Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
I just want to make 2 points. One, when you offer a Government option for health care to everyone, private employer paid insurance will no longer be an option because the employers will stop paying for their employees' insurance altogether. And, second, no one is talking about the fact that any Govenment provided health care will need to be paid for with borrowed money, because the Government is 22 trillion dollars in debt. Yes, individuals will not pay for health care directly, but our children and grandchildren will eventually have to pay off the debt or continue to pay enormous and increasing interest payments forever.
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Removing employer healthcare is considered by many (me included) to be a good thing. In many cases (most) in the current system it acts as a lock to keep employees from seeking better employment elsewhere. It is NOT easy to find healthcare at a new employer and it often will not cover pre-existing conditions. And there is normally a gap when you move.
And no, borrowing of the plans being suggested all provide payment plans. The basic idea is everyone pays a higher "medicare" tax, which they are already paying, just higher. In return everyone gets medical health care for no charge - period. No deductibles, not excluded conditions, no fighting with the insurance company over if the doctor should have provided the test or service. No wondering if your insurance is going to cover something.
The estimates are that the higher medicare tax will be offset by the lower cost of living (all medical costs paid). So everyone will save money - except those that don't bother to have health insurance, and let you and me pay for their illness or injury by going to an emergency room.
Will it work? No one knows, we do know various forms of it work in numerous other countries (actually 17 of them that provide better cheaper healthcare then were do), and the result is better healthcare (measured by results) happier and healthier citizens, and the cost is about 1/2 to 1/3 of what we are paying with our current multi-payer for profit healthcare system.
Our healthcare is NOT keeping you healthy, in fact they hope you get sick - there is no profit in curing anyone of anything, there is only profit in treating illness. In a system where there is no profit, the motivation is to keep you healthy. I KNOW this works, because I use the VA healthcare, and that is exactly what I see.
When I was in medicare, I went to for profit healthcare "groups" and saw a different doctor every visit, and if I was lucky I saw them for 15 minutes. There was a constant feeling of they really wanted to get done with me and get to the next patient.
Now that I am in the VA, I always see my primary care provider, and they speak with me as long as I want to talk. They are obviously interested in my healthcare because they want to keep me healthy to save money - see, they are not making a profit, they are working on a limited budget, and it is in their best interest to make sure I stay healthy.
That is what single payer healthcare can be - at least I believe it can be.