And I can't do those things myself? Why can't we just contract a company to do those and those that have to use the service pay for it.
Because the government has the power of the law, and the duty and authority to uphold it. We do contract private security and police, and people/companies pay for their service. Same with ambulances. Difference being the authority they are granted.
10k+, which is a lot for your typical middle class family.
Everyone pays some, etc.
So you paid $10k, vs the true cost of over $100k, the insurance picking up the tab for the rest. You still complaining about it being unfair?
$10k is a lot, but definitely within the realm of realistic for a typical middle class family. $100k is not. Why is it not unfair that the Insurance company had to pay $90k for your surgery?
Yes, but there isn't a difference of life vs. death or having 6-month savings in the bank vs. bankruptcy due to medical costs.
So how much should it have cost you? Please tell me how much you should have paid, how much the doctors should have received, how much the insurance company, hospital, staff, etc., all deserved to make in profit. Tell me how much the equipment manufacturers deserved to make on their supplies.
You've obviously fallen into the same false-premise trap that so many do. You feel that medical services should be assigned a fixed price, no matter the true cost. You feel that as incident rates go up for a certain procedure, prices should obviously go down, to maintain a zero-sum cost for that service. You think that if we as a nation spend $X billion a year on health care costs, that if next year twice as many people are sick, we should be able to continue spending $X billion to treat them.
Let me ask you this. I don't know what caused your back problem, but say for now that it was due to a sports injury. You paid $10k to receive treatment. A couple years later, you injure it again, and need another $10k treatment. A couple years later, you do the same. You keep doing this until you are bankrupt. Would your original argument still hold water? Do you think that the costs should go down every time you need treatment, because that's what is "fair"?
If I shoot myself in the foot and need to go to the hospital, where does that money come from? If I shoot myself in the foot once a week, who is paying for that? You think that the insurance company should continue paying for it, and continue losing money by doing so. If they increase premiums for others to cover this cost, it's just because they want more yachts. Right?
No, they're not. Is there a different version of cancer floating around in Canada, UK, or Taiwan? No, there isn't.
Now you are just being ignorant of reality. The entire world recognizes the US as the definitive leader in medical treatment, technology, and research. This is a matter of fact, not opinion.
What about American Companies, are we that much better than everyone else?
You link to some college class project and expect that to help your argument? I read through 3 pages of that and would wager they got at least a D-, because their own figures don't agree with each other from line to line. They compare data from over 20 years ago to data from 2005, and make comparisons in the same sentence that are off by factors of 50.
Try again. CEOs in the US may be overpaid, but when you realize that the majority of their compensation is in stock options, you may want to think about where that money comes from. Also, you were talking about the board of directors in your little made-up story about yachts. Do you know what the difference is?
The difference is, aside from the fact is you don't need a car, life insurance, etc to be able to live.
I don't need medical insurance to live. I am uninsured right now. I'm alive. How is that possible?
More disturbing is that trend is that most middle-class family can't afford health insurance, hence why we had this healthcare act implemented in the first place. The United States is the only Country in the world were it's citizens go bankrupt due to medical costs.
Most can and do afford it. How many people in this country are uninsured? How many of those are uninsured by their own choice? answer those questions for me before you keep going.
Uh, and these Countries got our medical equipment, services for, free?
HA HA HA HA HA
Most of them have older, less sophisticated equipment. Most of them force drug companies to sell their products at reduced rates, which means they need to make up the profit somewhere else (US). Tell me what happens when the US forces down drug rates? Where will the money come from then?
Do you realize what happens to most drug company profits? Do you think every dollar over cost at the end of the year goes to the CEO? Drug companies plow as much money as they can into R&D, because if they don't keep innovating, they will eventually die. Less profit means less innovation, means less future profit, means the company dies.
Yea, and they need our military protection from whom exactly?
You obviously haven't been alive that long.
I'm sorry, but it is. Tell me what other country innovates as many cutting-edge medical devices, technique, procedures, or drugs as the US. Tell me where most doctors from around the world go to receive their training.
I gave you answer, if you don't like it. Too bad.
You didn't give me an answer. You gave me a link and hoped that I would accept that as an answer.
I want you to tell me, if your own words, why you think that the Constitution was written with specific, enumerated powers vested to congress, outlining exactly what they were allowed to do, with all other powers reserved for the states, if the "general welfare" clause was purposely included to allow congress to enact anything that was viewed as "good" for the country? How can these situations co-exist?
For the record, as I have always said, this country does need some reasonable reform measures in health care. A thousand-page bill that NOBODY READ prior to signing, with regulations, taxes, commissions, new offices, etc., is NOT the way to do it. The government cannot wave a magic wand, tell everyone to buy insurance, and think that the problem will be fixed. As I told you, health care costs are not some arbitrary fixed sum, which remains the same no matter how many people require treatment for a particular disease. If this country keeps getting more and more sick, costs will increase. If people take better care of themselves, and we stop abusing the medical system to squeeze 2 extra days out of life, costs will go down. It's really that simple.