Ponder this
Obama's ultimate mission is the leveling of social inequalities. He offers a tripartite social democratic agenda: nationalized health care, federalized education (ultimately guaranteed through college) and a cash-cow carbon tax (or its equivalent) to subsidize the other two. Problem is, the math doesn't add up. Not even a carbon tax would pay for this expanded welfare-redistribution of wealth state.
What should be done first is entitlement reform - Soc. Sec. and Medicare/Medicaid. That's where the real savings is; trillions could be saved that would not only fund expensive health and education programs, but would also restore the budgetary balance.
Social Security would be pretty easy, but the hard part is Medicare and Medicaid. In an aging population, how do you keep them from blowing up the budget? There is only one answer: rationing.
Why do you think the stimulus package pours $1.1 billion into medical "comparative effectiveness research"? It is the perfect setup for rationing. Once you establish what is "best practice" for expensive operations, medical tests and aggressive therapies, you've laid the premise for funding some and denying others. It is estimated that a third to a half of your lifetime health costs are used in the last six months of your life. Britain's National Health Service can deny treatments it deems not cost-effective -- and if you're old and infirm, the cost-effectiveness of treating you plummets. In Canada, they ration by queuing. You can wait forever for so-called elective procedures like hip replacements.
Do you really want the government to decide your life or health 'is not worth the price'?"
My vote is for a competitive, privatized health insurance system with a government subsidized transition to portability. Then if you are layed off from employment or you retire early or whatever, the ridiculous link between health insurance and employment is finally no more.
However, if you believe that health care is a public good or a right to be guaranteed by the state, then a single-payer system is the next best alternative. Unfortunately, it is fiscally unsustainable without rationing. I noted someone's comment above about some poll saying doctors don't want single payer. I don't know as I trust that poll. My physician is against universal health care and also sited rationing. He thinks it's the worst thing we can do, and he was referring to patients not himself.
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