Warren Buffett Says America Is "So Rich" It Can Afford Single Payer

Discussion in 'Economics' started by Banjo, Jun 27, 2017.

  1. Xela

    Xela


    For myself, I wouldn't go as far as to say that(!) but there's certainly a very widespread perception, among those "in the trade" but outside the US, that whereas you undeniably have some of the world's best healthcare available, the proportion of the population to whom it's available is strikingly lower than it needs to be. (When you look at these things on a "cost-per-hundred-thousand" basis, of course the provision cost reduces dramatically as the realistic availability increases.)
     
    #11     Jun 27, 2017
    777 and murray t turtle like this.
  2. tommcginnis

    tommcginnis

    And, WTH, just to follow up, the cure for ills seen in public education is to follow one simple step: provide for alternative suppliers -- "School Choice" -- private vouchers and all of that. Suddenly, cost discipline and 'student outcomes' are all the rage. And TEACHERS (and not some gum-flapping administrator with 15 certifications after their name) are getting paid! The US is 27th in math/science last time I saw -- our *descent* has stopped, at least. "Phew!" That one, simple, loudly-moaned-about step....

    SO! TWO INGREDIENTS TO HEALTH SYSTEM SUCCESS:
    1) Get rid of the so-called "Employer Mandate" and any employment-related tax benefits or rules of any kind. Tax "health benefits" as regular income.

    2) Get rid of Treble Damages on Malpractice Pain&Suffering damages.

    These two things, stemming from the mid-1980s, gave us the health horror-show we see today. They took over HMOs such that, rather than working for the patients, they became agents Of The Doctors, For The Doctors, By the Doctors, in the doctors' battles with insurance companies. Eventually, the insurance companies bought out the troublesome doctors, too! So now (and for many years), the Hippocratic Oath has been supplanted by Cover-Thy-Ass procedures, tests, and whole office complexes have been built, peopled, and paid-for, by the schmuck who ground his knee on the driveway, and just wants a bandaid. "That'll be $700, Mr. Smith -- that's with your co-pay, of course."

    Just nuking the Treble Damages standard would produce a host of clinics where, upon signing a statement that "I know I can't sue for massive-ass dollars, should my cut get infected...", you could get that 10¢ bandaid for..... $5, with a dash of iodine and a lollipop, thanks. And like a (helpful) infection, these clinics (and then out-patient operating theaters, and then full-service hospitals) would *balloon* into existence across the country.

    And somehow all those other institutions.... "would find ways" {wink-wink; nudge-nudge} to lower their own costs........
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2017
    #12     Jun 27, 2017
  3. Banjo

    Banjo

    "Why can't we do something like that??"
    Only the lobbyists can answer that.
     
    #13     Jun 27, 2017
  4. speedo

    speedo

    The lobbyists would have no power if the politicians refused the bribes.
     
    #14     Jun 27, 2017
  5. Don't buy into the lie.... single payer is already here. once an entitlement gets put into place it never gets taken away... its outright wrong... read any Austrian economist's take on intervention, socialist medicine etc... its a terrible feedback system, central planning fails..
     
    #15     Jun 27, 2017
  6. jem

    jem

    why not make the 3rd ingredient vouchers? to create competition.


    by the way... I agree that the process is very inefficient but isn't some of that inefficiency due to the government.

    for instance CA has all sorts of caps of medical mal practice claims but health insurance is still very expensive here for those people who pay for it.

     
    #16     Jun 27, 2017
  7. #17     Jun 27, 2017
    murray t turtle likes this.
  8. just21

    just21

    The state/treasury borrow from the bond market as they never balance the budget with taxation. I am sure the unemployment rate would increase if medicaid was offered to the unemployed but that would justify lower interest rates for longer.
     
    #18     Jun 27, 2017
  9. take it from lew rockwell!
     
    #20     Jun 27, 2017