It's been in the news a lot recently. What are everyone's thoughts? Should the US have a socialist healthcare program?
Hall of Fame Asst Commissioner
US Healthcare
It's been in the news a lot recently. What are everyone's thoughts? Should the US have a socialist healthcare program?
VP of Operations
I have no problem with them doing something to assist in health COVERAGE, but the heallth care system in the US is second to none. I just don't think that you can convert our system to a socialist system as quickly as they are trying to do it. There are too many things to consider and plan for, they are trying to rush thru a program that will not work and will result in chaos, just like the stupid assed cash for clunkers program. They are biting off more than they can chew too quickly. I personally don't wnat politician standing between me and my physician.
Hall of Fame Asst Commissioner
As I understand it, the biggest problem with the US system is that the insurance companies are run purely for profit, so they will use any means necessary to reject claims in order to maximise their income. That's if you have insurance of course, anyone who can't afford it is even more screwed (at least from what I've heard and watching Sicko, though Moore isn't exactly the most unbiased source I'll admit.
Major
I need help, we make a better than avg wage, and cant afford a family plan for us and three kids.
it is supposed to be aimed at youth and people like me and my wife.
medicare and medicade are for the poor and old, but what about the avg middle class workers? We need something...
Fewer and fewer jobs are offering health care plans that are 100% paid, or even partial paid through them cause the health care companies are making record profits.
VP of Operations
Agreed, I believe that the working class stiffs in this conutry need some sort of assistance in coverage. If you have a politician making the decisions that the insurance companies are making now, will you have anything better? I think not.
Sergeant
I've been reading up on this since I'm a medical student. I'm not an expert on this but from what I gather, the basic problem is that incentives are off leading to the high cost of healthcare today. Government gives tax breaks to companies to provide healthcare coverage so what happens is that patients don't pay directly for their treatment and doctors get paid more for doing more tests/procedures. So what happens is that most of the people involved wants more tests and procedures done and especially the more expensive cutting edge stuff leading to higher costs and unnecessary interventions being done. Insurance companies will try to keep costs down but there is only so much they can do when everyone else wants the most and best possible care for themselves. In addition, doctors will adjust to the system and find ways to make more money.
To fix this, I don't believe more government intervention is the answer but instead better competition. There has to be adjustments to the system so that patients bear more of the cost directly instead of insurance. This way, people will advocate for more cost-effective care. Also, competition between insurance companies has to increase. This can happen by lessening restrictions to insurance companies from doing business across state lines and if somehow the cost for new businesses to enter this area of business can be decreased. In regards to actual medical care, there needs to be more studies on the effectiveness of different therapies so that older therapies are not so easily discarded for newer and much more expensive therapies that are not necessarily more effective.
Increasing coverage would be great since early care and preventive care is much more effective than emergency room care. I'm not sure how this can be done but a first step needs to be more incentives for medical students to enter primary care versus specialized care. There is already a shortage of primary care doctors and that will only get worse with any increased coverage.
Major
i hear that people w/o ins using the ER as their PCP and never paying the bill drives up costs. just what i hear
Command Sergeant
well in the UK and Germany and Franc,e who all have universal and "socialist" healthcare... the politicians and bureaucrats have very little say...Originally Posted by Dogma
Not really sure why people think that i nthe first place... Not sure about the other countires, but in Germany we do manage to also have very profitable private health insurance companies that do compete with the public insurance.
and cash for clunkers ios a pretty good thing.
it would seem that on a lot of issues the republicans are jsut *****ing around for the sake of it. afterall, what else is the opposition to do except ***** and whine?
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Major
Rep are going against pretty much everything Obama wants to do in a big effort of "all or nothing" betting, so that if there is any failure they will be able to point the finger in the opposing direction claiming "we told you so"
Rep would most likely be in office right now if they didnt pick such a old *** nom, and a unconventional running mate for VP.
Corporal
Not sure what anyone else experience is but here's mine, I'm in Canada and covered by my provinces health program, I have no private coverage at all. I had a cyst on the side of my face, I went to my local clinic and was referred to a top notch plastic surgeon. He sent me for an MRI to map out the affected area, then a few weeks later I went to the local hospital and had day surgery to have the cyst removed. From the time I went to the clinic till the cyst was removed was about 2 months, total cost to me was $53 for the anti-biotic and pain killers for after the surgery. That's an MRI, top notch plastic surgeon, hospital surgery, and prescription drugs for a total cost to me of $53!!!!! God bless Canada and our national health system
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