i JUST WONDER

[kraft-t]

What this country would look like witha single payer health care system.

I wonder about how many fewer bankruptsy events would be avoided. I wonder how business would like having the burden of employee healthcare lifted off their shoulders. I wonder how many home forclosures would have been avoided. I wonder how many folks would go to a doctor when a problem is small instead of when it's a big problem.

I wonder how many folks would take their kids to a scheduled appointment instead of cramming up the emergency rooms. I wonder how single payer would affect the incomes of doctors and nurses? I wonder how working people or businessmen plan their futures orinvest in their future without concern about an overwhelming health care problem.

Single payer! Lets lift the burden and worry off the american people. The risk of financial ruin. The risk of destroyed health because people can't afford it. Have alittle empathy toward your neighbor your family and YOURSELF   SINGLE PAYER FOLKS IS THE ANSWER. America will one day wake up!

[Samnospam]

Start a voluntary program tomorrow and show us all how great it is.  

[KNAPPer]

I would like for health care not be tied to employers and I think a single payer system should work. I have some provisions however - insurance should be sold across state lines and available to anyone who wishes to purchase it. The market can come up with several good plans and there would be competition in the health insurance industry. A major insurance company with hundreds of thousands of customers could better dictate what they pay for any given procedure and those providers that insist on over charging will not be part of that network. The prices should be fair, but there should also be competition. Insurance providers could also sell policies aimed at younger healthy people and surpluses could help carry over their more risky programs for the elderly, etc.

Single payer, yes. We may go there anyway because I am not sure what we have decided to do will work all so well.

[r3020]

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@KNAPPer wrote:

I would like for health care not be tied to employers and I think a single payer system should work. I have some provisions however - insurance should be sold across state lines and available to anyone who wishes to purchase it. The market can come up with several good plans and there would be competition in the health insurance industry. A major insurance company with hundreds of thousands of customers could better dictate what they pay for any given procedure and those providers that insist on over charging will not be part of that network. The prices should be fair, but there should also be competition. Insurance providers could also sell policies aimed at younger healthy people and surpluses could help carry over their more risky programs for the elderly, etc.

Single payer, yes. We may go there anyway because I am not sure what we have decided to do will work all so well.

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The only way cost will come down under a third party payer system is through rationing. Death panels. The way to control cost while delivering a quality product is through competition brought about by the paying consumer looking for value.

[Husker-J]

After much pondering, I would rather have a form of universal health insurance, instead of this Obamacare debacle.

I think, rather than just an 'everything free for everyone' system, which would not bring costs down, it would be better to have some sort of deductable system, where the individual still pays something, and has an incentive to not clog the emergency rooms with runny noses, and slivers in their toes (if you don't belive this happens when people get 'totally free' healthcare, I challenge you to visit a hospital ER on the weekend, when private clinics are closed).

I already pay X dollars for health insurance already, and Y in taxes.   Part of that tax money, goes to pay the uninsured, many of whom are paying some sort of payroll tax, but don't have health insurance.   They would at least pay a little bit into the system, and I doubt that most of us would pay more overall, because we pay insurance premiums, and taxes (that pay for coverage for the uninsured).

However, I think that this universal coverage, should be a BASIC plan, and it could cover all basic citizens, at probably a lower cost than many think, if we could keep waste and fraud out from the start.   It would then be up to the individual, to buy up better coverage, if they wanted to, on their own.  If you want LASIK instead of glasses, for instance, pay for it yourself, or upgrade your insurance yourself.   Ditto prescription sunglasses, plastic surgery, etc.   Make the plan as simple and low cost as practical, and still cover people well enough so they don't have to sell their house to pay a hospital bill.

However, there should be some sort of co-pay, so that people will not clog the ERs with nusiance things, and will shop around for things like elective surgery (the better price you can get, the less co-pay).   There could also be things like a certain % co-pay for prescriptions, that can drop to near zero if you go generic.   There are lots of things that can be done, and it can be done in a law that is maybe 20-30 pages long, instead of a 1500 page monstrosity of laws, rules, regulations, and taxes.

[kraft-t]

Actually that might work. Set up a single payer plan with the supportive taxes to pay benefits and then allow individuals decide whether they want to accept benefits or not. Then you could have private healthcare and the general public could enjoy single payer benefits.

We don't care if you participate as long as you pay the tax.

[Samnospam]

That is no ones definition of voluntary. Why are you people so enamored with force.

[r3020]

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@kraft-t wrote:

Actually that might work. Set up a single payer plan with the supportive taxes to pay benefits and then allow individuals decide whether they want to accept benefits or not. Then you could have private healthcare and the general public could enjoy single payer benefits.

We don't care if you participate as long as you pay the tax.

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I thought slavery was abolished in 1865.

[dairy mom]

The insurance junk is bunk.  That isn't the problem with healthcare.  The problem is it costs over 100.00 to get into any medical office and some cost a whole lot more.  That's just to see the "doctor"  not receive any kind of care.

[r3020]

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@dairy mom wrote:

The insurance junk is bunk.  That isn't the problem with healthcare.  The problem is it costs over 100.00 to get into any medical office and some cost a whole lot more.  That's just to see the "doctor"  not receive any kind of care.

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No one cares about cost as long as someone else is paying the bill.