2.7 trillion medical bill

Canada and Australia have healthcare for all and their economies have done just fine.

Who do you suggest runs the Healthcare system in the US? For profit corporations?

 

Big big difference between Austraila and Camada and the US.

California alone is bigger than all of Canada population wise or very close to it and their economy alone is like the 6th largest in the world. Not to mention the illegal immigration problem the US faces and the strain it is already putting on our social services programs such as schools, healthcare ect.....

Also in Camada everybody pays taxes here in the Us less than half of the citizens pay Federal income taxes. The top 5% already foot over 90 of the taxes/revenue to the Federal gov't.
Should they be expected to cover everybody's healthcare now?

Flat tax/Fair Tax---- that way everybody has a little skin in the GE just like AU and Canada.

 

Oh I see ... a National Health System would require that people pay their taxes.

 

The argument he presents is not very cogent. First he blames the government but now he blames the people for not paying taxes. Which one is it? Many European countries are notorious for not having all people pay their taxes yet these countries run way more social programs AND have national health care. No system is perfect, but at the very least, healthcare is considered a RIGHT and not a PRIVILEGE as it is in the U.S.

 

The cost of health care in the US is nearly 18% of gdp as opposed to under 12% in Canada, GB, Australia and other first world countries. Until we get the gumption to do something about that problem we will have a debt problem based on medical care costs and providing universal access to health care will be problematic. The ACA ('Obamacare') attempts to address that but it will not be easy. It is not the doctors and nurses getting rich on this system, it is the manufacturers and sellers of medical equipment, big pharma and the insurance industry. In Japan, an mri costs $25 in the US, a hundred times that. It has to be sorted out and people who are living high on the hog from the current system will scream for a while til they find a new niche but it will work out. The republic that has achieved everything the US has and worked together to solve hard problems in the past can figure this out without destroying itself and warring with itself i am sure. We'll get 'er done.

 

Smart reply. I've never understood those who "blame it on the government" for everything that doesn't go their way. We are the government. We vote, don't we? Blaming one entity is shirking from personal accountability and inability to think critically. It's very important when it comes to big matters like healthcare that we be willing to look at ALL the pieces of the puzzle, not just the biggest and brightest one.

Good post, June.

 

Hey, I will go with that response too...never blamed it all on the doctors, but they are the end providers for us, so that's who gets the blame. Sort of like the guy that delivered your pizza. He must me 45 minutes late because he or she is a sucky driver right? They would be the one getting yelled at for the late order, yet the reason was probably that the cook screwed up the order and had to remake it...or the manager didn't order enough product and had to borrow some from somewhere else...or they didn't adequately prepare for rush time and ran out of the dough you wanted...or the girl that took the order didn't hit submit when she took your call....it is easy to blame the driver. However, the driver can be at fault sometimes too. Maybe he stopped for a slushie, or to hung out with his buddies in the parking lot when he was supposed to be taking your order to your house....basically what I am saying here is that there is a WHOLE plate of blame to go around on this table. The ones responsible are the ones that need to be shut down so that we can get back to something that resembles a healthy system.

 

And the pizza reference...I was in that racket for 18 years before getting a "real" job, so that's where all that comes from. Tip the guy/gal well. They don't make much anymore (we used to do really well) and basically rely on your tip money to make any money. Trust me...they aren't getting rich on you. Anyway, that was just a reference that I could relate to. I got yelled at many times for things that weren't even remotely my fault over those 18 years, so I know about blame laying for sure.

 

http://www.forbes.com/2008/05/25/health-hospitals-care-forbeslife-cx_avd_outsourcing08_0529healthoutsourcing.html

"An estimated 40% of all medical travelers are looking for the world's most advanced technologies, worrying little about the proximity of the destination or cost, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Co. It narrowly defined medical travelers as only those whose primary and explicit purpose in traveling was to obtain in-patient medical treatment in a foreign country, putting the total number of travelers at 60,000 to 85,000 per year.

