Going forward on Healthcare for the U.S what should be done?

[Captain N]

So it would average out cost and ration out the price equally?

Keeps the price down because everyone is required to have insurance. Hmmm...where have I seen that before that prices were down if everyone has access to affordable medical care?

[Taso]

Yeah I know I have seen the ER bill my insurance pays or rather I Pay, that is just sobering as hell.

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Yeah vouchers seem to be a problem in arenas such as Public Education though, Some say it siphons money from public and feeds it to private company's. So then by vouchers you mean a cap on medical spending for those on the lower end of income.

The key is being responsible and transparent. It's manigable but we have to create oversight. I don't want to contradict my earlier statement but we could do a small hike so that we create a committee that watches where the money is put. To be quite honest healthcare for me is probably the largest empty field for me to really think about it. But what I do know I try to figure ways that makes it fair and not selfish for anyone.

[Sargerasraider]

It just seems like health insurance is a symptom of a much larger problem. doctors but also pharmaceutical companies are a huge part of the problem. I think we need to start with them.

Going after physician salaries (about 8-10% of total cost) would be a woefully ineffective way of cutting overall healthcare cost. This is especially true given the astronomical cost of medical education in the US compared with other countries. Most physicians are comfortable, but not wealthy. Given the prerequisite grades to even get into medical school, if money was the sole influence, it would be far easier to go into another field and not waste ones 20's and early 30's first getting $100-400 thousand in debt, then getting paid basically minimum wage as a resident / fellow for 3-10 years.

Old link, but still relevant: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...5BC0A9619C8B63

[Sunseeker]

But up to what point does universal healthcare go for you?

Because rationally there are many more sick people than there are doctors, so who chooses who goes first and what value does someones wealth have in a system like that?

Universal healthcare does not cover cosmetics. And you always help the most sick over the least sick. But frankly, you can get more people with colds in and out the door faster than you can people with cancer. And we will get more people in, cured and out of the system as soon as we start prioritizing HEALTH over treatments.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Keeps the price down because everyone is required to have insurance. Hmmm...where have I seen that before that prices were down if everyone has access to affordable medical care?

Canada Yeah...

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Universal healthcare does not cover cosmetics. And you always help the most sick over the least sick. But frankly, you can get more people with colds in and out the door faster than you can people with cancer. And we will get more people in, cured and out of the system as soon as we start prioritizing HEALTH over treatments.

Some places they do, I have heard of some European countries that will pay for things like lippo suction, and breast augmentations, I forgot the specific country although rare, I am wondering what their cost over all is.

I will try to look it up

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The key is being responsible and transparent. It's manigable but we have to create oversight. I don't want to contradict my earlier statement but we could do a small hike so that we create a committee that watches where the money is put. To be quite honest healthcare for me is probably the largest empty field for me to really think about it. But what I do know I try to figure ways that makes it fair and not selfish for anyone.

I agree and their are some pretty shitty hospitals and doctors, and sometimes a very difficult chore to get a fair rating on them.

[RaoBurning]

But up to what point does universal healthcare go for you?

Because rationally there are many more sick people than there are doctors, so who chooses who goes first and what value does someones wealth have in a system like that?

Triage is a thing, and wealth still has plenty of use even if it doesn't buy you a ticket to the front of the medical line. Crazy idea, I know, basing medical care based on immediacy of need rather than ability to pay.

Addendum: There are places where public and private options exist along side each other, so it's not inconceivable that the wealthy could still buy whatever sort of extra care they wanted.

[Estherna]

Okay my two cents as an European (and more precisely a French) here. It is not going to be a popular opinion, but whatever.

Do you know when we had public healthcare in France? Just after World War 2. It was a consequence in fact. There were two motivations. The first one was to say that as a rich and advanced society, it wasn't possible that people living in it could suffer from illness that we can cure because they couldn't afford to get cured. The second reason was that it was a punishment for big industrial owners and other very rich people, who didn't had any problems to cooperate with the Nazis. For the French of that time, it was the proof that the rich people don't care about the well-being of the people as a whole, even if the prosperity of a country doesn't rest on their shoulders alone. Knowing that, the French decided that we will enforce some kind of solidarity in our society, because it was the only way to insure a little redistribution of the wealth.

As long as USA will still believe in the American Dream Myth, and that working your ass-off every day is going to make you rich someday, this country will never solve anything. Healthcare isn't there to be a charity given to the poor. It is there because someone who is sick and can't afford to be cured, even if his country can do this is an abnormal. Being in good health is a Right, not a privilege.

So you want to know what you should do regarding that? Enact Public Healthcare for everyone. Stop listening to the one case on a million the talk show presents you as a self-made man. Even if some of them are legit, for one who succeed, how many fail? You are one of the most powerful country on this planet, and you need to rely on charity for healthcare services in some regions of your country. Come on.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Public healthcare, let that movie John Q be a work of fiction all the way through.

[Independent voter]

As long as USA will still believe in the American Dream Myth, and that working your ass-off every day is going to make you rich someday, this country will never solve anything. Healthcare isn't there to be a charity given to the poor. It is there because someone who is sick and can't afford to be cured, even if his country can do this is an abnormal. Being in good health is a Right, not a privilege.

