(2. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE learn how to NOT crux all of you arguments on fear of Communism;
The way you seem to present things, Catholocism .... Catholocism ......
Crux is a noun.
Catholicism
(2. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE learn how to NOT crux all of you arguments on fear of Communism;
The way you seem to present things, Catholocism .... Catholocism ......
I would say that the cost is my main beef. We are at a point where healthcare is simply unaffordable for anything more than an occassional doctor's visit if paid out of pocket. As I said previously, in an ideal world I would be able to go to the doc and get the care I need by just paying him, not a middle man who takes his cut first. I'm not saying that surgeory should cost $10, but when you're getting bills of over $100k for care, something is wrong.
Now, it would take to iron out a plan where we can streamline medical costs in order to reduce them. That, in itself, is a fantasy. But if I can reduce the cost of MY healthcare by a significant margin while keeping the benefits constant, and the cost is that I'm required to pay into it and 4.7% of the population MIGHT freeload off me, then I'd be willing to make that trade.
Actually, my example is more realistic than yours. Americans pay the highest % of earnings toward healthcare, yet we rank #37 among industrialized nations in healthcare. Simply put: we are not enjoying more benefits by paying more money; we're just paying more money to support our current shitty system.
Ever herd of the Berlin Wall?! Notice that I said, "are (or on the road to being) communist". If you tell me that Canada, the UK, France, Japan, Australia, and the U.S. are not slowly creeping toward communism then you are blind. If you say that UHC is not a part of socialism/communism then you are a fool, because by definition UHC is a socialist program.
That's the issue -- almost nobody can. Do you believe that healthcare is a privilege only to be enjoyed by the top 1% of society?You can pay cash to any doctor that you want to. This assumes that you can afford it. Some people can, depending on their income, spending, and health needs.
I don't need to come to Yuma; I've seen what an inner city ER can be like. I've also witnessed a surgeon who makes over $500,000 per year bitch and moan that he has to do a procedure for a patient using an HMO for about half his going rate because it's the law. I'm not saying that docs don't deserve to be compensated, but every once in a while you have to eat the losses (which really wouldn't be a loss -- he was still being paid for it, after all). You could also argue that that's part of the Hippocratic Oath.Many factors contribute to expensive health care. ONE of them (and a major one at that) is the costs incurred by people who cannot afford to pay, and therefore don't. The hospitals and insurance companies soak the rest of us to make up for their losses. Come to Yuma and sit in our hospital waiting room for awhile. You'll see what I mean. It's the same concept that forces us all to pay a little more for products to make up for theft. Businesses always pass on their losses to the customer.
Under a single-payer system, payment would be a mandatory deduction from your paycheck. Therefore, only 4.7% of the population wouldn't be paying.You mention "4.7%". Is that a reference to the unemployment rate? If so, then you are recognizing a very small part of the "healthcare freeloaders" out there. Many more people, while employed, do NOT get medical insurance. That's either by direct choice (like you at the moment), or by the unintended consequences of other choices they have made (education level, job selection, etc.). It does not include illegal aliens either (which I'm sure would somehow be covered in any inclusive "right to healthcare" that would come to pass).
The whole thing, mostly.Oh, really. What is this "current shitty system" you speak of? Medicare? Tricare? The entire health insurance industry? We have plenty of health care choices here in this country. It's up to you to decide where that fits in your financial priorities.
The link I provided a couple pages ago has the source to my quoted statistics.Oh, yeah.....and 73% of all statistics are made up.
A close friend had her baby operated on when he was 12 hours old. The bill was in the hundreds of thousands. They arranged financing with the physicians and the hospital directly. Now, it's going to take a while and they are working class folks, but it's working out.
The problem is costs are so inflated because of the entrenched bureaucracy, malpractice insurance, etc, that it is difficult to know just how much a procedure really costs.
I don't pretend that health care isn't expensive and wouldn't be under certain situations in a pay-as-you-go system.
But what you advocate is shifting the burden to others.
Do you believe that healthcare is a privilege only to be enjoyed by the top 1% of society?
Crux is a noun.
Catholicism
I apologize for my hotheadedness, in that it reduces the quality of the thread as a whole.
The UN?
And one more thing, I just want to say this even though it may be against my best interests but without lawyers, the perimeter of societal expectations and obligations would never have been set. The legal profession is a reflection of the society in which we serve. :bigmouth_
:watching2
See, I tend to think thats the exception far more than the rule. Now working your money to save some on taxes - yes, everyone does that, most legally.The flipside of those statistics, though, is that your top 10% are generally finding ways to put their money in other forms of capital that are non-taxable. A company president reporting a salary of $200,000 a year actually makes much more than that.
I would argue that we pay the highest, not only because of the money making, but because of research. Do a quick google and find out how many medical breakthroughs are coming out of the US and not other countries. Somebody's got to pay for the research, and that's why health care costs so much.Americans pay the highest % of earnings toward healthcare, yet we rank #37 among industrialized nations in healthcare. Simply put: we are not enjoying more benefits by paying more money; we're just paying more money to support our current healthcare-as-a-business model where people are making a ton of money off us.