universal health care

[jillian]

I'm trying to gather more opinions on the subject. Please post your here.

Thanks.:)

[Pete]

Here are a couple of my old posts about health care:


Health care costs started to take off when health insurance became a tax-free fringe benefit. Add to this Medicare and Medicaid, and you have a huge number of people, the majority of Americans, who are not judicious consumers of health care.

Add to this malpractice claims that can be brought by any shyster lawyer, with no penalty if the case is lost, and the tendency of insurance companies to pay off claims without a fight. This has resulted in astronomical costs of malpractice insurance, a good number of doctors leaving the profession because of it, excessive testing and procedures, and the consolidation of hospitals and medical practices.

Finally, we have the FDA limiting choices in medications and creating an oligopoly in the prescription drug field.

The root of the problem is that the federal government's involvement in health care has created an irrational market. For many years, I was uninsured and managed to pay for my family's health needs. What made that impossible was hospitals providing discounts of 80+% to insurance companies that were not available to me as a consumer.

As Dr. Paul says on his website, before the government got involved, costs were modest and as a result charities were able to provide a lot of help.

Here, read this:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2007/10/03/control_your_own_health_care?page=full&comments=true


I disagree with (Ron Paul's) platform on health care. Here's mine:

Employer-paid health insurance must no longer be a nontaxable fringe benefit.
Dump Medicare, and increase Social Security benefits accordingly.
Tort reform to discourage nuisance suits (loser pays).
Dump the FDA.


My position is that the government should not provide health care any more than they do shelter, food, or clothing. State and local agencies and charities can take up the slack for those who are truly in need, just as they do for these other basic needs.

Government interference (especially through tax policy and entitlements) are what have driven costs so high. Remove this so that people will make rational choices about health care as they do in other areas of life, and the market will provide solutions.

[Zarxrax]

There are a number of perspectives to view the healthcare situation from. There is the idealogical perspective, which focuses on the issue of liberty, and the financial perspective, which looks at whether it is "practical". I find that most people who oppose universal healthcare usually do so from the perspective of freedom and liberty, whilst those who support it usually try to use the financial perspective.
I think it goes without saying that universal healthcare is an assault on personal freedom. There's not really much to discuss there.
From the financial perspective, this is where you can get into some deep arguments, but the way I see it, its really quite simple. Universal healthcare does not make sense at all, financially. You can throw around all the facts and figures that you want, saying how everything will be so much cheaper and all, but lets just look at some hard data. It doesn't matter one bit how effective this welfare program has been in any other country, all that matters is how effective it will be here in the United States. The USA already offers free healthcare for veterans, some of the most valuable and respected members of our society. This "free" healthcare that we give them is some of the worst imaginable. I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would say that our veteran's healthcare is well-run.
Also, you should look no further than the failed social security system. Social Security is all but BANKRUPT, and somehow people think we can suddenly just magically afford MORE welfare programs? How about we step out of that fairytale land and deal with the issues that we already have on the table, before getting ourselves in any deeper.

[asgardshill]

Make no mistake - "universal" means "socialized". And without price controls which haven't yet worked, universal health care is nothing more than a legal money printing press for the health care industry. Health care is a commodity, and like any commodity it is subject to market forces and supply and demand. People have no disincentive from making bad health choices if they know all they have to do is just show up at the ER and get whatever treatment they wish without paying anything for it.

[AlexMerced]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2116298843321021893&hl=en

that's my opinion on the issue

[shadowhooch]

1) Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security currently make up over 50% of the Federal Government's spending. That amount is increasing as more people retire and the programs are projected to be unfundable in the future (without some major changes). Can you even imagine how much more it would cost to give good healtchare to EVERYONE, not just seniors?

2) Did you know that it is the Federal Government's involvement that has created the current situation? Their legislation and subsidies starting in the 1970's have led to the creation of HMO's and rising costs -- destroying the direct doctor/patient relationship that we used to have.

3) Name ONE government program that is run efficiently?