And the ones who are working are probably the ones who will get the least benefit out of the new system. I'm not sure how the subsidies work with the ACA but I keep seeing it mentioned. Does one have to be at a certain income level to qualify for assistance? And where do these subsidies come from?
Sorry, I'm not informed on the ACA.
The problem is I (and apparently half of the country) have so little confidence in the government that if single payer ever happened costs would skyrocket even more and the US healthcare system would collapse (and probally bankrupt the US Govt, if it isn't already bankrupt)
If your plan is skyrocketing so that top execs can still rake in million dollar bonuses, then I advise you to shop around.
It's into "scam" territory now. (I was thinking "money laundering" also, but I don't think that definition quite fits.)The US healthcare system currently takes 17% of GDP in spending on healthcare. I'm sure if we took that and placed it into single payer, it could be made to work....especially when you consider that nearly every other industrialized country makes a go at it at a much smaller % (around 10 to 12% IIRC) of their GDP (which is smaller than the US by quite a bit) and they cover 100% of their citizens.
Oh I forgot, profits over people every day of the week....what was I thinking? pfftt.
insurances try to make more money, not keep making the same money.Although I'm surprised since more people are being 'forced' to pay now, that the costs aren't at least steady as more now pay. Was wrong on that completely.
what about setting a maximum price of each health service or some similar sort of regulation?There's no money at current rates for a single payer system. And that's the only way it could happen, nothing changes except who pays!
Don't they teach anything at school these days?
The current system works fine.
I'm not either. All I know is that you can get a 'level' of subsidy if your income is at or below 4 times the national poverty level. As for where this subsidy comes from, not sure. Fines for not providing insurance for your employees? Really don't know how all this bullshit is supposed to work.
The US healthcare system currently takes 17% of GDP in spending on healthcare. I'm sure if we took that and placed it into single payer, it could be made to work....especially when you consider that nearly every other industrialized country makes a go at it at a much smaller % (around 10 to 12% IIRC) of their GDP (which is smaller than the US by quite a bit) and they cover 100% of their citizens.
Oh I forgot, profits over people every day of the week....what was I thinking? pfftt.
It's into "scam" territory now.<SNIP>
insurances try to make more money, not keep making the same money.
.
We can't take 17% of GDP spending and move it to single-payer. Costs for previously uninsured people will go up astronomically, while the money available to pay for those costs doesn't change.
3x?
I'll believe that when my shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet.
In the US, you'd probably have protests about socialism-this-and-that....
what about setting a maximum price of each health service or some similar sort of regulation?
most countries do that.
Well sure, but the US is the greatest country in the world in absolutely every respect, so of course those shithole industrialized nations can afford their filthy, dehumanizing health care systems.Yet the rest of the industrialized world has complete coverage and their people don't feel this way (your examples of how people just say "Oh, I have insurance so who cares what it costs" (paraphrased)) and on top of that, their coverage costs far less than the US per capita and covers EVERYONE!!!
The real question is why does it cost 17% of the US GDP to get the crap coverage that we have now vs the much smaller % of the 'smaller GDP's' of other countries that cover 100% of their people? Why is that?
I wonder what % of that 17% ends up in the pockets of big insurance or bill collectors or simple inefficiency of the US medical establishment (i.e. have to have 3 people in a small doctors office just to bill and fight against the insurance companies, etc.)?
3x?
I'll believe that when my shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet.
They can sure pay their sales staff an impressive amount of money. One of my dad's friends worked in pharmaceutical sales. Six-digit annual salary, somewhere beyond $150k....
And despite all the health ins. companies crying about their product not being very profitable, I call BS on that. If what they're doing doesn't give them much profit, why are they fighting so hard to keep the system the way it is? Here's a hint....most insurance companies don't profit much off their product in a direct way but instead ins. co's. are one of the largest, if not the largest, institutional investors in the stock market, and the profits from that aspect, rarely talked about, is where a huge amount of their profits are derived. Make no mistake, health care is profitable if done right, and the health industry in the U.S. does it quite right for profits.
<fingers in ears>It seems as if we, as a country, are willing to tolerate what is sub-standard health care while spending more as a country than any other on earth with the absolute worst health outcomes from all that spending (for instance---rates of infant mortality currently places the U.S. right behind Cuba, at around 34th in the world; the U.S. life span is also behind many 2nd world countries and down around, again, Cuba), sure, keep what we have. But it's going to reach a breaking point.
A healthy population is a long-term investment, and it's not easy to quantify directly.Add in the vast numbers of bankruptcies from health care costs, even when having great ins. coverage (some estimate almost 2/3 of bankruptcies are attributable to the end cost of a serious accident or illness) and you have an unsustainable system in place.
But we place very little value in the U.S. as a whole on having a healthy population, a healthy population which would be much more productive (see Germany, et al) and not in fear of gaving to go see an MD.
C'est la vie. Such is the U.S. Everything is for profit, common sense be damned.
We keep going with our current health care for profit system and we surely will bankrupt the country.
And if we sent to a single payer system, those that cite taxes going bananas and no room left in the budget and where would the $$ come from, the answer is the premiums your employers pay and the premiums you pay for ins. would essentially convert into the "taxes" for health care. Imagine if every penny that is paid into health premiums was used to really fund universal health care...
That said, as long as pharma. and health ins. co's. have such big clout with Congress, we're stuck with what we have, a broken system destined to fail. Why else do drug companies scream when forced into competitive situations for their drugs, or why drug companies charge U.S. residents multiple times the cost of the same drug sold in Canada, for instance.
And despite all the health ins. companies crying about their product not being very profitable, I call BS on that. If what they're doing doesn't give them much profit, why are they fighting so hard to keep the system the way it is? Here's a hint....most insurance companies don't profit much off their product in a direct way but instead ins. co's. are one of the largest, if not the largest, institutional investors in the stock market, and the profits from that aspect, rarely talked about, is where a huge amount of their profits are derived. Make no mistake, health care is profitable if done right, and the health industry in the U.S. does it quite right for profits.
It seems as if we, as a country, are willing to tolerate what is sub-standard health care while spending more as a country than any other on earth with the absolute worst health outcomes from all that spending (for instance---rates of infant mortality currently places the U.S. right behind Cuba, at around 34th in the world; the U.S. life span is also behind many 2nd world countries and down around, again, Cuba), sure, keep what we have. But it's going to reach a breaking point.
Add in the vast numbers of bankruptcies from health care costs, even when having great ins. coverage (some estimate almost 2/3 of bankruptcies are attributable to the end cost of a serious accident or illness) and you have an unsustainable system in place.
But we place very little value in the U.S. as a whole on having a healthy population, a healthy population which would be much more productive (see Germany, et al) and not in fear of gaving to go see an MD.
C'est la vie. Such is the U.S. Everything is for profit, common sense be damned.