How to Really Fix Healthcare. Conservatives, take a Nitro before reading this

I don't think I've ever seen a Conservative ever say a nice thing about Obamacare, they fault it for being a disaster, yadda yadda yadda. Rehashing the talking points they've received from the GOP's only functioning brains, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, they've blinded themselves to what could conceivably happen under the ACA, and what would give everyone right of center on the political spectrum a major coronary.

It's also why I love the ACA's potential.

Twenty-some years down the road, a liberal-minded President could do what Obama didn't have the votes to do, nationalize every health insurance company selling their products through the healthcare exchanges.

You see, the problem isn't Obamacare, the problem is one of the most fundamental rights of all humanity is beholden to a profit motive. Nationalization of the healthcare industry could be achieved quite easily, the same way the passenger rail system was nationalized by Nixon.

Sorry for making all you Connies lose your lunches. Have a good day.

 

Apparently to be a leftwinger means, "Consequences for 'feel good' actions? We don't care about no stinkin' consequences. We learned all we need to know about life from watching Star Trek!"

Niiiiiice.

 

Pay attention to what is happening now--- to the total incompetence, the lies, the misleading sales pitches, the lack of healthcare choices, the dropping of doctors ---this is government run, agenda driven healthcare. And apparently our President thinks he can snap his fingers and demand Insurance companies should ignore the law. He thinks he is such a totaltarian. He is supposed to uphold the law...not ask others to ignore it.

Healthcare is not a fundamental right, but if it is...obviously it can't be left up to the government to dish out.

 

*clears throat*

Life has been considered a fundamental right in America since the time of the Revolution. What is life, or happiness for that matter, without proper maintenance and care?

Furthermore, other countries, most notably, South Africa in their 1996 Constitution, recognize that the right to healthcare is fundamental.

Lastly, if life is not a fundamental right, of which healthcare is the only logical extension thereto, then why do Conservatives spend so much time attempting to save every fetus ever conceived in this country?

 

Left wingers want this. Right wingers want that. It's time to flap those wings and do something about the fundamental problem plaguing our health care system, which is cost. We can't continue to pay twice as much as other nations and expect to remain solvent.

So, what is the solution?

Get away from the wings and to to the fuselage.

Forget which party says what, and focus on the real problem: cost. Here is a fuselage solution: Start with Medicare, which currently pays 80% of medical bills for anyone over 65 who pays into the system.

yep. That's right. Medicare is not free.

Now, instead of 80%, pay on a sliding scale from 0% to 100%, according to how much the patient has had to pay out of pocket. After the patient has paid, say, 10% of his net income, then the insurance kicks in and takes over. Until then, the patient is responsible.

That way, everyone is invested in finding out how much health care costs. As it is, the patient typically doesn't even know what is being paid.

Oh, and then gradually reduce the age until everyone is covered.

Left wingers won't like it as the poor don't get free (to them) care.
Right wingers won't like it, as it is a government run single payer insurance.

Screw the wingers.

 

Healthcare costs are out of control because of the profit motive shared by all corporations.

 

I oppose ACA for common sense reasons. I absolutely HATE dealing with govt agents. They are almost always cold, and they have the ability to make arbitrary decisions (sometimes minor, sometimes major) that impact my life, and I have no ability to hold them accountable for said decisions. I can't stand interacting with police officers (my testicles have been felt twice in the last year). I can't stand fumbling my way through this ridiculously complex tax code, and dealing with govt agents at all levels, who have no desire to help me, but only a desire to get every penny they can. If I want to start a business, I can expect a lot more interaction with various govt agents. I can't stand dealing with the DMV agents once a year.

So ACA promises that I will have govt agents between me and my health care. No freakin thanks. What is the liberal goal anyway, to have every waking moment of citizens' lives be a part of some interaction with a govt agent? Again, no thanks.

 

I disagree that force is necessary to solve the healthcare issue. Voluntary means can do a much better job through the free market. Paying for health care services was not a problem before the government got involved.

If I see a homeless child in need of medical attention would it be right for me to steal $1000 from the next person I see and give it to the girl in need? I don't believe so. Stealing is not moral. If it is not right for me to steal to help the needy, then what makes it right for us to hire IRS agents to do it for us?

Besides, if I was to steal $1000 and give it to the girl, then she would get $1000. When the IRS steals $1000 from productive people they take their share off the top, then regulations must be obeyed, and distribution, by the time government gets done taking their share of the loot the girl in need only gets $100 or so.

Is it right for you to hire IRS agents to take money from me to pay for your doctor bills? I don't think so.

 

Oh, please, go do some homework on the issue.

Before government got involved in healthcare, enterprising capitalists were passing heroin and cocaine off as legitimate over-the-counter medication. Hell, Dr Pepper and Pepsi were considered HEALTH FOODS.

Without government action, healthcare would only be something the rich could afford. Do you not realize just how exorbitant our healthcare system is? Other countries spend six percent of their GDP on healthcare, WE SPEND EIGHTEEN PERCENT! Ever wondered why the Hell people go to Canada and Mexico for prescription drugs? THEY'RE CHEAPER BECAUSE THEIR GOVERNMENTS MANDATE THEY ARE. My grandparents used to winter in Texas and they'd go to a dentist in either Matamoros or Reynosa, they could get stuff done at a comparable quality of care for a fraction of what it'd cost in the United States.

When I was born in 1989, my mom was charged 25 cents PER COTTON BALL!!!!! For a small tuft of COTTON.

