Since our current system doesn’t work what with continually rising costs that are unsustainable, millions uninsured, the country’s financial health in bad shape and on and on, what should we do? With so many aspects and facets to the problem to consider, which ones are most important?
From minor tweaks to scrapping it all and starting over, where do you stand?
Look at the question from two perspectives. First, what would you do if you could wave a magic wand and start over without politicians being involved? In other words, the health care system of your dreams.
Second, given where we are and the idiotic political realities of the US these days, what are the politically and monetarily feasible changes to what we now have that you would like to see?
Answer highly depends on who you ask.
Ask a liberal and you get: “Let’s look at options and tradeoffs and what makes sense to make the system better. ie. “.a more perfect system..”
Ask a conservative : ” Leave everything alone. It’s perfect cause we’re perfect. Also, that’s how mommie and grand papa had it for years”
Good luck asking wingnuts what they’re for. They’re whining soreheads still pissed off that Obama won. The Republicans really can’t come up with anything they’re in favor of. If they did, they’d have to work with the Democrats to get something passed, and if something useful got passed, the Democrats would score points, being the party in power.
The Republicans want the country to suffer under the Democrats so they can win in 2010. They don’t care how many people lose their jobs, their homes, their health, their lives.
The Republicans don’t want anything good to happen to America until they get back in power. Plain and simple.
Healthcare for everyone whether they like it or not. We have roads across America whether we like them or not.
The average working week before Reaganomics was 40 hours with anything over 8 hours overtime. Today the average working week is 33 hours with young mothers working at McDonald’s in the mornings and the local hospital at night.
America is good for business and the workers be damned is in the minds of our executives.
Cut out the costs, don’t feed it more money.
If the doctors waste so much money on filling out all the different forms for the insurance companies, create an organization to make one form for all.
If I had a magic wand, I would do away with the existence of any government-supported health care in the first place. Unfortunately, there are generations of people who are used to the government providing expensive services who would suffer. Realistically, those have have to be phased out over decades at this point.
With or without a magic wand, I would drop the red tape but add tort reform. Allow insurance companies to produce hundreds of different plans for different needs and wants and risk factors. Allow sales across state lines. Let a thousand flowers bloom. If you want to punish insurance companies, make them compete. That’s how you force anyone or anything to become its best. Force competition and only the best will survive. Think about electronics or clothing or hair stylists. We don’t have government-sponsored ipods or hair cuts and the competition is fierce, which is always better for the consumer.
Get as close as possible to eliminating the need for insurance, and making what insurance we do need affordable.
Nothing in the health care market is sold at market price – this is the number one problem with the system.
Whether we keep some government subsidies (ex: Medicare) or eliminate them completely (over time, can’t do it right away obviously) we need to figure out exactly how much this stuff is really supposed to cost.
Getting us out of the habit of using insurance for *every* health care expense, for routine visits, is probably the single best “reform” available.
And before everyone blathers about how it’s too expensive for people to pay out of pocket for everything that’s not catastrophic care, note that this would be a gradual process. I’m not an expert, but within a decade sounds right.
I would like to see,
1. State – to – State Competition. The liberal Democrats talk 90 to nothing about having choice with a “public option” but refuse, on all that is holy, to open up state lines for real competitive competition. This singular move would lower cost and improve healthcare quality and efficiency. Look at it this way the people of California only have the ability to choose between 6 issuance companies, open up state-to-state, you now have the choice of 1,200 (including Georgia’s with the lowest cost at around $200 on average).
2. Tort Reform! First and foremost we need to allow Doctors to be able to practice medicine, not “defensive medicine.” Defensive medicine is accruing at every hospital and independent office across America because of the rampant increases in malpractice lawsuits. If Doctors cannot follow their gut instinct, if the Doctors have to put the patient through every test when they have the answer, for fear of malpractice lawsuits, they become defensive and cannot provide substantial healthcare. There is a simple way to remove 99.99% of these lawsuits – it’s called “tort reform.” Tort Reform will limit the ability to file claims, and caps the awards of damages. It also would provide protection to Doctors against frivolous lawsuits.
