What makes you think that going to a public healthcare plan will reduce these costs?
Or do you not care because “the rich” will shoulder the tax burden?
You’re arguing two very distinct things.
Healthcare is too expensive
There are too many people that are uninsured
I can see how the government could solve #2 (though at an extremely high cost, in all likelihood), but you aren’t addressing #1 at all, which is the root of the problem. You’re arguing as if the government taking over healthcare will remove all of the problems associated with soaring healthcare costs.
The public option is the only one with enough size to fully take advantage of economies of scale to spread out the fixed costs involved over a much larger number of people, and with enough clout to negotiate lower rates from the providers. When Independent Health or Univera tells Kaleida Health that they aren’t gonna pay $12 a pill for aspirin administered in a hospital, they’re only going to pay $8, Kaleida tells them to suck it, pay the $12 or they won’t accept their coverage any more, they can get by without those patients. When the government tells them they’re paying $8, they suck it up and take it because they can’t afford to lose that big of a group. And Drew, one thing I like about this bill is that it punishes people who can afford healthcare for their kids, and choose not to get it because they’re buying 73" TV’s and cell phone games. No kid should go without medical insurance because their parent would rather be N. Rich.
Dude really I know you get off on this stuff but I do not so on that note, have a good one and I hope you and everyone else get all of the handouts you so desire. Holler!
What? They aren’t rights. I guess if the govt is going to pay for healthcare for everyone then they should pay for all food, water, clothing and shelter for eveyone.(?)
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Healthcare is a privelege. It doesn’t exist on its own. It exists by the productivity of the people that created it. It should be a right, but it’s not.
Any ER will take a person in and stabilize them in an emergency.
Also, free clinics do exist. Most of them are places where students are learning, so it is free to the patient. I took the GF to one when she was between jobs with no insurance. It wasn’t too bad.
Honestly though, health care is expensive. Extensive educations are expensive and deserving of high pay. Engineering and building complex machinery is expensive. The vast amount of small medical supplies add up and get expensive… etc… You can’t expect these services to be free. Who is gonna pay for it?
It must be funded somehow. I think that something does need to be done to make all of this more affordable to the patients. However, saying that it is a natural born right to get medical attention is ridiculous. It’s insensitive of me to say, but it’s the truth. You cannot expect people to provide these services at zero charge.
Those of you who feel it’s a privelege, do you feel the same about police and fire services? I mean, those are very expensive, and they exist because of the productivity of the federal, state, and local governments that run them, with the underlying goal of keeping people alive and unharmed, just like the medical system. If not, what’s the difference? Cancer will render you just as dead as a gunshot or a fire.
If the law would allow me easily carry a gun and dole out justice to those who try to wrong me, then I wouldn’t need to rely on police. Until then, I do need them, so its a completely different argument vs. health care.
wait, wat? You think carrying a gun is a full substitute for police? :bloated: By that logic, you could carry it into the hospital and demand treatment.
Actually, lets use a version of this example. A guy walks into Roswell Park with a gun and takes 10 uninsured cancer patients hostage. He tells each one, “Give me $250,000, or you are going to die.” The government responds instantly, spends millions of dollars on response teams, hostage negotiators, etc., and the problem is neutralized before a shot ever goes off.
Now a drug company does the same thing. They demand $250,000 a year for the drug needed for each one to stay alive. Because of this fact, no one will give them private insurance. They either sell their house and spend their life savings and maybe afford it for a year and then try to get Medicaid, or they just accept that they’re screwed. There is no protection for them. They will be left on their own until they’re gravely ill, then given token treatment to keep them alive a couple extra days. Which the hospital will get stiffed for.
If the police worked like the health insurance system, everyone would have to pay for their own police services. If you couldn’t afford it, sucks for you, they will come to the scene AFTER you get shot, but if you want them to come out and stop the guy first, swipe your credit card. Or a private fire department that you had to either pay for coverage every year, or drop hundreds of thousands of dollars when your house was on fire, or they wouldn’t come save you.
^ Tell me how that example isn’t the case right now. You call Clarence PD and Buffalo PD that someone broke into your house. See which one shows up first.
Life isn’t fair, its time people start remembering that age old fact. You want something, pick up a book, go to school, get a job, work hard, etc and get it for yourself.
You replied too fast, my arrow was in response to post #35.
#1 is true. But that’s due to an abundance of crime in the city and lack of relative police manpower. Buffalo PD will still come out ASAP, just it’s slower. They don’t flat-out refuse to come out unless you pay them.
As for your second point, pick up all the books you want. They’re not going to get you health insurance if you have a pre-existing condition. If it stops you from working, you’re even more fucked.
Yep they’re all priveleges of the first world. The difference is that they don’t cost as much so people ignore them when screaming about socialism. If we can afford universal healthcare then great. If not then I hope all of my diseases consult my paycheck before choosing to infect me.