But no......there's NOTHING WRONG WITH AMERICA'S HEALTHCARE......nothing at all.....


Actually, you know what, if you Republicans want the government out of your business, go build yourself Unabomber shacks, that'll be the only way.

 

Really? Did Rachel tell you that? I'm considered low-middle class all my life - not rich. Unless you call 35k-70k rich. Private insurance has served me and my family well for 45 years.

 

I don't know that healthcare is a fundamental right because, frankly, I don't care about fundamental rights. We can make those up as we go. I DO know that the private sector-based healthcare we've had ever since health insurance was invented has been a massive failure or we wouldn't even be talking about government control.

 

Nope healthcare costs are out of control because there are two many lawyers bureaucrats and bean counters involved. Obama care seeks to solve this issue by adding even more bean counters, lawyers and bureaucrats.

 

Rachel? I know no Rachel, unless you mean Rachel Ray, in which case, no, I don't even watch her. I do watch the History Channel, which did quite a fair piece on the history of soft drinks which, in their early years, many were used as patent medicines.

If you think the insurance industry was unregulated, you're a buffoon, the history of Federal regulation of the industry goes back to World War II.

Here's a tip for you, unlike the idiots who vote Republican, those to the left of them are encouraged to utilize their brains and seek out independent facts. No wonder we see so many religious nuts vote for the GOP, it's the same damn concept as much of Religion, they can't think for themselves, and thus must be spoon-fed their beliefs.

 

Would you care to tell us what some of these horrible consequences will actually be?

Or you could just have a single payer system that is mandated to charge the government. Then the conservatives and liberals could fight over the price, but everybody would get what they need. Demand for healthcare is the textbood example of inelastic. You MUST have it when you need it or you die, you can't shop around and you can't forego it if you're sick. Therefore it must be regulated unless you want to end up with a world where only the children of Bill Gates could afford to live with juvenile diabetes.

Any business runs on the profit motive, and supply and demand can be relied to set a fair price IF DEMAND IS ELASTIC, if demand is inelastic you need government regulation

I share all your dislikes and add dealing with Doctors and Hospitals to the lot. However, I'd rather sit in a waiting room than have my relatives sit at my funeral, so I go to a doctor for checkups and when I'm sick. Life's a (*)(*)(*)(*)(*), but the alternative is no fun either.

I think it's ok to hire IRS agents to take money from me and you to pay for roads, police, sewers etc. Healthcare is part of our social infrastructure and as important as any other component. We cannot have a pleasant or even stable society if millions upon millions are desperately hoping they don't become ill and/or our poor, old and sick are dying in the streets.

 

Exactly, no business should have the power to dictate to people what level of health the people should have. I would much prefer a blanket single payer system. People in the United Kingdom were screaming that it would never work when it was enacted. Now, no healthcare provider wants to go back to the old system because they see the benefits.

 

..........because bureaucrats and politicians don't have profit motives, or corporate donors to keep happy.

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just think of the possibilities, ten men standing around holding shovels, four taking breaks and 6 more walking around with walkie talkies while one guy delivers your care.

 

Nor should the government.

 

perhaps more $600 ash trays and $400 wrenches will help contain costs, and keep those nasty corporations from benefitting from the government largesse.

 

This is exactly right. Just like the solution to the debt problem is more debt the solution to the health care crisis is to add more laws, regulators, and intervention. It makes no sense.

First they cripple you with licensing and regulations, then they offer to fix the problem they created by more regulations, then they claim they are compassionate because they did everything they could to help. The government comes by and breaks your leg, then they hand you a crutch, then they claim they are compassionate because if it wasn't for them you couldn't walk.

 

52 years without a problem, until now. Thanks for your lifelong experience.

 

No, not since health insurance was invented. Years ago, health insurance was purchased for catastrophic liability. Everyone paid their doctor out-of-pocket for day to day medical problems, and they used health insurance for the big problems. When government got involved, and employers gave employees benefits of employer paid health care, then people started using the health care system for broken fingernails because somebody else was paying for it. The "price doesn't matter" I'm worth it mentality came into vogue because somebody else was paying the bill.

 

i'm getting a bit tired of all these idjits coming along and blaming the profit motive for all our ills. y'all just can't seem to get it through your heads that the evil profit motive has nothing to do with business or corporations, it's the basic reason we all do anything. we all do the things we do because they benefit us in some way, so quit whining about it. government isn't going to take away the profit motive. it may change its direction a bit, but government is as interested in profit as the rest of us. the difference between private sector profit and public sector profit is that in the private sector something of value must be traded for that profit. the state and its functionaries don't need to return anything for their profit. their profit is "direct" control over the people and they need only give the appearance of being valuable in order to convince the sheep to cede the power of the individual to the state.

 

Hmmm. why isn't if a fundamental right?

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare......................

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, ...and general Welfare of the United States................


And we already tried it your way with private corporations and it didn't work. So you got a third plan you want to try that covers all the people?

 

So are you saying that the founders intended for us to have national healthcare, or are you saying we should be living under the South African constitution.

I'm guessing you don't really know what rights are or anything about the US constitution. You may know a lot about the South African constitution though.

 

Is this the great conspiracy theory? I must ask, why would anyone want to set this control up, knowing they are representatives for a short time and will be under this evil control, along with their families and great grand children. Think about what you are suggesting. Perhaps it has some appearance of control, but so do drug and prostitution laws, and how is that working out.