cicerone imposter wrote:okie, Your personal opinion about universal health care has some merit, but as shown by a recent poll, most Americans want uninversal health care in our country. You seem to think your lone opinion has more merit than the majority of Americans. Wake up and smell the coffee.
Cicerone, it is not me alone that has a similar opinion. And if a majority of Americans want something, it does not indicate it is always correct, workable, or appropriate, or even legal.
Cyclops and cicerone, I have reviewed this, including some of the ideas and proposals on both sides of the debate, and to be honest, I have concluded that the subject is too complicated to be very confident about what I think about this, but I have an embedded bias against the government doing anything efficiently, so the general ideas I give later are consistent with that. The ideas are in regard to tweaking the system we have now to make improvements, rather than scrapping the whole thing and starting over. One of the statistics I particularly noticed was the very fast and responsive treatment available in this country, as compared to virtually any other country, and that is a biggee in my opinion. I personally like many of the aspects of medical services now, although thankfully I have not had to use it that much.
You can review life expectancies and other statistics from various countries, however, this is comparing apples and oranges with all of the different lifestyles, work habits, variations of vices such as smoking and drinking, overeating, you name it, from country to country. These statistics even vary greatly from state to state for the above reasons.
I favor trying to tweak the current system, by doing a few simple things. These ideas are very general and need more study to be perfected.
1. Cap ridiculous and frivolous lawsuits against medical professionals and institutions. When specialists pay hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for liability insurance, that is money they have to recover before even making a living, so a math major is not required to see how that can affect their fee structure. Not only that, doctors practice what is called "defensive medicine," by ordering tests that they do not believe are necessary, but to protect themselves against future lawsuits. It is difficult to measure how much this factor is affecting medical costs, but I think it is substantial. This suggested reform would lower medical costs.
2. Make insurance policies portable, regardless of employer, and structure the tax system so that everyone benefits equally in terms of receiving deductions or rebates for purchasing medical insurance. Try to come up with a system to take the costs of medical insurance out of the companies, and back into the hands of the people that receive the medical services. This reform would create a more level playing field for all citizens and between insurance providers.
3. Investigate ways to make minor health care, such as doctor visits, be paid directly by the patients. For those under a certain income line, some kind of system to include vouchers could be considered, and unspent money after each year could be re-invested in something for the individual or family, and owned by the individual or family. This reform would enhance the doctor / patient relationship and competition in the industry of medical services.
4. We already have Medicaid for the very poor and destitute, so I see no reason why anyone should go without proper medical treatment. And we already have Medicare for the elderly.
Unfortunately, I think we are headed for some form of government health care for everybody. If we would tweak the system we have, I think it can be improved, but unfortunately the politicians cannot seem to agree on anything in this regard. For one thing, congress is made up of mostly lawyers, so they don't wish to give up the right of people suing everybody they can think of for any amount. And many Democrats simply want government health care of some kind, so they drag their feet in regard to any other proposal.
The sky seems to be the limit in terms of medical advancements, equipment, treatments, and medications, and the money that can be thrown at this industry, so it looks to me like we as a culture are in danger of bankrupting ourselves in the name of health. Nobody seems to think they should have to suffer a headache or sore throat anymore. Go to the doctor and demand some pills. And people increasingly view medical care as a God given right, or constitutional right, which it never was or is. Yet at the same time, we indulge in self destructive and unhealthy behavior. So I don't have any good answers for this problem.
