Universal Healthcare in the USA

[doubledeluxe]

Excellent post Rider. Not a single one of our politicians has proposed anything viable because they care first about their political career and last about the people. Getting into Congress is a sweet deal for most. It's $150,000 a year to do nothing and then when you get out you pick up a $500,000 deal at some company that they passed bills for or who wants them to get bills passed for them.

It's a huge conflict of interest.

Look at where the following guys went

Eric Cantor - $2.8 million dollar deal his first year out at a Bank.
Trent Lott John Breax - Lobbyists at a Russian bank who are being hammered by US sanctions. Odds are they're making millions.
Jim DeMint - Works at think tank Heritage Foundation for $1.2 million.

This is their motivation. They want the fat checks. They don't want to work for the people of the USA. I'm sure lots of them are qualified for these other jobs btw. What they aren't qualified for though is leading the USA.

It works in reverse too. You get senators who worked for big banks who then get into congress to influence policy for those big banks.

Jon Corzine did a 4 year stint in Congress after working for Goldman Sachs plus another 4 years as Governor. What were his big accomplishments? I'm no expert so this guy might have been a-ok but since when are we going to get anything done in this country if you only elect ex CEO's of banks or lawyers?

Another example is John Yarmuth who joined congress so that he could help his brother's healthcare business and increase his own personal wealth in that business.

Then just look at, arguably, the most powerful leader in Europe. Angela Merkel. She was a published Physicist before becoming a politician. She did research in Quantum Chemistry. No comparison.

I would like to see your idea implemented by people who are not politicians but who have traveled and studied foreign systems. The problem that I see today is that Americans simply don't understand that there are 37 other countries out there with better healthcare systems than them. We should be true innovators, sure, but start with what works from other countries and make something better that would work for us. These simple things like a national computer system for prescription medication and medical records is so damn obvious but I don't think it fits into the current agenda of the pharmaceutical companies and others. Surely they are lobbying against it.

 

[Victorian Gray]

Anyone who believes that somehow everything will magically be better by being when government is the only insurer has never actually dealt with government funding agencies.

I've been in some meetings lately where Medicaid billing is the primary topic, and the complexity of the rules would make most people's heads spin.

And yet it works in other countries. Do you really believe that Americans are incapable of doing something like this successfully?

 

[Zorkorist]

Socialized Medicine?

By other countries being okay with it, these are other countries that have been doing it for hundreds of years?

Cause, otherwise, in recent history, socialism and communism are flops.

-John

 

[doubledeluxe]

Socialized Medicine?

By other countries being okay with it, these are other countries that have been doing it for hundreds of years?

Cause, otherwise, in recent history, socialism and communism are flops.

-John

What does your idiotic post have to contribute here?

It was actually first done in the Soviet Union. It was then successfully implemented in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and so on until it also reached Asia and South America.

Today all developed nations have it in one form or another except the USA.

 

[Nebor]

And yet it works in other countries. Do you really believe that Americans are incapable of doing something like this successfully?

Yes. This is beyond our ability. We can't even put people on the moon anymore.

 

[Victorian Gray]

Yes. This is beyond our ability. We can't even put people on the moon anymore.

It's a sad thing if you truly believe that.

 

[Nebor]

It's a sad thing if you truly believe that.

We can't even put people on the moon anymore, or win wars. How do you think we can create free health care?

 

[TheVrolok]

ive learned not to talk about healthcare on ATOT/PN since half of the liberals think that reading the comments section of a huffington post article makes them the worlds expert on the subject.

I get the same feelling about half the conservatives who get their "information" from Fox News.

 

[doubledeluxe]

We can't even put people on the moon anymore, or win wars. How do you think we can create free health care?

Out of curiosity but when you're at work and the coffee maker doesn't work do you throw your hands up in the air and start freaking out that the company is doomed?

We put a man on the moon in the 60's and whether or not we want to spend billions doing it again is not relevant. Neither is our failed foreign policy with respect to wars.

There is a lot of defeatist talk in America nowadays. What we really need are realistic people who don't finger point and don't think everything is impossible.

 

[Sulaco]

What we really need are realistic people who don't finger point and don't think everything is impossible.

So, basically, not internet forum experts, then?

 

[Nebor]

Out of curiosity but when you're at work and the coffee maker doesn't work do you throw your hands up in the air and start freaking out that the company is doomed?

We put a man on the moon in the 60's and whether or not we want to spend billions doing it again is not relevant. Neither is our failed foreign policy with respect to wars.

There is a lot of defeatist talk in America nowadays. What we really need are realistic people who don't finger point and don't think everything is impossible.

I'm a very realistic person, and I think this country could do great things if it didn't spend 80% of it's effort sustaining the dead weight.

 

[Moonbeam]

Out of curiosity but when you're at work and the coffee maker doesn't work do you throw your hands up in the air and start freaking out that the company is doomed?

We put a man on the moon in the 60's and whether or not we want to spend billions doing it again is not relevant. Neither is our failed foreign policy with respect to wars.

There is a lot of defeatist talk in America nowadays. What we really need are realistic people who don't finger point and don't think everything is impossible.

I'm a very realistic person, and I think this country could do great things if it didn't spend 80% of it's effort sustaining the dead weight.

Dear dd, just a cautionary note from this mad man, Moonbeam, who inhabits a world of delusion so far from the realistic one of Nabor's as to be almost obscene, that when folk like him self report as being realistic they mean someplace relativistically special. It seems that in every world occupied by the gifted special, the number of takers that also inhabit it is proportional to the level of hate of that particular snow flake has learned to feel for himself.

Thus it is that poor poor crazy Moonbeam has noted that the number of takers that inhabit any given reality grows in proportion to the self loathing the various inhabitants are trying to deny.

