Healthcare Debate Hits The Floor

[Dudley]

So much misinformation out there

They do what they have to do to push the Obama plan through.

[marksiwel]

So much misinformation out there

They do what they have to do to push the Obama plan through.

My rebuttal?
Sarah Palin and her "Death Panels"

[fburgtx]

So, everyone here is happy with their insurance and have never been screwed over or denied a claim by their insurance company?

They're not perfect but they do a much better job than the government. For less money to boot.

How do you know they do a better job if we have never had the goverment do it! Medicare and medicade are great programs and my parents love them.

Also you will still have the option of private insurance.

So much misinformation out there

Medicare and Medicaid are "subsidized" in two ways.
First, through taxes. Second, by folks who pay for private insurance. The reason your parents get good healthcare with Medicare is because they can go to a nice PRIVATE hospital and get taken care of. Why do you think the hospital is so nice?? Because the folks with private insurance get a MUCH larger bill than the Medicare folks do. Why are the doctors so good??? Because the fact that the private hospital attracts so many privately insured patients attracts better doctors.

What do you think would happen to all these nice hospitals if the hospital got ONLY the Medicare rate from EVERYONE??? Some will go out of business. Some will have to decrease staffing levels. This will increase wait times immensely.

Do you think that talented folks will continue to go into medicine when the only rate they can collect is the Medicare rate???

Most studies I've seen show that doctor pay only makes up about 12%-15% of medical costs. S0, if you cut their salaries IN HALF, you only cut costs by 6%-7%.

Like I said, private insurance subsidizes Medicare and no-pay patients by paying hospitals and doctors at MUCH higher rates. This allows the hospitals and doctors to treat low-paying patients while still making a profit at the end of the day.

So, if we're paying for it already (with high insurance rates), what's the big deal??? The big deal is that you can choose to NOT buy insurance. You don't get to choose to not pay taxes. If this bill goes through, we will all see our taxes go up. Take a look at the taxes in Europe. There is no such thing as FREE healthcare!!!

Right now, any person who has a medical problem can walk in to any ER in the country and receive treatment for life threatening issues. The poorest homeless person can walk into the nicest private hospital with the best doctors and, by law, get treatment. However, when all this big "private money" goes away, what you'll have left is every hospital looking like a Parkland or a VA and you'll get whatever doctor they could manage to recruit from a third-world country because all the sharp native-born folks have decided to practice law or get a business degree. Rich folks will still be able to get whatever kind of healthcare they want, but the middle-class folks in this country are going to see their level of care come way down and their wait times go way up (due to rationing).