jack sequim wa Loc: Blanchard, Idaho

Yes, it has be proposed in over a dozen bills submitted and passed by the house,,only to be.rejected by Senator Reid for a senate vote pre Obama care. Then obamacare was passed behind closed doors with zero Gop debate. Much of the ideas in these post, were in the rejected bills, as well as proposals for each state to care for the uninsured, with fed aid at a cost of about 1000th of what Obama care cost, plus caps on lawsuits against hospitals and doctors helping to rid the high paid rat attorneys.
Keeping in mind obamacare has less to do with providing low cost heath care and is all about government control.

jack sequim wa Loc: Blanchard, Idaho

Its on the table, subject to repealing Obamacare..which could only happen (maybe) once Obama is out of office. Wouldn't surprise me if congress acted to defund, but that wouldn't happen until after the midterm election

Hungry Freaks

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Conservatives believe "the marketplace" will take care of medical needs despite the fact that 'health care consumers" (sick and injured people) usually don't have much of a choice of what medical facility the go to or what doctors treat them, unless, perhaps, they live in a major urban area.

Most suburban and rural areas are serviced by a single hospital or system of for-profit hospitals and ancillary medical facilities. Insurance companies, for those with insurance, often allow only one lab, one radiological facility and a limited list of doctors they will pay for, further limited the 'health care consumers" choice.

So the question remains-how can there be a market without much in the way of a choice of 'health care providers" doctors, nurses, etc.)

"The marketplace" has also left 47 million without insurance and gave us the US a medical system that costs 50% more than the next most expensive health care systems (Switzerland and Sweden) yet with medical outcomes (infant mortality, maternal mortality, incidence of heart disease, diabetes, etc) ranking 27th, a tie with with Costa Rica.

US doctors once had most of their training paid for by the government, often through the military, in exchange for four or six years of service. The government started to dismantled that system under Nixon and continued it for the next 15 years

Today, foreign countries pay for and send their students to the US to be trained while US med students rack up hundreds of thousands in debt getting the same training.

And yet the right still claims "the United States has the best medical system in the world. Not so much anymore. .

jack sequim wa Loc: Blanchard, Idaho

I believe we have the best doctors, but greed and regulation set in and destroyed the (once) best.
You may want to check and see who voted in all the regulation....the left!

How about leaving out comments about the right, when the abortion of a system (obamacare). Was a left disgrace.

Both parties are to blame, the right had a chance the last 30 years to do something, but now that we have be forced feed. What do you propose as a solution.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

Like I said, it shouldn't have been about insurance. The Gov. started from the wrong end of the problem - as usual, and made it worse. Every person actually DOING healthcare could give advice about solutions, but no one is asking them. Payment requirements are determining treatments, NOT medical science - which is driving costs, NOT insurance premiums. We're trying to fix the cart, in an enclosed barn, after having eaten the horse.

Ve'hoe

It would have a "shot" except for the lobbying of insurance companies,,, leftists in league with the democrats,,,

And then the govt,,ie senate/congress via the commerce clause restricts interstate commerce,,, to keep prices high...

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, chairman of Obamas democratic campaign funding pac,,, a billionaire who inherited the Hyatt fortune, a multinational corporation,, was also the person who turned the heat lamps on her striking housekeeping staff, in july, no less.... She also cheated the Chicago teachers union out of the 5th year of their contracts,,, swell person...
Obama,,,when he found out about ALL she had done,,, appointed her, Secretary of Commerce

Now she heads a fundraising organization to gather the $35 million required to build the Obama mansion in Kailua Hawaii........

That culture of corruption of the democrat party is what prevents what you asked,,, and always will....the big monied fat cats, are democrats,, evil,, and they lie to you... about small potatoes like the Koch brothers...

Ve'hoe

Yep,,,,, I don't even like my attorney,,,, and I tell him so,,,, whenever he gets friendly,,,(just before I give him a check) An attorney is the last person I want to give me medical advice,, but I feel similarly about insurance companies......

Ve'hoe

No,,, we don't believe that,,,,, when you want our opinion ask us,, and several people here have given opinions,,, you start out with an insult,, a position that none of us that I know hold,,,and then in the next few quotes as usual, will start crying and whining, about how we said things we didn't, are "vile and billiou-ths-ths"

We don't "believe" the market "will" fix it,,, we are sure the govt will screw it up,,, and our fears are realized,,,,,,,since the spurious numbers of 7 million signed up,,,, were medicare pts already..

"We don't yet know how many of the new enrollees were previously uninsured, but multiple surveys show that overall insurance coverage is on the rise. Even before the surge in sign-ups over the last few weeks, Sharon Long of the Urban Institute estimated nearly 5.5 million people had gained coverage through private insurance or programs such as Medicaid.

"Insurance coverage is going up," Long says. "There may well be some people who've lost coverage. But the number of people who've gained coverage swamps that effect."


