You cannot blame the man for wanting change. No doubt there are things that need to be fixed in this country, but socialism is not the way to do it. If it were not for human nature then sure, socialism would be great, but human nature will not allow it to work. I can't help but put the United States next to the Roman Empire for comparison. We are mirroring so many of the moves that were made all those centuries ago and everyone knows how well it turned out for them.
Right now the topic on the forefront is the public healthcare option. I don't even have insurance because I cannot afford it, so you would think I would be in favor of a public option but I am not. I am sure it will start strong, as it needs to in order to be a legitimate option, but in short time I can guarantee it will fall well short of the services we are accustomed to through our private providers now. Emergency rooms will be even busier than they already are. Groups such as the elderly and others who often need the most care will be denied due to preexisting conditions or simply because the government decides that they are not worth the investment (that is what this is to the government after all). Terminal illness treatment will fall short of what it should be because the government won't see it as financially beneficial.
Speaking of finances where are they coming from? How is the government going to fund this? The most probable answer that I have found is that they will simply borrow the money from foreign investors. We all know they can't afford it on their own with the recession we are currently in. Although if we borrow against it guess what, we go deeper into recession due to our added national debt.
Now I don't dispute that the system in place is not ideal, but we don't need another system especially one that will be worse in the long run. What I propose we do is reform the current system so that it is more affordable while maintaining the services provided. Implement ways in which new private companies can come in a create a more competitive market. Our government cannot fix this, they already have enough problems of their own no need for them to take on another problem. The private sector just needs to take more responsibility and initiative to bring this country back around to the great nation it once was and could be again.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
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20 comments:
serinitis-
Your comment would have stuck until your personal attack you had to throw in at the end. Too bad I would have liked to respond to it.
Hows this
When you say you can't afford insurance, what you are really saying is I expect government to pick up the tab when I get injured.
When you say we need to reform the current system so that more private companies can come in to create a more competitive market, you are ignoring the fundamentals of a for profit business.
In a competitive industry, the way to make a profit is to either dump unprofitable customers on the government(e.g. those who get in a motorcycle accident) or increase the margin on current customers by sending them for additional tests to owned facilities. There is a limited amount of profit that can be made from being more efficient, but it is so much smaller than the other two techniques that it can be ignored.
If you try to get rid of the insurance aspect (e.g. companies cannot screen for preexisting conditions, people will not buy insurance until they are sick or injured at which time the insurance will cost the price of the injury plus a bit for overhead). If companies can screen for preexisting conditions, the way to profit will be to get rid of sick customers, not operate cheaply.
USA's health care costs are dramatically out of whack with EVERY other industrialized nation because (1) our health care is run on a for profit basis and with the difference in knowledge between health company and consumer the market will not be efficient, and (2) costs are divorced from use. If you directly associate costs with expensive curs will be abandoned in the US.
Just bringing our health care costs in line with other nations will free up around 600 billion a year. That is enough to make a serious dent in the deficit and help Americans get out of debt.
Government can run some things better than private industry. It is much more effective in areas where there is a descrepancy in information and natural monopolies. Medicine has both of these issues.
serinitis-
Thank you for redoing your comment.
When I say I can't afford insurance I am saying that I can't afford it. If I were to get injured I would go to UC Davis and then would be paying the government the rest of my life (plus interest, good deal for them).
Pertaining to your third paragraph. You don't think the government is going to deny treatment/services to people with preexisting conditions? I guarantee they will, otherwise they will loose too much money and will fail. That or they will just offer crappy service like Canada who has a higher terminal illness death rate than that of the US, because they can't afford the drugs to treat people with cancer and other illnesses that could be kept in check.
The United States health care system is out of whack because we are a country of drug addicts. Tell me why there needs to be so many prescription drug commercials on T.V.? For NO other reason than to convince people they need to be on more drugs, expensive and unnecessary drugs, this I think we agree on. Like I said I don't think the private system is great but I think a public one will be far worse in the long run.
I always thought terminal death rate is 100% in all countries :)
It is not just the drug addicts. It is doctors referring patients to doctor owned facilities for additional work. It is the malpractice suits, (which are needed in a for profit system to keep the insurance companies honest). It is the quacks who push unproven cures on people desperate for relief. As far as I know, we are alone in trying to keep profit as the primary driver in health care and that is why our costs are so far out of whack with every other nation.
Government will deny treatments. But treatments are denied right now. The difference is government will try to ration based upon what is best for society rather than what is good for an individual company.
Terminal illness does not always mean death, that is a common misconception. Cancer is a terminal illness but you can beat cancer into remission and live a full life.