Now, I am only at the good old age of 17 but these are two common sense solutions that would lower the cost while increasing the standard of care. It baffles me as to why this has not already been done.
Plain and simple.
Government regulated health care for each and every citizen. Paid for by the government, and administrated by the government.
Insurance companies then could not hike rates to the sky, could not put people into bankruptcy, and could not reject people for existing health conditions.
The rest of the world has something like this, which is one reason why it costs more to produce things in the US.
The only way to make sure that care is given to ALL, is to get the insurance companies out of the mix. After all, corporations are not concerned with giving you care, they are concerned with making profits.
Remove the age limit on medicare.. Make it available instead for people that fail an income and asset test, lets say income of $40000 or so.
Ban denial of insurance for preexisting conditions.
Done.
The very best way to make health care affordable is to pass some kind of malpractice tort reform that caps non-economic damages. This would reduce the cost of malpractice insurance and thus cut the cost of healthcare.
Also the cost of health insurance should be deductible. Employers should also be able to deduct the amount they spend on employee heath insurance from their taxes.
Don’t say that the Republican’s aren’t interested in health reform. They proposed all these and more, but the Democrats block it. The Democrats actually had the locks changed so that the Republicans couldn’t get into the meeting to come up with a bill that was acceptable to everyone. Is it a surprise that the Republicans are against the bill in its current form that they were purposely locked out of.
Obama is actually causing more Americans to become uninsured by causing the largest unemployment rate since the depression. If you don’t work, you lose your insurance. He needs to create an environment where businesses hire more people. He is not doing so.
NONE!
-until the public en-mass gets a clue and realizes we must address/stop the rampant corruption throughout the entire congress and whitehouse (and dissolve The FED and re-establish the treasury to coin our own money) that has gone on for decades, any health bill passed will just further the corruption at tax payer expense.
IF YOU MUST: Interim fix: just stop/address the government & hospital level fraud in medicare/medicaid and give everyone *access to both*
I have both *straight* medicare & medicaid and it rocks. (no HMO bull attached, that is what ruined them)
(medicaid pays the medicare deductible..work the system and the system will work for you. Simple)
this health care bill is just a part of the NWO scam.
The system needed already exists.
How many times does BigGov need to reinvent the wheel before people get a clue? -that they are *voting* to be being ripped off blind?
The only thing congress practices these days is the art of illusion.
wake up -and turn off your tv.
-s
You have a health care system that is run for the sole benefit of insurance companies, not patients. The answer is simple. Eliminate patients.
The only way to save money is to have single payer universal healthcare. More competition means higher costs when it comes to insurance since 1 big pool of customers can negotiate lower prices for care and medicines than many small pools of fewer customers. 1 large pool also is better at spreading out risk. Preventative care for everyone saves money. 1 payer saves money for each doctor’s office and hospital who now have to deal with different contracts with different companies so much more bureaucracy now than needed with 1 payer. Profits also have to be made which is more money out of the customer’s pocket to be divided amongst the investors. Single payer works in so many other countries that it is silly to think it wouldn’t work here. Why people want to keep paying the most for the worst quality as compared to the other developed countries is beyond me.
I think it is funny and tragic how retardlicans fail to learn and ignore basic facts.
First off… Various states have already tried tort reform and it hasn’t reduced costs anywhere it has been tried. Anyone still arguing for tort reform at this point in history is either ignorant of the facts or just being obtuse.
Second, no amount of free market reform will fix healthcare, because that is
how the insurance companies make money. They charge you as much as they can then they deny you care. As for profit enterprises that is their imparitive.
Third, selling insurance accross state lines will have the same effect it had on banking. Anyone still want to argue that bank deregulation was a good idea?
Finally we see the primary care red herring again. Look there is precisely zero science based evidence that you guys will quit smoking, exercise more, eat healthier, drink less based on the words of your doctor 2x a year. There is no evidence to support that.
