God I hope this doesn't include a public option. there are other things we could do that would get healthcare under control that don't involve the government controling it. all of you wishing for a Government run plan will really be disapointed if you ever have anything seriously wrong. I am on a government run plan right now called Tri-Care. I had to get a referal from my PCP to take my daughter to an Urgent Care Facility. She had a broken leg and we ended up taking her to the ER... They wouldn't cast it at the ER because she is a toddler and had to see a pediatric orthopedist... it took SEVERAL days to get a referal to see one... she went nearly a week with a broken leg with no cast because of all the bureucracy involved... Nothing the government has ever run has worked right, it is all corrupt, it will bankrupt us.
I'm glad you read my previous post and adopted the TRICARE thing into this weirdo little meme of yours - which I think many (not really me so much) would probably find offensive. You don't have to worry though - a good portion of the masses will believe it and try to patiently level with you. You really should credit/rep me for allowing you to write this post.
The public option would be ... optional. No one would have to sign up for it. The primary purpose is to control skyrocketing rates in the individual health care market. In California, the largest insurer is trying to raise rates 40%+ this year alone. The same is occurring in 5 other states. The public option has very little cost associated with it because it's self-funded with premiums. Oddly enough, this is also what makes it trickiest to pass through reconciliation.
Didn't see that... good job on bringin up Tri-care... However since I live in Houston and there are now military medical facilities (thank god VA doesn't cout as one) I get to see private doctors... The care is fine, it just is hard to get appointments due to the rules.
If as you say the public option remains an option and not a gateway to a single payer system... which obama has stated he wants, which harry reid says it is... than I am good with it. HOWEVER it won't stay that way. Why can't we open Health Insurance up to free market like we do auto insurance? why can't i choose from any company in the country? That alone would significantly drive down the price in Health Insurance... competition leads to lower prices. I respect your opinion more than most because you keep a level head and try to give just facts or your opinion so please please don't tell me that obama doesn't want single payer. He is on record on NUMEROUS occasions saying that he does.
this should say *no military medical facilities.. (we spell things different in the balkans samfisher)... oh and I would rep you, but me being a noob i don't know how
I've got a theory on how you can enhance this character - why don't you pretend that you beat up a black dude on an AC transit bus! Judging from the other thread that may sway people to your cause.
sounds good... how about i just tell everyone I kickded your ass in real life and thats why you constantly harrass me? would that sway people to my cause?
We can't even get a public option to pass a threshold of 60 votes in one of the most Democratic Senates we'll ever have. What makes you think there'd be any way to pass a bill that deletes the entire health insurance industry at some point down the road? It's just not possible to do because of the disruption it would cause to the US economy. I totally agree here - however, states don't want it so it's a non-starter. They all want to be able to regulate the insurance in their own state, so you have both Dems and Republicans against the idea because it gives less control to the individual states to regulate their own insurance. It's one of the inefficiences of having decentralized gov't - we now have 50 separate bureaucracies doing the exact same thing, all slightly differently. And that forces all the insurers to have different policies in every state to conform to those regulations. All around a bad system. That said, there are states (like Texas) with at least a handful of different competitors in the individual insurance market, and it hasn't slowed the rate of health care costs at all. He's on record saying that if he were starting from scratch, he'd want single payer. But he also is on record saying that wouldn't work in the US because we're not starting from scratch. I think the same could be said for a gun ban, for example. It makes some sense if you're building a country from the ground up. But given our culture, history, and the simple prevalence of guns out there, it's a silly idea.
There is a big difference between a handful and opening it up nationaly.. if it were opened up nationally there would be the healthcare equivilant of SafeAuto and AutoInsuranceDiscounters driving prices down. Their coverage wouldn't be as good, but it'd be a hell of a lot cheaper... I see what you're saying about not being able to pass it with a Dem controlled congress, however I think it is a gateway for a public option and I'll tell you why. I said whenever Medical mar1juana laws were passed in CA that it was a gateway to legalization, and that is on the horizon and will happen in the near future.. I said the "don't ask don't tell" policy was a gateway to allow openly gay individuals to serve... and it is.. they are trying to garner support to make that happen as we speak... that is the way progressivism works, it's a process not a revolution..
real question here... I know at one time you could choose your own option, however if you lost insurance or changed jobs you would only have the government option, is that still what they are pushing?
But "don't ask, don't tell" was intended to be a gateway - everyone knew it was going to happen eventually. Same with medical mar1juana - legalization has been getting more and more popular and accepted over the past few decades. It was only a matter of time. In both cases, they are social issues and there's no societal disruption in slowly making that transition. With health care, there would be significant economic disruption. Everyone employed by Aetna, Unicare, Blue Cross, etc would be unemployed overnight. There's no slow transition from private insurance (even with a public option) to single payer. It's a flipped switch. The only exception I can see would be if everyone basically chooses the public option over private care, and over time, the private market just shuts down due to lack of customers. But in that case, people all preferred the public option - so it's hard for me to argue that it was a bad thing. That's not how it was set up - you were never forced into the public option. I believe, at one point, the public option was only going to made available to those who had lost insurance, etc. But those people could still choose private insurance. That was the weakest version of the public option because it was available to the fewest people. I have no idea what kind of public option would be brought back if they do bring it back.
another serious question, who pays for all of the undoccumented workers? wouldnt' that come from our tax money just like it comes from our insurance premiums now?
It could come from the undocumented workers tax money if the bill actually covered them which it doesn't.
This bill doesn't really address or change that problem - they aren't eligible for the system, so they'd get emergency care just like they do now. Although, if it does reduce the cost curve of health care, then it would actually reduce the amount we'd be paying for their care.
they are covered in the fact that they have to be seen if they go to the ER, and that still has to be paid for. Regardless of whether or not the bill specifically adresses them.
