Re: Okie
parados wrote:
Incrementalism isn't much of an argument if your attempt is to prove how far left or right someone is. The argument of incrementalism means I could argue that Republicans are Communists or Fascists. I could argue that Republicans understand the idea of incrementalism. They don't cut the taxes for the wealthy all at once but are doing it incrementally. Something like this would not have been suggested a few years ago. It is obvious they are intent on creating a society of slaves to the aristocracy. Distinct evidence that the government is moving to the right.
The logic is silly when you use it too.
You continue to make allegations okie that don't have much basis in reality. You have nothing to back them up.
Health care is much cheaper and health is much better in many countries that have universal health care. Direct evidence that refutes your claim that competition would make it cheaper. Health care is not something that people can do comparison shopping on. If they are having a heart attack they don't have time to find out which hospital emergency room will be cheaper.
The philosophy of Republicans (at least in theory) is just the opposite of communism, so your argument is not logical. And talk about silly, creating slaves is just the opposite of a Republican philosophy. It is obvious you do not understand the idealogies at all. Also, I would argue that people are not comparison shopping health care to a full extent precisely because there is little incentive to do it if either the government or an insurance company pays for everything. Until something affects someone in their right hip pocket, it does not truly impact them in a competitive manner. I will talk about this health care subject a little to explain my point.
I can cite you a couple of significant examples for my own family. We carry a high deductible. There has been more than one personal experience, but I will recount one to illustrate my point. An injury caused me to go the emergency room and some minor surgery was required, using the operating room, but I went home without staying in the hospital. Since my deductible was high, it was my responsibility to pay the bill. When the bill arrived, we personally reviewed each charge, and of course there were numerous line items with codes and numbers that we did not understand. We called the hospital and requested a description of each charge. The billing person sounded indignant about having to do this, that this was not customary, to my wife. I later called and politely explained that if I had my car worked on, the mechanic would be obliged to tell me what he did and what he was charging me for, and that in the case of personal medical care, it would not only be logical but courteous to at least tell us what we were being billed for. The person quickly changed her tune, and agreed to an appointment to go over the charges. When this process was done, several hundred dollars were subtracted because of several of the items being false, including a several hundred dollar ambulance charge, which was not used, and of course there was no proof. Several things listed for the surgery were also not used, so were deducted. From my reading on the subject, this is what I would call "institutionalized padding the bill" practices which are commonplace. If my insurance company or government pay the bill, it would have been paid. Oh, by the way, when I asked if a discount was available from my doctor if I paid the entire bill, the answer was yes, and we significantly reduced the cost of both hospital and doctor bills, proof that the lack of competition is a huge problem. My experience is not unique. There actually have been businesses spring up to do the very thing that I did, review and correct medical bills. Multiply it by all patients, and the cost of waste and corruption is gigantic.
If the government completely takes over the health care industry, I can tell you that the above problem will grow much worse, along with numerous other problems of waste and corruption in the industry. I have personal experience of friends as doctors that have already left the industry, prematurely, because of the drastic increase in paperwork and bureaucratic nature of the business now.
I will also address your point that you don't comparison shop when you have a heart attack, perhaps not, but you do it ahead of time, much like you do a car mechanic, so that when your car breaks down, you usually know where you want to take your car to get fixed. And for other things that are not emergency, you can and should comparison shop, not just price, but also quality of course.
Lastly, I would argue with you about the quality of health care in other countries being cheaper and better. The people I've talked to about health care in other countries, yes its apparently cheap for them but not necessarily if you look at the overall cost to the country, and the service may be marginally acceptable but if you have a serious problem, you may have to wait months to get it seen about or taken care of. And you may not have as much choice in who and where you go. I would not call that better. I would also point out that the health care system in this country is wonderful in some respects, but in other respects has gone downhill, and you better be aware that you need to comparison shop doctors and be more informed and monitor your own health to a great extent.
