Baseline Scenario: Health Care Rationing For Beginners (Paul Ryan, ACA, Medicare)

[SkinsHokieFan]

Free medical school

[chipwhich]

No country in the world is trying to emulate the American health care system -- that should be very telling. And it really comes down to this: health insurance companies are an unneeded layer of profit between you and your doctor. We can literally save billions by removing this middle man and putting that money back into the health care infrastructure itself.

I think it is a little more complicated than that.

No country in the world has it's people so medicated. We are an over prescribed country.

No country in the world has prescription drug costs anywhere near what ours are.

No country in the world is so go to doctor happy as ours. We run to the doctor if we have a runny nose. The introduction of high deductible HMO's was done to try to curb American's appetite for a doctors visit.

American children see the doctor in the first five years of their life than the average human sees a doctor in their lifetime. That of course is pulled out of my ass, but I would bet it is true.

Being the benefits guy for my company, the biggest cost I see my employees endure is prescription drug costs. They are so far out of control, it's hard for me to comprehend. It's a profit factory.

[LadySkinsFan]

I'll be 60 in September. I don't take any prescription drugs regularly at all. I take Aleve for headaches occasionally. I get all my vitamins from food sources. When I was going through the change, I took vegetarian iron tabs and black cohosh for hot flashes and kava kava for insomnia. Now that I'm through the change, I still take the iron occasionally and the other 2 not at all. I did have bronchitis a couple of years ago because I spent several weeks in the spring in another place where I wasn't used to the pollen and when I came home, I got a snootful of pollen here and it went to my lungs. The last thing that happened before that was I had appendicitis, which was an operation of course with some pain tabs but I didn't take all of them.

Yes, we are an extremely over medicated society. The pharma industry invents prescription drugs for made up ailments like restless leg syndrome. My friend was on an expensive diabetes drug that was causing her other problems and when she went off of it, she felt better than she had in years. Plus saving lots of dollars.

The for profit part of the healthcare industry needs to go. And we certainly don't need insurance companies between us and our doctors.

[DRSmith]

Understand the points you are making about Mass HC Plan. It makes sense. In regards to Single Payer, I do not believe that it will work in the U.S. Some of the things you mention, along with simple things such as improvements to infrastructure and simple facilities access carry astronomical costs. I just don't see single payer ever working in this country because we do not adhere to immigration controls. We have no way of doing any long term planning for out costs because we do know, from year to year, how many people are going to come into the system. I think that's a problem.

Gee I guess one could look at what others do, in Canada for example you have to get a physical immigrate, you are not a citizen you pay cash other wise show you photo id from the province to get health care

[Burgold]

That won't work around here, DrSmith. Conservatives only believe in mandatory IDs for voting. Everything else is an infringement on our rights!

[DRSmith]

That won't work around here, DrSmith. Conservatives only believe in mandatory IDs for voting. Everything else is an infringement on our rights!

The card also has to swiped for billing purposes

They also will check on occassion to make sure the docs are not doing any false billing by checking with the patients

[mardi gras skin]

Free medical school

Dead on. I've spent the last 6 years talking with a friend as he winds his way through medical school accruing debt and a hardening attitude. He started out entirely disinterested in making a large income. He just wanted to be a doctor. Now, after years missing life with his family and burdened by an amazing debt load, a big income has become a major incentive. He's ready to get paid.

Its been disheartening.

[Burgold]

Sounds like a pretty reasonable system to me. Then again, I believe in universal healthcare on moral even if not economic grounds... and I believe economically it can work too. We just have to be willing to embrace that it is socialist and not try to do it in a capitalist way.

[DRSmith]

Sounds like a pretty reasonable system to me. Then again, I believe in universal healthcare on moral even if not economic grounds... and I believe economically it can work too. We just have to be willing to embrace that it is socialist and not try to do it in a capitalist way.

Works for the military and it is ironic to sit on an NFL team website and complain how a level playing field caps and minimum salaries mean things will not work

[mistertim]

IThe pharma industry invents prescription drugs for made up ailments like restless leg syndrome.

RLS is not a made up ailment. It is a real neurological disorder that in very bad cases can cause debilitating issues for people who have it. Is it over medicated? Perhaps, yes. But it is certainly not "made up".