In Depth: U.S. Hospitals Worth The Trip

Most of those patients in search of the best care, including 38% from Latin America, 35% from the Middle East, 16% from Europe and 7% from Canada, are heading to the United States."

"The U.S. brand of medicine is still perceived as being the most advanced health system for treating very complicated diseases and when life is at stake,"


IMO..We do need to provide for those Americans who can't afford health insurance, and we also need to make private health insurance more affordable in general, but not by having the federal gov't control our entire health care system.

 

Actually, the Affordable Care Act does not take over hospitals, doctors, insurance companies ... or much of anything. It does try to extend health care to those who cannot afford it. Many of the scare stories will go away in six months when it is fully implemented and the gov does not take over anything.

 

I hope you are right, but if that is all the gov't plans on doing why couldn't they have just revamped the Medicaid income guidelines by raising the monthly/annual income so more people who are caught in the cracks, meaning making too much to qualify for Medicaid but making too little to afford private insurance would be covered by Medicaid or pay on a sliding scale.

 

Actually, they did just that in the ACA. Even though the fed gov pays for it entirely in the first few years, some states such as TX and PA have decided not to participate in the medicaid expansion part. I think eventually public pressure will be such that they do but so far there are some hold outs. I also wished they would have let people above a certain age just buy into medicare but that failed by one vote in the senate. I am sure it will be kind of a bumbling awkward imperfect thing for a few years but then it will get patched up here and there and become a good program if it is given half a chance. Surely if every other first world country can provide universal health care we can too.

 

June,
You are wrong.

 

It is the largest and most intrusive gov't shakedown of the american people in the history of this country.

It dictates everything including making faith based organizations and hospitals and doctors such as the catholic church provide and pay for abortions and contraception as well as levying extraordinary taxes and fines on individuals and both large and small business.

It will be an unmitigated disaster! For Gods sake they tap our phones, target certain citizens via the IRS, lie about terrorist attacks (Benghazi), and the list goes on ...........

and you trust these buffoons to run healthcare. Hopefully they will do it bettwr than Medicare, Medicaid, public schools, post office, social security ect..... because all those programs are broke and being funded by the Chinese. Hence our 17 TRILLION debt.

 

They are not tapping your phone bulldogs. Time will tell if ACA is an 'unmitigated disaster'. We wont have to wait long.

 

And as you know, the debt has gone down recently. But feel free to feel freaked out if you like.

 

June,

As some may know, I am fortunate to be involved in a partnership with 3 other men and we employ several hundred people, I am proud to say that they all have health insurance as of now, but as we work our way through the law, that will not be the case come 2014. Many if not most of the employees will be relegated to part time status and this loose health insurance, they will be fined by the federal gov't a pretty large amount for not having health insurance.

I feel horrible, another alternative may be to dump them on gov't rolls and have them fend for themselves and in spin so they will loose their Doctors as many doctors will not take gov't funded patients.

I feel terrible June, but as we work our way through the legislation and how it will impact us, it my leave us with little option.

As you say, we will see I hope you are right!

 

I think we can get through this. All the other industrialized nations of the world have figured it out. I am sure we are as smart as they are.

 

Oh well,

Another day, another scandal. Just after telling me my privacy was not being jeopardized and compromised my entire life, movement, purchases, phone calls, emails, credit cards,healthcare records have been being collected and analyzed along with yours. They say it is to protect me from terrorist but the truth is I have a better chance of being struck by lightning than killed by a terrorist.

Today they say terrorism today what will they say in 2020?

 

Well then tell that to your congressman. Tell them you dont want the patriot act renewed since you dont go to marathons and such. Meanwhile, the gov is not tracking you (unless you are talking to terrorists) though it does make a person feel important to think so.

I think we are going to find out this character has sold some info to China. You dont just non chalantly duck into Hong Kong while you are on the lam. The Chinese put out security trackng to shame. In fact it is rather humorous that that is where he has gone to protest lack of freedom in the US. This hoopla is the smoke screen.