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Legion, I will look into those items, thanks. Hopefully there is something in there that will do for now. I still vehemently disagree with most of your points, however. I do think there needs to be tort reform, but that is not by itself, the reason why health insurance in this country is unavailable to many.
Dave, freelancer’s union insurance is not cheap. Their best plan is around $450 a month, their lowest plan around $250, both with a high deductable for just about everything, and the even lower priced plans have a deductables so high, why bother? I can’t afford $450 a month.
There’s also a free non-emergency clinic at NYU hospital on 1st Ave. Did some research on this in case I end up uninsured.
I agree with Legion that tort reform is essential, but with MM that the current situation is undesirable. The proposals I have heard so far seem to make things worse by increasing the cost to the taxpayer while not seeming all that much cheaper for the consumer than the current system.
Perhaps mandating minimum coverage and requiring insurance companies to cover uninsured people via a pool system at a regulated price (like car insurance, exc for the set price) may work better.
The amount of effort and money spent (in general) on unnecessary lifestyle drugs also must be a source of inflation. Lost count of the number of adverts I’ve seen for drugs for ‘restless legs syndrome’, ‘social anxiety disorder’ etc. There has to be a way to incentivize the drug companies to focus on more basic and general needs rather than these frivolous invented problems (possibly via varying patent lengths, or varying R&D tax writeoffs).
I’m confused by healthcare and don’t think there is anywhere in the world that has got it right.
bxgrl,
I beg to differ, we are a compassionate people, Americans. we give more, of our own volition, than any other nation on earth.
what we are facing is a problem of coverage and it benefits all americans to have all americans covered.
the argument is on how to do it.
I do not believe, by any stretch of the imagination, that the government will be the solution to this problem. Look at their track record in wasting our tax dollars both Republican and Democrat.
the best run systems for healthcare are private enterprises. The best doctors I ever had were private, not at government run clinics, remember my previous posts about my experiences at the government run dentist’s offices in Jackson Heights? Not good. The memories are still vivid.
The private solutions are there, we as citizens only need to mandate the proper solutions.
-open up health insurance competition
-clean up malpractice insurance industry overcharging
-stop the legal industry in it’s abuse of the civil suit system at the expense of healthcare access
-work on limiting severe fraud and waste in the current government run systems
Not for nothing but those guys have been winning at the cost to real people. Some of those “gatekeepers” need to realize they are dealing in people’s lives, not numbers.
No, THL, of course it’s not free. The ,losers for that type of service though largely is the hospital. Stocks like THC have been doing quite well because, as hospitals, they will likely get reimbursed for care provided to all those who have historically not had any insurance.
That’s the capitalistic, stock market interpretaion of all of this. Other winners wou;ld be generic drug manufacturers and WMT & CVS. Losers of course are HMOs and insurance companies.
It’s not that cheap, dave. Especially if you are unemployed, as I am.
And note to benson: CNN just investigated the SNL skit with a nonpartisan political watchdog group. They found the SNL skit accurate only on the closing of Guantanamo Bay.
[Stage Whisper] [Biff, not to worry, as your Chief of Staff, I assure you I sent the blue dress out to be laundered before Linda Tripp could get her hands on it.]
You people are making me hungry. Going to a great Indian buffet now. (Etson, it’s on the south side of 46th between Lex & Third, and I highly recommend it.)
“Medicare is not socialized medicine. it is a government trust which is paid for by the individual over a life time.”
Legion, would you care to define “socialized medicine” just so we know what’s being talked about? As you know most countries accused of having socialized medicine have mandatory deductions from wages or welfare benefits which are used to fund the health services. Its not described as a tax of course. So what do you mean when you say “socialized medicine”?
Legion, I will look into those items, thanks. Hopefully there is something in there that will do for now. I still vehemently disagree with most of your points, however. I do think there needs to be tort reform, but that is not by itself, the reason why health insurance in this country is unavailable to many.
Dave, freelancer’s union insurance is not cheap. Their best plan is around $450 a month, their lowest plan around $250, both with a high deductable for just about everything, and the even lower priced plans have a deductables so high, why bother? I can’t afford $450 a month.
BTW- thanks for that information, Legion. I have been checking out what you posted a long time ago, and will look into this too.
There’s also a free non-emergency clinic at NYU hospital on 1st Ave. Did some research on this in case I end up uninsured.
I agree with Legion that tort reform is essential, but with MM that the current situation is undesirable. The proposals I have heard so far seem to make things worse by increasing the cost to the taxpayer while not seeming all that much cheaper for the consumer than the current system.
Perhaps mandating minimum coverage and requiring insurance companies to cover uninsured people via a pool system at a regulated price (like car insurance, exc for the set price) may work better.
The amount of effort and money spent (in general) on unnecessary lifestyle drugs also must be a source of inflation. Lost count of the number of adverts I’ve seen for drugs for ‘restless legs syndrome’, ‘social anxiety disorder’ etc. There has to be a way to incentivize the drug companies to focus on more basic and general needs rather than these frivolous invented problems (possibly via varying patent lengths, or varying R&D tax writeoffs).
I’m confused by healthcare and don’t think there is anywhere in the world that has got it right.
bxgrl,
I beg to differ, we are a compassionate people, Americans. we give more, of our own volition, than any other nation on earth.
what we are facing is a problem of coverage and it benefits all americans to have all americans covered.
the argument is on how to do it.
I do not believe, by any stretch of the imagination, that the government will be the solution to this problem. Look at their track record in wasting our tax dollars both Republican and Democrat.
the best run systems for healthcare are private enterprises. The best doctors I ever had were private, not at government run clinics, remember my previous posts about my experiences at the government run dentist’s offices in Jackson Heights? Not good. The memories are still vivid.
The private solutions are there, we as citizens only need to mandate the proper solutions.
-open up health insurance competition
-clean up malpractice insurance industry overcharging
-stop the legal industry in it’s abuse of the civil suit system at the expense of healthcare access
-work on limiting severe fraud and waste in the current government run systems
Not for nothing but those guys have been winning at the cost to real people. Some of those “gatekeepers” need to realize they are dealing in people’s lives, not numbers.
No, THL, of course it’s not free. The ,losers for that type of service though largely is the hospital. Stocks like THC have been doing quite well because, as hospitals, they will likely get reimbursed for care provided to all those who have historically not had any insurance.
That’s the capitalistic, stock market interpretaion of all of this. Other winners wou;ld be generic drug manufacturers and WMT & CVS. Losers of course are HMOs and insurance companies.
It’s not that cheap, dave. Especially if you are unemployed, as I am.
And note to benson: CNN just investigated the SNL skit with a nonpartisan political watchdog group. They found the SNL skit accurate only on the closing of Guantanamo Bay.
[Stage Whisper] [Biff, not to worry, as your Chief of Staff, I assure you I sent the blue dress out to be laundered before Linda Tripp could get her hands on it.]
You people are making me hungry. Going to a great Indian buffet now. (Etson, it’s on the south side of 46th between Lex & Third, and I highly recommend it.)
“Medicare is not socialized medicine. it is a government trust which is paid for by the individual over a life time.”
Legion, would you care to define “socialized medicine” just so we know what’s being talked about? As you know most countries accused of having socialized medicine have mandatory deductions from wages or welfare benefits which are used to fund the health services. Its not described as a tax of course. So what do you mean when you say “socialized medicine”?