If you have a bad case of self hate, for example, you feel much better in a world where your estimation of almost everybody else is that they are worthless. This is reality for them and they are very determined to stick with it.

 

[doubledeluxe]

Moonbeam has illustrated a very important point. Mental health care is very important for our society.. If all Americans had access to quality mental health care we would surely have a more productive work force and healthier society.

 

[fskimospy]

We can't even put people on the moon anymore, or win wars. How do you think we can create free health care?

What's funny about this is that literally every other country with a better functioning health care system than ours has never put a person on the moon. Looks like maybe the secret to a good health care system is NOT putting people on the moon, so we're off to a good start!

I always find it funny that people always consider "pragmatic" and "realistic" to equal "the thing that I want".

 

[BoberFett]

And yet it works in other countries. Do you really believe that Americans are incapable of doing something like this successfully?

Yes. Today's America is not the America that put a man on the moon. It's a whiny, spoiled, incompetent shadow of its former self.

 

[fskimospy]

Yes. Today's America is not the America that put a man on the moon. It's a whiny, spoiled, incompetent shadow of its former self.

Which is the same thing that old people say about the modern world since forever.

Just yell "get off my lawn!" and be done with it.

 

[doubledeluxe]

Too many excuses and not enough action. The milenials would not be the ones putting this system together today. It would be generation X and Y

 

[Angry Irishman]

Which is the same thing that old people say about the modern world since forever.

Just yell "get off my lawn!" and be done with it.

Is that what it's called now? ....a modern world.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

ive learned not to talk about healthcare on ATOT/PN since half of the liberals think that reading the comments section of a huffington post article makes them the worlds expert on the subject.

You're an MD. So what do you think we should to fix our nation's health care system?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Cause, otherwise, in recent history, socialism and communism are flops.

Got news for you. Capitalism is also proving itself to be a flop.

 

[trenchfoot]

Easy peasy solution: Get rid of the corruption in government and universal health care will sail through Congress. /s

The problem with UHC is that it's meant to help the commoner and not so much the very rich who acquire their wealth from the commoner. How can the elite prey upon the everyday joe in the street if the gov't sets up laws that shields the majority of the nation who would greatly benefit from UHC coverage, from the select few who can afford all the health care they could ever want or need and then some?

The moment our politicians put up their "Congressional Votes for Sale to the Highest Bidder" signs is the day UHC became virtually impossible to get passed. Then the totally corrupted Conservative run USSC got involved and drove the last nail into the UHC coffin.

It still amazes me how this small group of very powerful rich folks can bamboozle the vast majority of the nation into believing that it's good for the majority of the nation to vote against their own best interests.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Which is the same thing that old people say about the modern world since forever.

Just yell "get off my lawn!" and be done with it.

The young people said "we won't be fooled again" but it still happens.

 

[manimal]

Socialized Medicine?

By other countries being okay with it, these are other countries that have been doing it for hundreds of years?

Cause, otherwise, in recent history, socialism and communism are flops.

-John

Gold jerry! Seriously bro. You read that in blog? So you plan on completely opting out of Medicare right?

 

[Jeff7]

Yes. Today's America is not the America that put a man on the moon. It's a whiny, spoiled, incompetent shadow of its former self.

Putting someone on the Moon also strikes me as something done as an egocentric way of showing off.

They certainly didn't go there in style either. It was a tiny capsule that was meant to keep the people alive long enough to get there, piddle around a bit, and get back.

Yes, it was certainly a significant and impressive feat, but the project had a lot of money thrown at it. (By the government, no less. :hmm We sure showed them Russians though.

You still see examples of our true scientific priorities though.
Superconducting Supercollider. Wait, you mean it won't let us kill Soviet communists? Exactly why am I paying for this?

NASA. Doesn't that use like a trillion dollars a year? What a waste! Make it go away. I want more drones and tanks and schools and useful satellites(!).

Which is the same thing that old people say about the modern world since forever.

Just yell "get off my lawn!" and be done with it.

Those were the snippets that were interesting about reading (properly translated) ancient books in a basic college-level World History class.
A few thousand years later and the themes are still relatable and relevant.
Wars suck, men don't understand women and vice versa, kids these days are lazy, and so on. Each generation tells fictional stories, but they're mostly just rehashed updates of older ones. Same themes, just different technology and different names. Rinse, tweak the color a bit, and repeat.

I didn't say it was a bad thing, it's just something that needs to be considered when factoring in cost.

Commonly the undertone with saying something like "Factor in the cost of taking care of previously uninsured/uninsurable people" is "So remember that next time you vote, and vote for someone who'll keep those types of people from costing you money."

False equivalencies. You are comparing natural courses of technological advancement vs. a government coming in a dissolving an industry.

Dissolving it? Healthcare and the logistics behind it won't go away. Transform it? Yes, no doubt.

They destroyed the lucrative slave trade at one point in time. That got plenty of resistance.
They got rid of child labor. Even more cost increases then.
Some states run the liquor business, but there are still stores that sell liquor. "Under new management."


There are certainly some things screwed up in the current system. Example: Go to an in-network doctor. 1) They might not be able to tell you how much their service will cost. 2) They might send out samples to labs that are out of your network. I don't think that they legally obligated to tell you any of this ahead of time.
That strikes me as somewhat shady.
If there is one network to choose from though....
It would need some impressive oversight, and we've shown that we're good at corrupting nice systems.

 

[manimal]

Which is the same thing that old people say about the modern world since forever.

Just yell "get off my lawn!" and be done with it.

defeatism. the narrative that things are just too damn hard to fix and were completely powerless to change things is such a crock.



Climate change? Too hard
Immigration? Too hard
Space exploration? Too hard
Get rid of the EPA Medicare and Invade three countries? Easy peasy