Still licking those wounds from that beat-down I gave you, what? A year ago??? Let me clue you in: nobody cares about your gay little internet "beefs" or personal vendettas that are way past expiry. The fact you're still holding onto that, and that you follow me around like an obsessed stalker, just shows what a loser-ish character you are. Seriously, time to grow up. Let it go. You've gone from weird to unhealthy.
That's true. But the fact is, according to Wiki, Government covers 81 million Americans at a cost of 1.1 Trillion dollars. So that leaves another 219 *Million* Americans uncovered. Now, even if the total cost to cover the remaining 219 milllion were much lower, we've only got 300 Billion left to meet the 1.4 Trillion target set by the Canadian benchmark. Now, an additional 300 Billion per year, isn't so bad. But honestly, will the cost to insure nearly triple the people, cost only 1/4 as much????? Doesn't make sense. Perhaps a better metric is the per capita cost of employed 30-somethings (those already covered) and multiply by 219 Million. Or whatever the additional population totals will be. Just from glancing at the numbers, it looks very close to an additional 1 Trillion, if not more...
Yea, the roads suck up here. Its the winters, and the fact that most Tax revenue is funneled into that bottomless pit, Healthcare. Which, incidentally, our burgeoning 3rd world immigrant population take generous liberties with! Welcome to Canada! Yes, and Chicks are hotter. New York and LA are better, tho.
Arguing with progressives is pointless because they use emotions over reason to justify policies I don't think anyone is adovocating anarchy or to not offer a safety net for the moochers but it's a far cry from helping the unfortunate few (less than 8 million) and enslaving 290 million to a government system nationalized healthcare is not about what is best for the individual it's about power and control for the state. As far as we are spending to much on healthcare that's pecisely what civilized societies do how many healthcare dollars go to elective surgeries from LASIK to. Gastric bypass to Breast implants we have conquered the major problems. The poor here are obese, have multiple TVA cable internet and shelter. 40% and climbing pay no federal tax All that is left is to spend money or extendindg our lives the average middle class person can be expected to live well into their 80's. When the time comes that we deem the cos unberabpe the market will adjust . In any event the majority of Costs in healthcare can be directly attributed to the inflationary nature of goveremt spending on healthcare since 1965 via Medicare and Medicaid they haven't been able to reign in costs there but some how they wil get it right if they get the whole pie sorry for the typos it's late and I am posting via mobile
Yea, it does say something. But do we need a universal healthcare system to get it? The premise is that we need a Nanny State wiping our butts well into our 80's for another Trillion (or more) per year? When we're already running a trillion dollar deficit! And that doesn't even consider the political or social implications of creating even more gigantic bureaucracy atop the already crushing one we've got now. And the Unconstitutionality of it all. Which is front and center. The Federal Government doesn't even have any business discussing this. They haven't got the Constitutional authority under the 10th Amendment.
That was actually a serious answer. Surprising. Anyway, I'm not sure how you define "skyrocketing", but in this study, anyway, the US was by far the most expensive, AND its cost was growing at the fastest rate Yes, I was very sick when I was younger and I spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals. The difference between the United States and Europe is vast. It does sort of depend on the country, though. The U.S. is not the most expensive. We spend more on healthcare for many reasons. We don't ration healthcare. We are wealthier (on a PPP adjusted basis the average income of in France is on par with the average income in Louisiana - one of the poorest states in the nation), so we can and do spend more on healthcare and we receive more of it. They tend to lump all healthcare spending together - including completely volunatary plastic surgery which is much more popular in the United States than in Europe. The United States also has a massive obesity problem the chronic problems of which cost Americans nearly $300 Billion annually in additional healthcare expenditures. Over 30% of the nation is obese, while only 12% of the French are obese and 10% of the Japanese. State mandates like those in NY make it impossible for customers to just buy catastrophic insurance. Instead, they are forced to either buy insurance that covers such life saving measures as accupuncture and treatment for life threatening diseases such as acne. It is also illegal to deny insurance or increase the premium of people with pre-existing conditions. So, of course, that creates an incentive to not actually purchase health insurance until you're sick and that means that those who are paying for premiums are paying them for those people as well as themselves. All this means that the cheapest insurance I could get in NY was $1,200 per month while in neighbouring CT I could get insurance that just covered actual medical threats to my health for $427/ month. People in NYC who can't afford the $1,200? Tough. They remain uninsured. My wife is a doctor. This already happens. If a patient is insured, the doctor charges more, and maximizes the procedures. She works for a clinic, so she can afford to not do this, but it doesn't sit well with her employer. Unfortunately, she's too good to let go. Yes, I know that happens. Half my family is in the medical profession - mostly surgeons. This is a function of how insurance is regulated and turns doctors into liars. he problem is that this propensity to bill as much as possible will only increase with single payer, raising costs. The only way to combat rising costs will be through rationing - denying care and forcing the government to decide who gets how much verses the doctor. If the patient were forced to pay out of pocket for regular care, he and the doctor would only request that which is medically necessary and insurance could cover the patient if he actually develops a medical condition. This would also force doctors to compete for patients by cutting costs - starting with unnecessary medical tests. BTW, your wife sounds like my kind of person. here's a common example in many states: To receive a payment of $150 for a procedure, the doctor must bill insurance $200. The insurance NEVER pays $200 and if the doctor submitted a bill for $150, he would be paid $100. A patient who doesn't have insurance wants to pay cash. The doctor cannot charge him what he actually receives from the insurance company - $150. He must charge him $200 (the same amount as he bills but never receives from the the insurance company) or risk being hauled in for insurance fraud. That rule is on the books thanks to government regulation. Thank you for agreeing with me. You are like the guy who commutes by private limo. At the same time, you acknowledge that it's not so much a system as a mess that's already a stupid version of a crazy half-assed socialism, and it only works for a subset of healthy people who can either afford to opt out of it, as you can, or who are covered by corporations or the government. Your anti-gov argument is a fallacy of the excluded middle. As are all libertarian arguments in this vein, actually. No need to thank me. When you're right, you're right. What we have is already a hot socialist mess. You are engaged in magical thinking that leads you to believe that if socialism causes the mess, more socialism will fix it. I don't think you understand - I didn't opt out of anything. I have health insurance and I am not an employee of a corporation nor covered by government. You're wrong about the ability to obtain insurance if your are not an employee and you're wrong about the healthcare system working for people who are "covered by the government". They are the ones with the worst horror stories. By the way, another way to cut healthcare costs is to cut your wife's pay. American doctors make a multiple of what European and Canadian doctors make.
You know, we could stop impoverished immigrants (mostly Mexicans) from entering the country and we'd improve both life expectancy and health care spending tremendously. Of course, that's racist and stupid on so many levels. The point is, it's important to be aware of genetic differences. When you compare the health care outcomes AND life expectancy of genetically European Americans, the outcomes are statistically insignificant from Europe's. When you add blacks and hispanics, the outcomes are much worse and one reason for that is that blacks and hispanics are more susceptible to chronic and expensive illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. European systems ration care and they still have better outcomes because they severely limit immigration and aren't as fat as Americans are. These two facts also reduce healthcare expenditures - but it has nothing to do with being better stewards. Look at the trajectory of France's healthcare spending. Costs are rising at an alarming rate.
"We, the People" is a euphemism intended to demonstrate solidarity of thought and action. Please don't be a jack-ass. You know the Founders were every bit Libertarian as the Constitution and Bill of Rights declares. But you want to argue with me. Okay. Argue, away.