No the republican ideas are all bankrupt have already been tried and universally failed and made problem worse in every single case without exception.
Given those unassaultable cold hard facts we should do precisely what retardlicans are opposed to. First reeducation camps for anyone currently registered republican. Second, death panels and make republican seniors prove their continued worth. Third, we should make ammunition illegal. Pass laws making right wing radio and fox news illegal. Impose communism and seize all land and give it to black people in repairations. Surrender to the French and terroists. Forced conversions to islam.
I don’t know how to address the burka issue however, because I suspect republicans would get into that sort of thing.
Oh and you can only get married or join the military if you are gay.
I have to admit, I learned what it means to be a liberal from rush limbaugh, Sean hannity and glen beck.
Oh I guess I forgot handing Texas, new Mexico, and Arizona over to Mexico.
Here is a plan that I and a few others have been asking for but seems to get lost in the noise of “only the gov can provide good health care.”
http://tinyurl.com/ya7776e
the Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act of 2009, which provides all Americans with a tax credit for 100% of health care expenses, a tax credit for premiums for high-deductible insurance policies connected with a Health Savings Account (HSA), and allows seniors to use funds in an HSA to pay for a medigap policy. In addition, it makes all medical expenses tax deductible.
Seriously — why does it make more sense to give the money to the government, pay a 25% surcharge (you think the bureaucrats are going to work for free?), and then let them pay the insurance company?
If the government is going to spend the money ANYWAY, spend it by just not taking it in the first place.
H.R. 2629, a bill that prevents the government from requiring people to purchase health insurance, and […] H.R. 3217, which permits the purchase of health insurance across state lines and will ultimately lower costs due to the resulting competition.
I’d have a government run, single payer system with Doctor’s working for a salary like the rest of us.
For you idiots that have never read the US Constitution, one of the six reasons given for forming the US was to “promote the general Welfare”. I say universal health care would do that.
Now that I’m on Medicare, I have better coverage than I’ve ever had before. Not exactly a single payer system since I had to get a supplemental plan but it’s close.
My daughter’s job was just eliminated and her health insurance with it. Neighbor just became a widow and her health insurance when away. It’s unacceptable that people don’t access to health care.
Fund Medicare. Let the working public pay for insurance if they want it. Otherwise, no medical care.
A: Health insurance should be MANDATORY. If you don’t have it, you should fall under a public option whose premium scales with income.
B: If you like what you have, you can keep it (private option). You should not be taxed on this benefit. This way private insurance goes back to being an employer enhancement, rather than a reason to get a job.
These ways help to fix the problems in the system without reinventing it. I think this is the whole point, don’t break our coverage just to give othetr coverage. As a conservative, I know there is a problem and want to fix it, yet I don’t want to lose what I’ve worked hard to attain.
#18
stuff gets lost in the noise of single payer provides the best health care noise because those are the only examples that anyone can point to of well run health care systems.
Your plan does nothing to help the woman who was denied care because she had the pre-existing condition of being raped.
The plan that will pass is flawed but at least it will provide her with health insurance before she becomes so ill she qualifies for medicaid.
Also, and this is why I call you guys retardlicans, the time for ideas was last summer, or even the last decade. Instead last summer the only idea you had was “no” and you did nothing the last decade.
It is way to late to consider your ideas at this point. But don’t get angry at us, Obama made a speech asking for your ideas and all your party did was ra ra the guy who called him a liar.
Two good examples of “no think dogma” from the LIEBERTARIANS:
1. Tax Credits: Doesn’t help poor people which is the fastest growing class in America.
2. Interstate Competition: because competition drives down prices==even LL has to add “eventually.” In fact, eventually means never as in all that competition all the “fat cat corporate welfare too big to fail institutions are.” The market, such as it is, is already so carved up and manipulated no one with enough capital to get into that market would do so to make less money than they can by going with the flow.
Face it tards: healthcare is NOT an activity that the market works well, if at all, to control. Nice idea==just doesn’t work.
