Universal Healthcare? Can it work? I'm doubtful...

[Taso]

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Ugh, we already had this debate in that thread. I'll break it down for everyone:

Almost everyone favors private health care
Two or three posters favor "free healthcare for everyone" as well as bullets made of chocolate and bunnies and sunshine. And higher taxes.

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That seems like an appropriate reasonable characterization of both sides of the argument.

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hehe.

Obviously I was half kidding, but really, this discussion already took place. No one was going to budge an inch on it anyways.

[AlexM]

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I just don't see how anyone could look at what our government is doing now and has done throughout history and think it would be a good idea to give them a few trillion more bucks for any reason.

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To transfer power and control to a more unaccountable, tyrannical, monopolistic force than accountable profit driven businesses?

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FYP

[TomVeil]

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The issue is simply that prices keep spiraling out of control, less and less people can afford it, and even if you HAVE insurance, you can't afford to get SICK. So what's the point in having it in the first place? The whole system needs to be redesigned to keep costs down. If you can show that the private market can do that, then I'm all for it. I have my doubts about that, though.

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Hasn't insurance increased the cost of healthcare? They're just another middle man.
Wasn't it easier to see a doctor 100 years ago, before health insurance?

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Insurance costs have increased. I don't think that's why health care costs have increased. It's certainly one of the reasons that we have less money than we used to. When my mother was born in 1960, the delivery cost my grandmother $28. When I was born in 1977, the cost was $67.

Any of you have any kids lately? How much does that cost?

If you're advocating getting rid of insurance, I'm all for it. It's a scam of the highest degree.

[Inso0]

That's just it... this discussion hasn't taken place.

The people against it, explained why... and the people for it cited no reasons but instead chose to accuse everyone of calling them communists.

I want to stop the one sided debate. Please... SOMEONE give us a good reason why we should dismantle our healthcare system and give the keys to our inept government. That's all I ask. Just tell me why.

[Jamougha]

It work everywhere else in the developed world. I can't imagine Americans can be that much more incompetent that the rest of us.

*thinks about Bush*

Hmm well...

[DblBarrelJ]

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The issue is simply that prices keep spiraling out of control, less and less people can afford it, and even if you HAVE insurance, you can't afford to get SICK. So what's the point in having it in the first place? The whole system needs to be redesigned to keep costs down. If you can show that the private market can do that, then I'm all for it. I have my doubts about that, though.

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Hasn't insurance increased the cost of healthcare? They're just another middle man.
Wasn't it easier to see a doctor 100 years ago, before health insurance?

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Insurance costs have increased. I don't think that's why health care costs have increased. It's certainly one of the reasons that we have less money than we used to. When my mother was born in 1960, the delivery cost my grandmother $28. When I was born in 1977, the cost was $67.

Any of you have any kids lately? How much does that cost?

If you're advocating getting rid of insurance, I'm all for it. It's a scam of the highest degree.

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My son, now 18 months old, cost right at $6k, IIRC, of course I really wasn't too concerned, as insurance paid the bill, so I may be off on the number.

[Case Closed]

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Ugh, we already had this debate in that thread. I'll break it down for everyone:

Almost everyone favors private health care
Two or three posters favor "free healthcare for everyone" as well as bullets made of chocolate and bunnies and sunshine. And higher taxes.

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That seems like an appropriate reasonable characterization of both sides of the argument.

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hehe.

Obviously I was half kidding, but really, this discussion already took place. No one was going to budge an inch on it anyways.

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Pretty much. I find it to be a rather useless exercise to discuss the merits of a massive government program with folks who don't want the government to exist.

[TomVeil]

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That's just it... this discussion hasn't taken place.

The people against it, explained why... and the people for it cited no reasons but instead chose to accuse everyone of calling them communists.

I want to stop the one sided debate. Please... SOMEONE give us a good reason why we should dismantle our healthcare system and give the keys to our inept government. That's all I ask. Just tell me why.

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Well, we should dismantle our health care system because it's failing almost everybody. I'm not up for handing the keys to government, but I AM for allowing government (or anybody else for that matter) to reign in the costs. I've said it before and I'll say it again:

It doesn't matter if you can afford insurance if you can't afford to get sick!

I wouldn't have a problem AT ALL doubling or TRIPLING my insurance premium IF THEY PAID FOR MY MEDICAL COSTS. With all the co-pays and deducatables, you're paying for it out of your pocket anyway! If you're spending enough that you need help from your insurance, they STILL don't pay 100%, so you're broke anyway!

If you want to convince me that one way is better than another, that's the problem you've got to fix. The insurance companies WANT to deal with you on a 1 on 1 basis, because that's how they can earn the most money. As the costs rise and less employers offer insurance, there's nobody to stand up against the insurance companies and require them to give a group rate. If that's how you want it to work, then more power to you. I hope that you don't find out the hard way that the system doesn't work.

[TomVeil]

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It work everywhere else in the developed world. I can't imagine Americans can be that much more incompetent that the rest of us.

*thinks about Bush*

Hmm well...

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[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Thanks for the laugh [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Inso0]

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It work everywhere else in the developed world. I can't imagine Americans can be that much more incompetent that the rest of us.

*thinks about Bush*

Hmm well...

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It may work for you, but America didn't get where we are today by giving 50%+ of our paychecks to the government to let them decide how best to spend it.