The government will be in it for profit too! So all those problems will still be there but the government will be playing the part of big brother.
What is good for society is to not have socialistic programs, and what is good for society is in turn good for the individual.
I'm just curious, but how can someone with no job expect to be taken seriously as far as opinions on government spending? What does it matter to you anyway since you aren't paying the bill? No job also means no contribution to our society. I would like to understand your point of view.
Anonymous-
Who ever said I don't have a job? I don't work full time because I am a student full time in the spring and fall, but I work close to 30 hours a week. Sorry to say you have been misinformed.
Why is not having socialist programs good for society. Roads, schools, utilities, health care have all been pretty much proven to be done better as socialistic programs than as free market ones.
I have been misinformed. Working and going to school is tough. I've been through it myself. Once you get out of school and are working 40 hrs per week it will seem like a vacation. Keep up the good work.
Anonymous-
Thank you for the retraction of your previous comment and thank you for the encouragement. I am trying to enjoy school while it lasts but I can't wait till I'm done at the same time.
James...I hope you are going to never, ever use an emergency room. Hate to break it to you, but ERs are socialized medicine.
BTW - I don't love Obama but this idea of "socialism" is ridiculous. If you and others hate socialism, tell your parents to return their social security checks, stop paying taxes and don't take ANYTHING from Uncle Sam.
Socialism is what Norway practices. America is not and has never been a socialist country. Even if they go with a public option in health care, nobody is saying that the private sector can't compete.
Sheesh. Socialism = no competition but the guvmint. Doctors will still get paid to do their work and State Farm, Safeco, Allstate, etc will still be offering plans to consumers.
If you want to make a point, please don't mirror the Rush Limbaugh talking points. Thanks.
Oh and James...when you get a chance look up the term "COMMONS" in your history book.
There is nothing wrong with public roads, parks, etc. Seems to me if you are so afraid of socialism, why visit a FREE, PUBLICLY FUNDED park with Casey? Rhetoric, my friend...if you want to rail against a point, try to realize that there are MANY subsidized and FREE things in this country.
If you think the private sector is good for national parks and roads, don't ever whine to me when the cost of using these things goes up every year.
The commons my friend, look it up.
"Pertaining to your third paragraph. You don't think the government is going to deny treatment/services to people with preexisting conditions?"
You do not know this? You are railing against a proposed SYSTEM yet why worry about it? You can still go to Allstate, Safeco, etc.
Please, step away from the talking points.
Anonymous-
I haven't listened to Rush Limbaugh in a long time but he is a very smart man I am honored to be compared to him.
I am not saying we are socialist, but I am saying we are walking down that path.
Here's another funfact:
Look at the cost of education. It's expensive, sure. But if guvmint pulled out of schools you would have very expensive choices like University of Phoenix or some very private colleges that would never let you attend.
The beauty of America is that the COMMONS were put in place by our founding fathers to give the citizens things that only the elite in England and elsewhere would never have access to.
So using your logic, it's socialism to have public education.
I wish people would stop overusing a tired word like Socialism. It is not socialism to have government take care of the sick and poor as long as they are CITIZENS of the USA.
"I haven't listened to Rush Limbaugh in a long time but he is a very smart man I am honored to be compared to him."
You truly believe he is smart? Ok.
We are nowhere near socialism. But if we are I can easily point to it starting under Rush's hero, GW Bush.
Look it up. If you think Rush is smart, you must agree with the race baiting and the fact this guy could give two craps about you or anybody who isn't pulling in millions a year.
Conservatism = Barry Goldwater NOT Rush Limbaugh.
Do you like making minimum wage? Let's say you need a job. What if we had a system that paid you pennies a day with no other option to make money?
Rush is against such things. You think health care is too expensive? Private industry doesn't need to do anything for you. Using the free market principles of which I do believe in, you won't get anything cheap my friend. There is no way private industry will make policies for people like you and me.
I don't agree with Obama on this but I know there is compromise in there between the right and left on this issue. Funny, if you like Rush you'd know compromise is for loosers.
Hehehe..."Tell me why there needs to be so many prescription drug commercials on T.V.?"
Uhhh, James, it's called a free market. Just because you hate on Viagra or Xanax or whatever doesn't mean it's bad for somebody else if THEY want to use it...it is legal after all.
You advocate that we should tell drug companies to stop making medicine and drugs? Are you upset that these drugs cost so much? It's the free market, kid. You cannot have it both ways.
What I find funny here is how much the OP can rail against a system as "socialist" but in the same comments section be upset about drug companies.
He thinks it's socialism to offer people a choice of a cheaper policy yet in the same section is upset at other things as bogging down the system. So if the free market can't fix it, who can James?
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