#19, <i“promote the general Welfare”. I say universal health care would do that.
PROMOTE not PROVIDE. Big Difference.
#22, Um, you need to think outside the square. There are more than two parties, Scooter.
And these ideas have been on the table for years. They just never got much attention.
And think about this . . . how can single payer actually reduce costs? It’s a monopoly! If you think it will, look at any of your dream countries overseas and see how much they pay for this (some are paying over 15% of their salary). 2.5% is a joke if you think it’ll stop there. Those countries are looking at privatizing most of it because they can’t afford it anymore. Now look at how much they spend on their military. And then compare their Constitution to ours.
And I just love man-who stories. My neighbor has cancer and her insurance paid for it all. I have a sister who had to have surgery and her insurance paid for it all. I had to have surgery and insurance paid for it all.
None of us have been dropped or denied coverage.
For every man-who story there is an equal one to refutes it.
Stop listening to the propaganda and think for yourself for once.
Lol, there are actually some retards who thing the idea of national sized banks was a good idea!!!!! Rofl!!! And now you guys want to bring those same economic wonders to health insurance???
Bwhahahhaha.
Look if we are going to use the federal government to bail out the to big to fail health insurance companies, why don’t we just skip a step and go directly to single payer?
I won’t support it until it actually addresses the core problems in health care: the insurance industry, the legal industry and government incompetence. But of course, no plan will ever address those, the insurance industry and the lawyers are major political contributors, doing anything to harm them will cut down on political contributions and we know that politicians will never do that.
If the government can’t even administer social security and Medicare, how can we trust them to take on health care for all?
Fuck’em, just plain old fuck them. We need something to trigger the replacement OUR current congress, like a natural disaster, requiring new elections since 99% of the people in this country won’t get off their asses to help themselves or to correct the terrible situation of these mutants being in YOUR government.
Is calling for a natural disaster treason yet?
@#21 Mandatory health insurance just redirects the problem. It would be ideal to address health care for a country of utter idiots incapable of taking care of themselves.
I say follow simple, natural, Darwinian principles. Everyone should asses their own risk and capabilities themselves and pick what is best for them. Every single clever young person, for example, should see that the whole insurance deal is a scam and instead of paying into it start saving their own money for health care purpose. But, if they like, they should be able to buy health insurance where ever in the country they find fit to serve them.
What about people “incapable” of paying/ “uninsured”? Give doctors choice of treating them (including decisions of what those people actually need) and reimburse doctors by simply reducing their taxes for amount they have done treating uninsured. No loopholes, managing,… Doctor said his service of “incapable” cost so much – existing agency IRS returns that much from his taxes, up to 0 balance. With one caveat, persons doing so must prove they are under poverty line. If you are uninsured, haven’t saved to pay for it yourself and over the poverty line: you are an idiot. Consequences must follow. Your property should be seized for medical expenses. Sob story? – go to various charities.
Whatever is done with health care must reintroduce concept of personal responsibility. That includes consequences and losers. Once we have those, costs will naturally go down.
#27, Look if we are going to use the federal government to bail out the to big to fail health insurance companies, why don’t we just skip a step and go directly to single payer?
So, two wrongs make a right?
What a way to run the country.
#31
considering the way our government works, you idea might actually result in single payer sooner than mine. Bravo! I hadn’t considered that possibility.
#33, How do you figure?
The same mechanism that brought us a single nationalized bank with executives with Maoist sallary caps.
Use banking as our model. Deregulate the health insurance industry until it all merges into two or three company that are too big to fail, with ever more exotic financing options for health care. Elect Jeb Bush president (he is already exploring that) then he will make disasterous “mistakes” on his way out of office and the country will have no choice but to nationalize health insurance the same as they did with the banks. Salary caps and all.
I think I may have just become a neo-con.
#35, It was the regulations that allowed all of this to start with.
The health industry is the most regulated industry in the country. The financial sector is the second.
They’re doing just great, right?