Comments on: Healthcare Solution: Go Back to Cash

By: Cheri

Cheri — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:31:12 +0000

Great article for illustrating one of many points why the current proposals are just sweeping the issues under the rug and “rolling” the costs into the future. There is a lot of money and power “up for grabs” and no one will get the care they deserve.
I work in healthcare and there used to be County Hospitals in CA. Most have closed.
The whole healthcare debate is being pushed under the guise of “High Quality Affordable and Accessable Healthcare”. It is a power grab by government and the unions. SEIU loves government contracts. The “free pot of money” are our taxes. Honest compassionate hardworking people have rights too.

By: theaccusersgift

theaccusersgift — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:42:26 +0000

Of all the stupid, idiotic, lame-brained, retarded proposals I have read, this takes the cake. It is obviously motivated by a sick fantasy to return to a long ago vanished past. Here, you mentally challenged writer, is another proposal: ban all health care. Think of how much money America could save, and since medical mistakes are the biggest cause of death, reduce the death rate too! Remember, every-time a countries or cities unionized doctor’s have gone on strike, the death rate has gone down!

For those of you who think this is a great idea, spend some time with Google search researching what happens to “uninsured patients”. That will open your eyes to how stupid this idea is.

By: palpcaso

palpcaso — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:37:21 +0000

I am also from Canada. The Canadian helath care system is a joke. Go to any ER and suffer excruciating pain for hours on end while a nurse sits on her fat ass, sipping Timmy’s and chatting with the other caring health care professionals. When any service is “free”, it creates more demand for that service, guarantees that demand will outstrip supply, thus ensuring that there will be chronic shortages. Go into any Canadian ER and ask yourself how many people really need to be there and how many are there because they have the sniffles and are availing themselves of a “free” service. Besides, why should the majority healthy populace be forced to help the less healthy minority? Besides the dubious morality of forcing people to be their brother’s keeper, doesn’t that create a disincentive to stay healhty because there will always be somebody else to pay for your mistakes?

By: CanadaNorth

CanadaNorth — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:23:25 +0000

I am from Canada. Government Health insurance is not bankrupting Canada. We are very pleased with the system in general. There may be some delays and shortages for specialized operations, but generally everyone here is dealt with fairly and in good time. Again as other readers have commented, taking care of your own health through self education and maintaining a proper balanced diet and through exercise is a good way to reduce costs as well as personal uneeded suffering for the majority of us. There are others, through no fault of their own that need more medical care.This is the essence of true insurance, where the majority healthy populance help the less healthy minority. Anyway, my two cents worth, CanadaNorth.

By: Healthcare Solution: Go Back to Cash | Save American Freedom

Healthcare Solution: Go Back to Cash | Save American Freedom — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:33:24 +0000

[...] Read more: Healthcare Solution: Go Back to Cash. [...]

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:15:01 +0000

I am not an expert, but I would say that a plain vanilla $2400 deductible before insurance kicks in and you chose your own doctor would be the starting point for pricing. Who wants to go through the entire HMO/PPO/In out of network/ employer pays so much/employee so much, etc smoke and mirrors without knowing what a basic health insurance policy should really cost? Then the fancy add-ons could be sold by insurance companies.

Just my. .02 from a member of the uneducated masses.

By: MJJP

MJJP — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:12:41 +0000

Govt will not be rationing health care in a single payer system. Single payer is truly the way to go and at the present time is not being offered. Even if it were the fear mongers touting the downside like “rationing” and choice of doctors being implemented either is not true or already exists.The costs will come down because premiums won’t have to be paid. Get sick go to doctor or hospital ,get treated and go home. The govt missed a golden opportunity to get its feet wet with GM. There was probably no greater issue that would have put GM on equal footing with the competition than providing healthcare for its retirees. No I don’t mean pay the insurance premiums I am saying pay for the broken arm of Johnny when it occurs . If the govt paid for actual care it would have cost the govt far less than what we sunk into GM and Gm would have stood or failed on its own as an equal. Foreign car companies already provide govt health care that the companies are not obligated to pay. We have rationing now caused by price and affordability, and if your plan inclused any words like “network” or “in network” you are being told who you can see now. With all the B/S being shouted about socialized medicine somehow I don’t hear many people complaining about single payer that have it like Canada and Europe etc. In fact when polled they are quite happy with it as no one will lose their house and education for children will not be forfeited because of massive health care costs to the family. I don’t want to hear about abuse of the sysem either. In a personal experience I recently went to the emergency room for a work related injury and spent three hours in the waiting room before being seen. I can tell you that no one is going to spend three hours in the emergency room BECAUSE THEY CAN! Even is there is some abuse does it make sense to abandon the idea of single payer because a small minority mighte abuse it? I think not.
As for health insurance companies existing why is it so important for them to profit unless you hold their stock? Canada gets along quite well without them so why can’t we? The writer is correct in that a bottomless pit of money exists and there is no incentive to contain costs but lets get to the crux of the problem and ask why hospitals need to charge $8.00 for a single asperin? Lets ask why the MRI cost $10,000. Perhaps a better way for govt to get costs under control is to buy the incidentals and the MRI equipement and then tell hospitals and doctors how much they need to charge. Maybe when you take away the need to profit and enrich stockholder value costs will come way down.

By: Lowell Sherris

Lowell Sherris — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:26:19 +0000

Very nice article. It missed the bulls-eye in a few places. A major problem with our present health care system is a severe lack of innovation because of licensing requirements and government regulations. If we could eliminate licensing (those who want to pay more get docs with more education), the FDA, and drug patents, the cost of medical care would plummet. Entrepreneurs would compete for medical business, and patients would finally have some choices.

By: Health Care (I had to repost this, Great Take on the entire nightmare) | Budos World

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:41:17 +0000

[...] Full Story By Charles Hugh Smith [...]

By: M Sherling

M Sherling — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:26:17 +0000

My wife had a baby last month. No complications, minimum amount of time in the hospital (2 days) and the cost billed to my insurance was around $5000. Our first child was born 2 years ago. My wife had complications which resulted in many tests whose necessity I question. In the end, the recommendation from the doctor was bed rest and some anti-itching medication. That ended up costing about $50,000 total. Having insurance allowed me to say “Sure!” to all the tests and procedures, where I would have been much more skeptical had it been “our” money.

16 percent of GDP currently goes to healthcare. So out of every 8 hour workday, 1 hour and 15 minutes is spent working for the healthcare industry!