspaper

Some, like me, hope they're right and that the public option is a slam-dunk that beats out the corporations. Better coverage at lower costs? That's a win. Not because I'm a leftist (I am) but because less people will die and more of us keep our money .

And what I'm describing, what's on the table, is actually pretty popular. 63% of Americans like it.
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200906190026

Sorry, make that 72%. Including half of Republicans
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/policy/21poll.html?ref=todayspaper

Good for us.

OK, some messages now to certain people. To the people in congress promoting the trigger idea: Public option wouldn't be instituted unless at some point down the road, private health insurance companies haven't met certain standards. Knock it off. The standards aren't being met now.

To the people who are selling others into local insurance buying co-ops. Knock it off. Your little thing doesn't have the market power to have the benefits of the national plan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/opinion/21sun1.html?ref=todayspaper

Tot he people to the left of me (there are some) who are saying that the public option isn't good enough. Knock it off. We can't get a single-payer system, at least this term. This is an excellent start.

To Bobby Jindal, who said
"Republicans believe in a simple principle:  no Americans should have to worry about losing their health care coverage.  Period.  We stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage. 
What we oppose is universal government-run health care.  Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients, not by government bureaucrats. 
We believe Americans can do anything.   And if we put aside partisan politics and work together, we can make our system of private medicine affordable and accessible for every one of our citizens."
Knock it off. You guys have been opposing health care for all americans since FDR and Truman proposed it.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/30-0

You guys give us...not good plans. I mean, the big republican plan would have only helped 10% of Americans without health insurance.
http://www.therationalradical.com/transcripts/152transcript-publicoption.htm
and why not http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/opinion/26fri1.html

There's another line that I hear a lot: Do I want some government bureaucrat between me and my doctor?

Yes. Compare it to what I have now, which is a corporate bureaucrat between me and my doctor. They make money when they figure out how to deny my claim. That's their purpose, that's how they profit. It's called recission. They're very good at it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/opinion/29mon1.html?ref=todayspaper
and why not
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/16/health.care .hearing/

I also hear how the AMA is against the public option.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/us/politics/11health.html?_r=2

That's just what the AMA seems to do. The AMA opposed Medicare. Which is more than I can say for house republicans, who after an amendment was proposed by Rep. Wiener from New York to end Medicare, didn't get any votes.

I'm still going with this, so keep watching.

quantummechanik's picture

Final Part.

Why would republicans like this?

There are two reasons I think that Republicans could be sold on this idea.

Reason one is, if people are covered without being tied to an employer, they'll feel less tied to a particular company. No fear of quitting for fear of losing the health coverage. This means more people can quit, start their own businesses, and be entrepreneurial. Go Capitalism!

The second reason is that as long as corporations are paying for health care , they're at a competitive disadvantage with foreign corps who don't. Let's level the playing field.

Insurance is a middleman. It drains resources, skims profits, and slows things down. market-based insurance is what got us here in the first place.

I like bipartisanship. But when all bipartisanship does is take the teeth out of a program, water it down so that it's doomed for failure, then there's really no need for it.

Here's a quote from FDR.

"We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me--and I welcome their hatred."

On this site, and in a bunch of forums, I get the hatred. Well, I'm welcoming it. Bring it on. 120 House democrats pledged to oppose any insurance reform plan that doesn't include a public option . I want to try and put some wind in their sales.

In conclusion, whether you agree with me or disagree with me---feel free to recommend this because I think it's probably the longest comment on this site and took a lot of research.

tek's picture

Fantastic

Not sure how this flew under my radar Quantum. It's quantity is only outdone by it's quality.

sunshiner424's picture

Finished reading

Yes, my posts all turned up backward because I replied in the order I read.

Props for all the research you did. I still wholeheartedly disagree.

Here's one article I came across that summarizes my entire point of view.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html

In the end, perhaps we agree to disagree. But that is why you are in Canada and I am still in the US where taxes are lower and health care technology is better. I believe I have more opportunities for a better quality of life and I believe someday I will be able to afford the best health care in the world (if the moochers don't hold me back too much).