LeesburgSkinFan Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 "As we search for paths out of America’s economic crisis, many suggest business as a paradigm for cutting costs. According to my back-of-the-envelope math, top C.E.O.’s earn as much as $1 a second around the clock, partly by cutting medical benefits for employees. So they must be paragons of efficiency, right? Actually, I’m not so sure. The business sector is dazzlingly productive, but it also periodically blows up our financial system. Yet if we seek another model, one that emphasizes universal health care and educational opportunity, one that seeks to curb income inequality, we don’t have to turn to Sweden. Rather, look to the United States military. You see, when our armed forces are not firing missiles, they live by an astonishingly liberal ethos — and it works. The military helped lead the way in racial desegregation, and even today it does more to provide equal opportunity to working-class families — especially to blacks — than just about any social program." More at link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/opinion/16kristof.html?_r=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRAVEONAWARPATH Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 :munchout: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twa Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I think you(or the writer) are overlooking a few "minor' aspects of the military But I heartily encourage enlisting to enlighten the masses....come and get the goodies :evilg: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruffylookin Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 My father in law is retired military and enjoys the full medical benefits of a single payer healthcare system. The irony is that he is also a teabagger and loves to take shots at "Obamacare". Despite the fact that his daughter (my wife) has suffered complications due to a car accident and due to not being able to go back to work, lost her job and thus her medical coverage. Thanks to "Obamacare" she can't be rejected for coverage due to preexisting conditions. This is the problem in a nutshell. "I got mine......screw the rest of you". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadySkinsFan Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 The real reason why the health insurance industry was propped up by the healthcare bill that passed is that if a single payer, public option system was put into place, millions of people would lose their jobs. Think about it: how many people do you think are employed in this industry, both people who file claims in doctors/dentists offices, people who process/deny claims in the insurance companies? On top of the tanked economy, putting that many people out of work was just an impossible task, AT THIS TIME. It is something that we need to look into moving forward and that's why job creation is so important, not only for our present unemployed/underemployed but for these health insurance industry workers who will need new kinds of work available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRAVEONAWARPATH Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 My father in law is retired military and enjoys the full medical benefits of a single payer healthcare system. The irony is that he is also a teabagger and loves to take shots at "Obamacare". Despite the fact that his daughter (my wife) has suffered complications due to a car accident and due to not being able to go back to work, lost her job and thus her medical coverage. Thanks to "Obamacare" she can't be rejected for coverage due to preexisting conditions. This is the problem in a nutshell. "I got mine......screw the rest of you". Pretty much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 The real reason why the health insurance industry was propped up by the healthcare bill that passed is that if a single payer, public option system was put into place, millions of people would lose their jobs. Think about it: how many people do you think are employed in this industry, both people who file claims in doctors/dentists offices, people who process/deny claims in the insurance companies? On top of the tanked economy, putting that many people out of work was just an impossible task, AT THIS TIME. It is something that we need to look into moving forward and that's why job creation is so important, not only for our present unemployed/underemployed but for these health insurance industry workers who will need new kinds of work available. Uh, I support the concept of trying to improve health care. But if you really want to try to claim that having the government take something over, that it will result in a vast decrease in overhead and bureaucracy . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I think a much more efficient reform to eliminate all those redundancies and paperwork without sacrificing the benefits of competition is to replace all state insurance charters with a single federal set of laws for all insurers which includes universal forms. Unfortunately, neither party will get behind such an effective common sense reform, because the local politicians benefit too much - GOP state legislators milk insurance co.s for contributions while Dems use it to demagogue how they are protecting the rights of their constituents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadySkinsFan Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Generally speaking, the for profit health insurance industry is not our friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Generally speaking, the for profit health insurance industry is not our friend. No question that insurers need to be regulated. Completely free markets in health insurance would mean denying or charging exorbitant rates for people who need it most. Allowing insurance companies to compete under a single set of strict guidelines I believe would function better than a public single payer option. I believe Switzerland has a similar system. Our current mess of not allowing coverage to cross state lines, forcing insurers to deal with 50 different sets of regulations and employers to buy into separate insurance policies for offices in different states, all the while forcing Drs to deal with a myriad of different forms for reimbursement, etc has led to the paperwork/bureaucratic overload of our healthcare system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterMP Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 No question that insurers need to be regulated. Completely free markets in health insurance would mean denying or charging exorbitant rates for people who need it most. Allowing insurance companies to compete under a single set of strict guidelines I believe would function better than a public single payer option. I believe Switzerland has a similar system. Our current mess of not allowing coverage to cross state lines, forcing insurers to deal with 50 different sets of regulations and employers to buy into separate insurance policies for offices in different states, all the while forcing Drs to deal with a myriad of different forms for reimbursement, etc has led to the paperwork/bureaucratic overload of our healthcare system. Switzerland requires a basic healthcare package to be offered by its insurance companies at no profit. It also has 7.8 million people in it, which makes it smaller than VA. Based on this argument, there should be companies that offer cheap insurance in large states not even worry about the smaller states, but I don't think that is the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I was basing my argument on what I believe are the root causes of inefficiency in our system, and offering my opinion on the most efficient remedy - tightly regulated private industry with a single set of rules as opposed to a govt run single payer system. Mentioning Switzerland was a bad comparison, but I still stand by my conclusions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drtdrums Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 One quick note: Not all veterans or their families are happy with VA services. I can tell you a horror story from personal experience that ensures I will never support this idea. The negligence of the VA over several years resulted in the near loss of a loved one. Negligence on a different issue caused him to nearly lose his leg, when doctors just doing their job at any point over the past decade would have entirely prevented the issue. In both cases, only taking him to a private, for-profit clinic saved him. In both cases, the doctors at the for-profit clinic were flabbergasted that the issues had escaped detection. To make a long story short, the VA service in eastern Tennessee had decided that my loved one wasn't worth the cost of proper, routine testing. This is how they treated a man who landed on Omaha Beach and fought at the Battle of the Bulge. I think the VA is great for certain cases. But God help us if we end up, as a nation, with the level of healthcare they provided my loved one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadySkinsFan Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Presently, some states are highly regulated and some states are not. That's why insurance companies cannot operate across state lines, because the policy purchaser (company or individual) would have do figure out 50 different states' regulations for policies and some companies are more egregious than others in parting people from their money. I still think we need to take the profit out of this industry. That doesn't mean that R&D, and other costs aren't covered. It just means that CEOs etc don't make huge salaries off of denying people coverage once they've paid their premiums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Califan007 The Constipated Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 According to my back-of-the-envelope math, top C.E.O.’s earn as much as $1 a second around the clock, partly by cutting medical benefits for employees. Oh, give me a break lol ... ---------- Post added June-17th-2011 at 09:15 AM ---------- The military helped lead the way in racial desegregation... :doh: :doh: :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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