theunknown

Put ALL of the house and senate personal on the Obumble care and make them pay for their insurance. And apply a huge fine if they don't accept a plan. theunknown

Louie27 Loc: Peoria, AZ

CounterRevolutionary

How about a practical solution: Free Markets for the 99% able-bodied, welfare for the 1% chronically ill and handicapped?

Obamacare is basically two policies, insurance and welfare (Medicaid).

The mistake in expanding Medicaid availability to the working single able-bodied poor is bankrupting the system.

1) Take the able-bodied working poor (some 20%) off Medicaid.
2) Put the chronically ill poor (some 1%) on Medicaid through block grants to the states.
3) Allow the banks and auto insurance industry to offer catastrophic hospital insurance, portable policies across all state lines.
4) Use private sector clinics, medi-franchise clubs, and concierge care doctors for HSAs or cash only service.

Louie27 Loc: Peoria, AZ

I will drink to that.

CounterRevolutionary

Make it OJ or V8.

My question is this. What would Murkowski in Alaska and Collins in Maine do with the Big Block Grants from Washington for MEDICAID?
That money could be dumped in the state's general fund for disbursal to Public Employee Retirement Systems or road construction.

Would these block grants, no strings attached, be a permanent federal subsidy to each state even if the number of MEDICAID recipients were reduced to their prior level before the ACA, having moved the able-bodied single working poor onto the private sector?

Medicaid demands that once a person rises out of poverty, he must pay back every penny to Medicaid, even if the government puts a lean on your house and property. Your estate, even after death, can be seized to pay back Medicaid. There is no incentive for the poor to better themselves.

Meanwhile, the cash-only private clinics, such at Atlas-MD with 120 franchises nation-wide, or Instacare, or Urgentcare, are growing leaps and bounds, some $50/month with unlimited visits, no co-pays, and pharmaceuticals reduced by 90% because purchased in bulk. Catastrophic health insurance should cost some $60/month, just like auto insurance. Most of the working poor and middle class could afford this privatized system.

The Democrats want control over who lives and who dies; that is what the Public Option or Universal Care is all about.

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

Here's the problem. Government mandated health care, in any framework, may provide coverage, but as the coverage expands and grows increasing expensive, the quality of medical treatments goes down. Moreover, government bureaucrats, not doctors and medical professionals, determine who gets treatment, what treatment they should receive, or whether or not they get treatment at all.

Louie27 Loc: Peoria, AZ

Those block grants are something I did not look at and believe you are right. One thing I would like to add is the added people on Medicaid during the bad economic downturn had, I believe, many able bodied people go on Medicaid to get coverage while out of work. I wonder if these able bodied people, after returning to work, declined the Medicaid they were getting.

theunknown

If the Atlas-MD, Instacare and Urgentcare are real they must be ultra secret cause our government knows nothing about them. Oh, wait a second, Could it be they are dumb, deaf, blind and have their head up their butts? Or maybe it is a better plan than they have. That would certainly be a reason not to give it to "WE, THE PEOPLE". It sound like subsidizing these places would be a lot cheaper than giving payment to insurance companies. theunknown

CounterRevolutionary

Mr. Unknown, ATLAS-MD is a private CASH ONLY clinic, a franchise of 120 clinics across the nation, one of many affordable no insurance clinic and concierge-care solutions opening up to fill an economic need for the poor.

The government knows about these private physicians. They are trying to run them out of business! We do not want government subsidies of our healthcare. Subsidies automatically jack up the costs! Look at the cost of subsidized college student loans today! The sky is the limit. Look at the cost of government subsidized housing markets today: HARP loans to people with $650,000 mortgages!

CounterRevolutionary

I think that's Trump's plan. These guys have been off work for so long that they are not counted in the job market labor statistics. Once they get work, they will be asked to pay back Medicaid.

Louie27 Loc: Peoria, AZ

That may be hard to get them to pay back their Medicaid. Just look at the IRS there are many there that make good money and have not been forced to pay off their student loans. The same goes for the people in the U. S. government and professionals out in our society. No justice.

CounterRevolutionary

Interesting point. I think the individual states are far more aggressive in collecting Medicaid reimbursements than the federal government seeking student loan reimbursements. As Steve Forbes puts it, the tax collectors are so aggressive, they will even molest you in your grave. My advise to the poor is to stay off the government database at all costs. Socialism is not all wonderful, it can be exceeding cruel to the most vulnerable of our society, incentivizing them to remain poor, trapping them in poverty forever.

Louie27 Loc: Peoria, AZ

I believe that is what Obama had hoped to do while in office.