The Right Wing's Latest Argument Against Public Health Care -- We'd Like It Too Much

[HAL 9000 96]

I will agree with the premise of this threads title.

"The Right Wing's Latest Argument Against Public Health Care -- We'd Like It Too Much"

Any time people can get used to getting something free.. or even a sweet deal, they tend to not want to give it up.... well, Duh!

I'm quite sure the vast majority of people don't look so longingly at social healthcare because they get to be the one to pay more.

Every single person wants to pay a minimum in payment and be covered for everything.

By the same token, the Right-wing does not want the Govt to start paying everyones mortgage either... if the lefties passed that law, I am sure people would like it too much to stop it as well

If the question is: will our lower natures allow us to push the cost of medical attention onto others to pay?

See we are not even talking about setting up some "Extreme medical conditions" coverage law... n,n,noooo, we want a whole big program we can all ride on.

How is your ride gonna get paid for?

Could one of you -search engine wizards- find out the average profit per year for a healthcare insurance company, I thick we will see, if these companies worked "at-cost" not much would change.

One of the main themes of your posting seems to be the increase in cost to you of a government-run single-payer health care system. I respect that argument. I understand not wanting to pay any more than you already pay for your health care delivery. What I don't understand is your lack of faith in the ingenuity and ability of this country to do things as well, or better, than other countries. All it takes is a look around at all of the other western industrialized countries, and you will discover that they not only have better health care delivery, but it is also less expensive than ours.

I believe this great country could do things better than those countries. We have the advantage of being able to look at their health care systems and choosing the features of those systems which would work for us. I would like to think that you would support such a single-payer plan, in principle, if you felt assured that it would cost you the same (or less), and your benefits would not change.

Right now, government-sponsored health care in this country is approaching 50% of all health care. It is not as big of a jump to a single-payer system as you may think it is. And please do not harbor the illusion that you do not already pay for those who have no health care plan. I believe it has already been mentioned somewhere in this thread...but it bears repeating: when the uninsured finally get sick enough to go to the emergency room, the cost of their care is largely shouldered by you and me...at emergency room prices. A bit of inexpensive preventive care for them would save a lot of money. Another well-known cost savings associated with single-payer systems is their decreased paperwork and overhead. I'm sure you can appreciate that.

I work for a Fortune 100 company. I deal with a few Fortune 500 companies. After having seen how these companies operate (including mine), I can assure you that all large corporations are not more efficient than all government programs. Private or public...let's not paint everything with a broad brush. I believe that if we put our minds to it, we could create a health care system that is the envy of the world. Personally, I would not mind paying a bit more for world-class health care for everyone.

Lastly, it needs to be pointed out that, under the current system, anyone with health insurance, no matter how good their policy is, can run out of coverage. All it takes is one catastrophic accident, illness, or disease. It happens to families every day in this country. Everything they spent years working for is gone. We can change that if we want to.

Good thoughtful reply.

We would be a lot closer in agreement if your use of the term "country" and "Government" were not interchangeable. I do believe our "Country" could develop a better system but I see little evidence that politicians who cannot even manage to run their senate cafeteria at a profit will somehow do better with your healthcare.

(I'm serious)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0801765_pf.html

Many people theorize, that one of the reasons that Healthcare is so expensive right now is because the govt is such a huge customer to the system... and they have over paid for services so often that it has driven the cost up for all of us.

I believe the key is to get the free-market forces back into practice, right now what we have are huge cartels. To exchange privately run cartels for politically run cartels will be suicide.

Our government should be interchangeable with our country. Our government is of the people and for the people.

I completely agree with your observation of the cartels. When you mix the money generated in a free-market system with the power structure of a 'cartel' you get trouble. What alternative other than deregulated free-market health care do you propose other than that exists already?

[HAL 9000 96]

I believe the key is to get the free-market forces back into practice, right now what we have are huge cartels. To exchange privately run cartels for politically run cartels will be suicide.

Great point, and one which I pretty much agree with. I think the free market should be very involved in a national health care infrastructure. There's absolutely no reason why we can't have health care for everyone that is done through the forces of the free market and regulated by the Federal government. I truly believe that it is because of our free market that the US has the ability to do national health care better and cheaper than any other country on the planet. We often point to other countries and say "yeah, it's great if you don't mind waiting hours or even weeks to see a doctor." To which I say, "We are Americans. Let's do what we have always done: learn from their mistakes and not make them."

And it would make it cheaper on the government overhead as long as the free-market system has a regulatory oversight that prevents it from running out of control LIKE the current system has. I know I know... I ended that with a preposition!!!