When Bush was proposing a change in Social Security (personal accts) there was an ad being run (i think by AARP) that was very effective in killing it. Basically some old woman had a leak in her sink and was told they needed to tear down the entire house. The message was that Social Security had some leaks but what Bush was doing would destroy everything just to fix a small problem.(clearly this ad was misleading and wrong but that's not the point). Right now we have approximately 10-13 million American Citizens who have "slipped through the cracks" and are uninsured. Thats in a country of 350 million poeple. That is a tiny leak.
We don't need a complete overhaul of the entire health care industry in order to fix that tiny leak. A few small adjustments (free market adjustments in my not so humble opinion) would do the trick.
Politicians who are advocating for a complete overhaul I understand. They want money, they want control. That's ok by me. I believe almost all of them are scumbags no matter the party so it doesn't surprise me. But for regular citizens who are screaming and fighting to give up their liberty I think maybe they just need to get a better look at what we're talking about here.
There is still an industry that is growing and successful, that produces 17% of the Gross Domestic Product, and that employs over 10% of all American workers. The medical industry incorporates more than 820,000 businesses: hospitals, physician's offices, dentist's offices, home healthcare services, kidney dialysis centers, medical laboratories, X-Ray imaging centers, radiotherapy facilities, mental hospitals, physical therapy centers, nursing homes, outpatient surgical centers, dental laboratories, rehabilitation facilities and ambulance services with combined annual revenue of over $1 trillion. It immediately plows most its growing income right back into the economy for wages, and directs additional business to satellite industries such as pharmaceuticals, drugstores, and insurance companies. It even produces billions of dollars in revenues for the medical malpractice trial lawyers. Americans medical care costs more than government programs elsewhere, but it provides better care and better results, the best in the world. American patients, even the destitute, do not give birth in hallways, or wait months for essential diagnostic tests and treatments.
Wesley Clark MD at American Thinker
6 comments:
This country spends twice as much as others per person on healthcare. That's a problem. Millions are uninsured. That's a problem.
We are the only major industrialized country not to have universal healthcare. Canada has a single-payer system that is quite popular with Canadians. Harry Truman originally proposed Medicare and originally wanted it to cover everyone. Conservatives fought Medicare all the way, and I recall a video you posted of Ronald Reagan condemning it as "socialized medicine." Now most conservative support Medicare although they opposed it for decades.
It's a legitimate debate and obviously we disagree. I don't have a problem with that although I do think some conservatives are lying about Obama's proposals. Killing old people and all that. The end, I suppose, justifies the means in their minds.
Gary don't comment unless you're going to read the article.
Just like the idiots who are pushing Obamacare and haven't read the bill.
If you do read it and still don't agree with me it's because you're stupid but you can still comment if you want to make a bigger fool of yourself. Just keep the comments relevant.
Thank you for your cooperation.
No question but that the healthcare industry is growing and will continue to do so as we baby boomers continue to get older and sicker. Let me quote on sentence:
"Without any new legislation, most of us are very satisfied with our own medical care. Everybody over 65 has excellent healthcare coverage, for which many beneficiaries pay much less than they cost."
This program that covers everyone over 65 with excellent healthcare service, what's it called again? Oh yeah, it's Medicare, the government-run program that Reagan opposed as "socialized medicine."
Since we all like Medicare so much, let's discuss extending it to cover all citizens, as Truman originally proposed.
thank you gary for staying on point here and also for making my point for me.
The exact sentence that you quote is the exact reason why we CANT extend it to everyone. The most important part of that is
" for which many beneficiaries pay much less than they cost."
eventually the money runs out. It is indeed socialized medicine. does medicare provide good health care? i guess so, but it's also going broke.
I understand the need for reform of the healthcare industry. I even agree with that. I also understand the need to take care of the poor and the elderly and agree with that too.
What i don't agree with is destroying the private sector health care industry in order to accomplish these things. The free market, if allowed to work properly, could drastically reduce the costs of health insurance and therefore bring affordable healthcare to even more people.
Of course there will be people who still can't afford it and that is what medicare was originally intended for.
Are you and I actually going to have a civil discussion? A first for everything, I guess. I am also in favor of reforming the healthcare system, including Medicare. Most people get health insurance from their employers, so obviously there is a need for a Medicare program for retired people. Perhaps it could be extended to those who cannot afford health insurance. I think people need to be able to carry over their health insurance when they lose or change jobs. There have to be ways to control costs. How can other countries give everyone healthcare at half the cost? I don't have all the answers.
I'm not sure I share your faith in free-market solutions. I'm more in favor of a regulated free-market. Free market ideology tends to work better in theory than in practice. OK, fine let people purchase health insurance out-of-state if they are not now allowed to, but I doubt that will solve the problems. I think we need, at a minimum, some form of public-option for health insurance.
Medicare, I'm sure isn't perfect, and will face some financial problems as more people enter retirement. That will have to be addressed, by either cutting costs or raising taxes, or some combination of the two. What would we do if our police or fire departments were running in the red? Probably raise taxes.
There's plenty of room for compromise but I don't see any sign of compromise on the Republican side. Bush rammed through his tax cuts with few votes in the Senate than Obama has now and I think Obama should do the same. He ran on healthcare and he won and the Democrats control both houses of Congress. If they can't get some real healthcare reform through Congress I will be very disappointed. Why is it the Democrats seem to have less backbone than the Republicans?
Anyway, have a good weekend.
gary,we already have a system for people who can't afford health insurance. It's called medicaid.
It's also going bankrupt but that's besides the point.
to answer your question on other countries i'm no expert but i know 2 things. They ration healthcare and they are subsidized by the U.S. and other free market countries. France for example sets the price that they will pay for their drugs. It is well below market price but the drug companies make up the difference by charging us much more than the market price.
i have never suggested that we shouldn't have any regulation at all by the way. some regulation is always recommended when we're talking about a market as large and important as this but right now it is over regulated.
finally, a public "option" would be a death blow for a few very simple reasons.
1. the "public" means the federal government. that means even though they won't be efficient they CAN'T go out of business. They are subsidized by the tax payer.
2. since it is a public option the upfront premiums will be lower than what we pay now which means that only a really stupid business man would opt to continue to pay for the more expensive option. It would be bad business.
3. the government NEVER gives anything up because they build their constituency with govt. jobs. example. the post office is a joke. they NEVER make money and can't hold a candle to fedex or ups but the post office is full of union employees that vote so nobody's going to shut them down or allow ups to start carrying letters.
So in other words, by the time you and people in your camp figure out that the government can't run healthcare it will be too late. the private market infrastructure will be destroyed and we'll be stuck with post office health care.
have a good weekend.
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