So the 42 million uninsured are still uninsured, and the
2 million or so who lost their coverage are examples why your opinion is flawed, but then,,, all your opinions are flawed,,,

"That Health Care Law, By the Numbers,” by the Associated Press’s Calvin Woodward

“4 million-plus: People whose individual plans were canceled because the plans didn’t measure up under the law [ObamaCare]. The government changed rules to allow substandard plans to exist for another year; it’s not known how many canceled policies will be revived. Another rules change allowed cancellation victims to sign up for bare-bones catastrophic coverage."

LIES, LIES, LIES,,,,, I am seeing a trend in you and your politiKKKs

JimMe

Constitutionally, HealthCare isn't anything the USA Government Should Be Legislating (10th Amendment)... So,do I think HealthCare should be provided to Everyone Within a State's Borders?!? Only if that State Passes Legislation Regarding State-Wide HealthCare...

vernon

yes every one should buy health care.i have no problem with anyone taking care of them selves and their family.

vernon

i find that last sentence interesting.just what department is it that the govt hasent screwed up.i find it troubling that someone would put his trust in the gov.

vernon

the 47 mil are by choice not the market place.

Hungry Freaks

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I'd be interested in what regulation caused our medical system to decline.

But, my solution: Single payer system under the control of a private, no-profit. This would probably require a constitutional amendment since the courts broke up our last monopoly, Ma Bell. but maybe a non-profit wouldn't fall under the same anti-trust laws.

Why a single payer system? Efficiency. We currently spend a world-record 17% of each health care dollar on administration, meaning paperwork. The ACA will only further complicate the issue.

Taiwan currently spends 3% on administration of their single payer system, which attracts a fair number of Americans looking for low cost medical care in everything from cosmetic surgery to transplant surgery.

the savings in administration alone would go a long way towards balancing our health care budget.

Besides, we already have a socialized system for the poor, the elderly and the very sick. Medicare, Medicaid and various state charity care funds currently pay about 45% of all health care bills in the United States. By covering the poor and old and very sick, the private insurance companies are left with the young and the employed who, by virtue of being young and employed, are better risks with lower payouts. The current system is gamed to help private insurance companies.

The ACA does nothing but throw more young people at private insurance companies while increasing medicaid's coverage of those too poor to get private insurance.

Why not assume the risk of the entire pool of possible enrollees? Unless we add the young and employed to the current poll covered by the government, we are doomed to have higher spending on programs that bring in little revenue and have big outlays.

There is also the issue of fees charged by the medical industry. An endoscopic examination of the stomach or colon costs between $1,500 to $5,000 in the US but a mere $400 in Canada. Why? Because we have anesthesiologists on had for the entire procedure and pay fees of one-third to one-half of the entire bill in "facility fees" to same day surgery centers that perform these tests.

In Canada, most of these procedures are done in a doctor's office with a trained nurse and a doctor. There's no reason, and no regulation, that requires an anesthesiologist to oversee use of a twilight sleep drug used in endoscopic procedures. Most times, the anesthesiologist merely puts in the IV, starts the drug and leaves the room to dose the next patient. My gastroenterologist often does 30 to 50 of these procedures in a day, each at about $2,400 a pop (his cut is about one-third and the facility, in which he is a partner, gets another 40%.)

Another example of the ridiculous costs in the Us is the price of the latest treatment for Hepatitis C, priced at $20,000 or more in the US, but $2,500 in much of the rest of the world. Why the disparity in price? Because Big Pharma can get it.

I've heard "well in Canada you wait...they ration health care."

I actually was treated in Canada after an auto accident in the late 1980s. I waited about a week to be treated in a physical rehab facility rated one of the best in the world at a cost that was 40% less than similar treatment in the US.

But, if you get bypass surgery in Canada, and continue to smoke tobacco and fail to lose weight or change your diet, they sometimes refuse a second bypass surgery. You are held responsible for some of your lifestyle-related health problems. The right is always talking about personal responsibility. I'd think this would be right up their alley.

They ration by need, not by ability to pay. Health care is a need, not a commodity. People who use the system are not "health care consumers" we are sick or injured. they often don't have a choice of where to go who what doctor to see. The red herring of "choice" is a farce for anyone who has been carried into a hospital on a stretcher.

I don't like going to the ER to get stitches and get a bill for $1,500 with the caveat that the price reflects the need to make up for unpaid medical bills left by others.

And I don't like the fact that half of all bankruptcies in the US are related to medical bills, including medical bills racked up by people with health insurance.

A single payer system is the only way to go. It's won't be easy-Vermont has been working on a single payer system for years and doesn't expect to implement until 2017. but if only states do it we'll not cut back on administrative costs but still be stuck with the patchwork of paperwork that takes 17 cents of every health care dollar.

Anigav6969

Damn...I don't care what anyone thinks..that's an awesome post..you know your stuff...I just wish we could actually do it!!

alex Loc: michigan now imperial beach californa

everyone in this country had health care until obozo got in office and destroyed it