Healthcare... a right or a priveledge

Easily provable when you look.
USA GNP = about $T15 (2010 figures)
Medical costs are about 16% of the entire GNP. 16% of $15T = $2.4T

So if the you saved "trillions" (i.e. $2T), that would be 83% of the entire medical costs. That just ain't going to happen.

Even if you could save $1T, that would be over 40% of the entire medical budget. You are dreaming if you thing they are even close to that.

 

Well...to be serious for a second. I believe we (the US) should adopt something similar to the UK or Europe. Health case ought to be a part of taxes, and the expense shared by all of us. You can't say it wouldn't work because it has and does for many countries. The US has the profit factor so far removed from the premise of actually providing care, that it has us in the boat we're in today (as a country on THIS particular issue, that is....health CARE). The profit incentive, (turned MEGA profit "busininess") has put the profit margin well ahead of any other priority. First thing you're asked. Your insurance card please? The insurance companies deny claims to turn profits as routine practice. Happens everyday. The doctor has to allot you your two minutes to see you before he pulls his prescription pad. That points to another issue. The RX mega profit factor. Salesman paid to go sell your local hospital the latest drug so they wine and dine them, pay them off (in the form of speaking fees or some other nonsense). Buy our drugs. Oh...and you can't buy them anywhere else that might be cheaper. Just us. Any...on and on.
The short answer is to remove some of the profit factor, and refocus on the care actually being provided...not the bill that be generated. Maybe put some of that profit back into providing better care, in the form of, I don't know, maybe three minutes versus two for the doc to check you out? Squash mega corporations that choke out any would be smaller docs that be inclined to practice medicine independent of the corporate machine?
You really need to watch Michael Moore's "Sicko". That film should be required study for the masses. I know, I know. Socialism, socialism. Blah, blah. Maybe the politicians should surrender their exclusive medical coverage and ridiculous salaries and pensions if you really want to get rid of socialism. Let's get serious about it.
Ok...that was more than a second.

 

My eyes went cross-eyed reading that. Under your plan, would the doctors make less money? How about the pharmaceutical companies? Would you allow the government to force them to make less money? Who would pay for medical school? How about research and development in the pharmaceutical industry? Would hospitals belong to the state and not be able to make a profit? If not, how much profit would they be able to make? What about nurses, respiratory therapists, radiologists, etc? School isn't cheap and neither is re-certification in their respective industries. Who pays for that? Would you cap the salaries of all the doctors, nurses, etc? What about the inherent abuse in the system? There will be considerable abuse whether it's a free enterprise system or a socialist system. Do citizens pay into the system for the remainder of their lives? Would their payments terminate at a certain age? If a person is designated "mentally ill", where would you draw the line on whether or not that person pays? If the person is only mildly mentally ill (can hold a menial job, etc.) does he still pay? Who decides? The doctor? The government? An arbitration panel?

I can see a lot of questions involved in the health care debate that no one seems to be able to answer. I don't know anyone who has read the entire bill including members of congress. I know that there's pork in the bill (student loan reform, etc.) that has absolutely nothing to do with health care.

As I've said before, I think everyone should have health care, but there are just too many questions I have regarding the bill that was passed. Can you tell me everything that's in it? Can anyone? Well, I think we need to start over on this one!

 

Nope, you've never watched Sicko. The doctors in foreign countries make quite a good living doing what they do. Check it out sometime. Pharma? I don't know but, it seems they could do a little better than developing drugs for "shaking leg syndrome" and getting 4 hour erections. "Less" money is relative. You mean relative to other millionaires or other doctors? R & D. Again...something a little more useful en mass for maybe...I don't know, muscular dystrophy that they've been workin' on for what, fifty years now? While we're on that..when is the last time big pharma or health care participants "cured" anything? To rid it versus "treating" it and "living" with it? Polio??? Anyway. Profit? Well....big business says unlimited profit. I say limited. (let your market decide I suppose). The professionals? I think they should make MORE. Something other than the warm bodies (and often not much more than that) corporate profiteers install. Schools....well...paying hefty education tabs doesn't automatically qualify you for unlimited bucks. The education factor should be the equivalent any other college kid has to suffer today. That is, a "gamble", with no guarantee of a good paying job, just like the rest of the college kids. We ALL pay for it in taxes. I think I covered that part already. Caps?? Well, you shouldn't be able to get rich simply because you prescribe the best or the most drugs (which is all that many physicians do). Not all, but many. There's room for trimming fat right there. Inherent abuse? You mean like Wall street or simple corporate fraud? Again. Profit motive has something to do with it. Pay with taxes. Check already. Age restrictions? Part of the income tax so as long as you're working, you pay the tax. I know your party would have everybody work until they're 98 years old, so I am hesitant to propose one, but, I'd say along the same lines as social security. Mental illness? I refuse to discuss the republican party in that kind of detail. Finally who decides? Well....society decides. The populous decides....NOT the corporations who represent noone except themselves. One last one.
Repealing health care? Well.....I'd say the profiteers HAD their chance to do it their way and failed miserably, and at the expense of the MAJORITY of society. Time to try something else.