IT'S TIME FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

USAFHokie80 wrote:

I am a he, thanks. Much of the increase in cost is due to the misuse of services. Hospitals are made to treat people with tens of thousands of dollars worth of care and often do not get reimbursed. Medicare and medicaid have very low reimbursement rates. Hospitals raise their costs because of these types of things. The pass the cost on to insurance companies, who past the cost onto you. It's obviously not quite that simple, but that's the overview.

I haven't seen any persuasive evidence that the costs have gone up at the hospital level by 20% per year; perhaps you could provide some?

Now, the fact that many insurance companies have made some very poor investments, and aren't getting as good a return on their investor's money as before; think that might have something to do with it?

Cycloptichorn

blaming type 2 diabetes on being overweight is a rather simplistic statement .
there are a fair number of articles by medical researchers that point out the often complex reasons for having type diabetes 2 .

here is a link to just one of those articles :
TYPE 2 DIABETES

Quote:

Table 2. Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes

Obesity (weighing 20% or more over desired body weight)

Impaired glucose tolerance

Having a parent or sibling with diabetes

African-American, Hispanic, Asian-Americans/Pacific Islander, or Native-American ethnicity

Age of 45 years or older

Having delivered a baby weighing more than 9 pounds

History of diabetes during pregnancy

Blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg or higher

HDL cholesterol of 35 mg/dL or lower and/or triglyceride level of 250 or higher

to be sure , being overweight doesn't help , but to simply say that only people who are grossly overweight get type 2 diabetes is simply wrong !

another point is that if early health-education and disease prevention are not available to everyone , it's no wonder that people who for whatever reason do not have access to regular healthcare (and advice) get sick more often .
so what has been achieved ?
these people become a burden for the nation as a whole !
whether we like it or not , people with poor education and poor health will become a drag on the well-being (and the economy) of the whole nation !

the old saw : "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure " ,
applies not only to the individual but it applies to the nation as a whole imo .

if anyone thinks that denying health-care to the "undeserving" will have any economic benefits to the other citizens better study some simple economics lessons .
hbg

Ham... that's great and all that you could find that... but you've apparently failed to see the difference between "risk factors" and cause. If you believe that list is causes, then explain to me how having a sibling with a disease can cause you to have the disease.

hypertension is also associated with overweight and poor diet.

Since I'm not that knowledgeable about health care, here's a study by the experts on why health care costs are increasing.


Health insurance premiums and underlying medical expenses have been rising dramatically since 1998. Factors accounting for rising health care costs include:

Growth in pharmaceutical expenses.
Expensive new technologies.
Aging of the population.
Increase in consumer demand.
Broader managed care networks.
Provider consolidation.
Health care labor pressures.

cicerone imposter wrote:

Since I'm not that knowledgeable about health care, here's a study by the experts on why health care costs are increasing.


Health insurance premiums and underlying medical expenses have been rising dramatically since 1998. Factors accounting for rising health care costs include:

Growth in pharmaceutical expenses.
Expensive new technologies.
Aging of the population.
Increase in consumer demand.
Broader managed care networks.
Provider consolidation.
Health care labor pressures.

Since Hokiei seems to have missed this post, I'll repeat it here.

do you think there is any advantage to a nation to have healthy individuals and that a proper health insurance plan might lead to healthier individals and a healthier/wealthier nation ?

According to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated 80% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese (i.e., a BMI of 25 or higher). Here's why excess fat increases insulin resistance:

Fat cells have fewer insulin receptors (the place where insulin binds to open the cell to glucose) than muscle cells.
Fat cells release free fatty acids, and free fatty acids interfere with glucose metabolism.
Excess glucose that can't be used by the cells for energy is stored as body fat, increasing the cellular mass that the pancreas is trying to "feed" via insulin. In overweight people, insulin production is increased to meet.

I DID say that I don't think it should be our duty to pay for care for a condition that someone did to himself.

USAFHokie80 wrote:

I DID say that I don't think it should be our duty to pay for care for a condition that someone did to himself.

If someone is a smoker and gets lung cancer, he's done something to himself. If someone drives a car and is involved in a car accident, he's done something to himself. If somebody is very healthy but crashes while paragliding, he's done something to himself. If someone signed up for the army and gets sent to Iraq and blown a leg off, he's done something to himself.

The problem I have with Senator Clintons plan is not so much the plan itself, it is her lack of ability to make it happen. She has not shown the ability to bring together a consensus on anything during her limited term as Jr. Senator from NY. Her disingenious way of presenting the "new and improved" plan already has me sceptical when she say, "I been down this road before and I know what to expect". Yes, she has been down this road and was unable to get anything accomplished.

Based upon what abilities that she has demonstrated, makes me feel she can accomplish this bold endeavor?

How does the "math" add up? If her plan is to raise taxes on the top earners, how will she incorporate this into any meaningful economic / tax plan?

I fear she will use this "plan" as a single platform item, since as is apparent from this post, touches a sensitive "botton" of many.

I'm not a "top earner" by far, but it seems extraordinarily unfair to make the people who wouldn't use the service at all pay for the people who use it constantly. If there is a raise in taxes for this, it should be a uniform amount across the board.