patrick.net
An Antidote to Corporate Media
1,249,942 comments by 14,904 users - HeadSet, intrepidsoldier, Patrick online now
Every Other Country Has Universal Health Care - And It Works
invite response
2009 Aug 30, 12:19pm 22,895 views 94 comments
« First « Previous Comments 85 - 94 of 94 Search these comments
Patrick
2012 Sep 23, 5:42am
Bottom line, we are already paying for universal healthcare, we just aren't receiving it
Yes, that's true!
Officially more than a third of all medical spending in America is waste, fraud, and abuse; the actual number is probably more than half.
Patrick is right about the problem, but unfortunately both major parties work for the same revenue recipients, so their slogans devolve into a beer commercial ("tastes great" vs "less filling"): more $ vs less accountability.
Sure, this wasn't a plug for Obamacare, it was just to show that it can work and does work in certain countries (I would actually take a few countries out as the services you get are inferior to the ones you get in the US, but enough countries are definitely competitive enough to prove the point). But can it work in the US due to the problems you mentioned? Who knows, not betting the farm on it.
curious2
2012 Sep 23, 7:48am
your insane...The UK government spends 50 pence on every $1 of revenue!
American government spending is around 40% of GDP, and if you add what Americans pay for corporate medical insurance the sum exceeds Britain's 50%. Honestly I find it difficult to believe your avatar's claim of being a lawyer, because a lawyer would know the difference between "your" and "you're", and the difference between pence and Dollars (50p/$1 would be around 80% of GDP). Your name-calling reminds me of Marcus, who pretends to be a math teacher. Both of you remind me of the old cartoon from The New Yorker: a mutt explains to a Dalmation, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
MisdemeanorRebel
2012 Sep 23, 12:16pm
We used to have BC/BS in this country, until a free market fanatic in the 70s got a law passed forcing companies with more than 50 employees to offer HMOs to employees. The young took the HMO (Babyboomers at the time); the older and those with children or problems stayed with BC/BS. Those were the seeds of destruction.
I remember as a kid going to the doctor. At first, he had just one F/T office gal. By the time I was 12, he had three F/T and two P/T office workers to keep up with all the "Wonderful Choices" of the various for-profit health care plans.
@bgamall4
I really wish somebody would look into the Hospital/Lab-Insurance Company relationship. I don't have the time (or aptitude or understanding) to delve into it, but I wouldn't be surprised to see interconnecting relationships between for profit Labs and Hospitals and Insurance Companies to keep prices high.
curious2
2012 Sep 23, 1:42pm
I wouldn't be surprised to see interconnecting relationships between for profit Labs and Hospitals and Insurance Companies to keep prices high.
It's happening in plain sight: insurance companies are buying hospitals, corporate practice groups, everything:
It's accelerating now because of the impending MLR requirements, i.e. at least 80%/85% of premiums need to be shifted from the insurance side of the business to the medical side. Easy to do when the same corporation owns both sides. Result: higher prices.
zzyzzx
2012 Sep 24, 12:38am
Does China, India, Mexico, and Brazil have socialized medicine? Aren't those the countries that we primarily lose jobs to and shouldn't we be comparing ourselves to them instead of other industrialized countries that are really more like economic has beens?
MisdemeanorRebel
2012 Sep 24, 12:59am
It's accelerating now because of the impending MLR requirements, i.e. at least 80%/85% of premiums need to be shifted from the insurance side of the business to the medical side. Easy to do when the same corporation owns both sides. Result: higher prices.
Interesting. I always felt there was more than just "we negotiated with these guys" reasons for having enrollees use particular providers.
Know what else is F**ked up? My CPAP machine was $400 new from China. It cost "my insurance" $900 to rent it, probably from themselves (ie a DME store they themselves own). I ended up having it for 6 months. You can't buy CPAP machines without a perscription. Huh? Somebody is going to die from forcing air in their lungs? Seriously?
Everyone should know that if all health care is left to the private sector, prices will fall & quality will improve.lol
freak80
2012 Sep 25, 11:44pm
This is America, dammit. I have the right to make insurance monopolies rich at my expense!
« First « Previous Comments 85 - 94 of 94 Search these comments
Every other industrialized country has universal health care. It works for them:
Summary: You have no financial security unless we get health care reform.
Something needs to be done about health care in the US. It is badly broken: it wastes money, it bankrupts families, and fails to provide the the quality of health care that all other developed countries get for far lower cost.
The Republican plan is... what? It's to do nothing except deliberately stoke fear of "socialism" and "death panels" while raking in insurance company lobbyist money. There are there are six insurance company lobbyists for every member of Congress.
Insurance industry lobbying money is killing the public-plan health insurance option. And you know that they are funding Fox News, Glen Beck, O'Reilly and others like them. "Fair and balanced" my ass. Turn that crap off and read the actual proposals.
Democrats are guilty of taking their money too, but at least they are talking about real solutions.
The Republicans won't even propose one.
#politics