So you want to know what you should do regarding that? Enact Public Healthcare for everyone. Stop listening to the one case on a million the talk show presents you as a self-made man. Even if some of them are legit, for one who succeed, how many fail? You are one of the most powerful country on this planet, and you need to rely on charity for healthcare services in some regions of your country. Come on.

50% of Americans are insured with their employer. Some employees don't pay anything but most pay a small deductible and a copayment each month of $20-$50. This is very cheap in comparison to Europe where if you and your wife make $100K a year you pay a huge sum for health insurance which also covers the poor.

[jellmoo]

A single payer system should absolutely be in the end goal. Nobody should ever have to choose between bills and health care.

[Toxsins]

The solution is simple: ban health insurance. Completely.

Everyone pays out of pocket - doctors and pharmaceutical companies will be forced to reduce their prices.

With health insurance premiums gone, people will have more money to simply pay out of pocket when they need to. Charities can be further developed to fund people who really need it in an emergency.

This solution sounds radical, and it is, but ask yourselves this question: if someone has to pay for medical costs, why do we need the insurance middle man? The money will always come from somewhere, so it's not like we aren't paying the same amount of money in aggregate already, this just removes the inefficiency of having the money go through insurance companies along the way.

[Jtbrig7390]

A single payer system should absolutely be in the end goal. Nobody should ever have to choose between bills and health care.

This is the only right answer.

[Dundebuns]

Universal. It costs less per head per annum than the current system. Sure taxes have to go up, but you're not paying insurance premiums any more.

[schwarzkopf]

It isn't complicated - except the political will.

1. Government bulk buys prescription medicines off drug companies, and equalises the cost of medicine for all persons who need it.
2. Government provides baseline health care facilities for the uninsured
3. Establish a 1-2% health care levy for all tax payers (to pay for 1/2)
4. Encourage people to purchase private health care via enabling #3 (health care levy) to be deductable if you have private coverage.
5. Encourage private hospitals to provide higher/better coverage (e.g. better accommodation, optional services, faster turn around)

The savings of $1.6 trillion per year in health costs will more than offset the tax burden incurred.

This combines the best aspects of social policy with capitalist advancement.

[Zan15]

easy answer. we already have something in place.


Medicare for all

Add price controls.
Add profit limits
Add negotiations.

Done deal. i mean how fucking hard is that?


a gaggle of countries multiples less of an economic power then the US have the public option for everyone, but for some reason we can't pull it off.

everything from 5-10-20-50-80m+....somehow pulled it off in countries far less advanced then us.


If you include all the money that is currently spent in taxes, medicare, medicaid, private insurance, etc etc there is more then enough to pay for everyone in this country and then some.

[Ghostpanther]

Depending on the level of coverage from the VA you don't need any other insurance.

I am glad you put the part in which is in bold. Makes a huge difference. And the income of the Vet. Also if there is any service connected health issues involved.

The real issue with health care is the raising costs for such. Which Obamacare and the GOP health care have not and will not address to the extent it needs to be. To fix a problem, it is always best to attack the root cause of the issue.

[Coffeh]

Universal. It costs less per head per annum than the current system. Sure taxes have to go up, but you're not paying insurance premiums any more.

If the tax system wasn't fucked it wouldn't affect the average person. Hint: the rich should be paying for everything.

[Jeezy911]

Lot of people want single payer. I guess they are cool with a 20-30% tax increase then since it is for the better good. It's really the only option unfortunately, but man will it be unpopular once everyone starts paying for it, and also will always be attributed to the democrats and Obama specifically. Talk about a legacy killer.

[Ghostpanther]

easy answer. we already have something in place.


Medicare for all

Add price controls.
Add profit limits
Add negotiations.

Done deal. i mean how fucking hard is that?


a gaggle of countries multiples less of an economic power then the US have the public option for everyone, but for some reason we can't pull it off.

everything from 5-10-20-50-80m+....somehow pulled it off in countries far less advanced then us.


If you include all the money that is currently spent in taxes, medicare, medicaid, private insurance, etc etc there is more then enough to pay for everyone in this country and then some.

Excellent points and I agree. I wish it was that easy to get implemented however. But such a change would face enormous opposition in the US. The medical field here is a absolutely huge market of wealth for a lot of people. And they have a lot of political influence.

[RaoBurning]

Lot of people want single payer. I guess they are cool with a 20-30% tax increase then since it is for the better good. It's really the only option unfortunately, but man will it be unpopular once everyone starts paying for it, and also will always be attributed to the democrats and Obama specifically. Talk about a legacy killer.

We already spend more in public funds alone as a percent of GDP and per capita on healthcare than every other industrialized nation. It's not a matter of, "oh, it'll be expensive," because it already is. It's a matter of using that money better. I can imagine that the savings in preventative care alone would be enormous if people like my uncle, just by way of personal example, didn't feel like he had to wait until his foot was already rotting to see a doctor because he was in between jobs and didn't have insurance. Some antibiotics and care early on would have saved the state—he's an amputee now, and on our state's poor people insurance—tens of thousands of dollars (probably more) in the long run.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and all that. To say nothing of a public, non-profit system acting as a single payer for medication and services, thus giving a baseline of cost and care for private insurance to have to compete against. Folks are all about competition in the marketplace, right?