Lootifer wrote:Phatscotty wrote:
How will a more free healthcare system improve the status quo for those who cannot afford healthcare? Well, number one...
is it out of the question to seek to improve those at the bottom of the heap? Isn't that the root of the problem? I'm not sure that re-designing a system around poor people who cannot afford to be in the system will make healthcare better, and I can easily see how that would make it worse. For example, if a police officer is in charge of responding to a one square block radius, what do you think will happen to crime when the police department says the officer has to cover 4 square blocks? response time will be worse, and crime will rise. Same with asking a teacher who has 20 students and then you ask them to take on 35 students. Same thing with healthcare when the gov't floods 30 million people into the system who cannot afford to be there.
It might be slightly better for the poor people, at first, but its going to ruin healthcare as a whole, for everyone.
Thats to do with the specifics of Obamacare; and if im being honest Obamacare is kind of iffy for the exact reason you outlined. But im not suggesting scrap it; Obamacare is heading in the right direction [in my opinion], but it is quite simply not spending enough, or more accurately not spending enough in the right places. It needs to be put on hold; and then when the economy is back on track, restart it. but with additional funding to prop up the care providers as well as the consumers - as you say 30 million additional people will likely break the industry in the short term.
Personlly I think health insurance should be a luxary, not something everyone just gets by default; have some baseline healthcare provisioning, and then have premium services provided by insurance if you can afford it (such as avoiding waiting lists for non-urgent ops etc).
And anyway the insurance model is just some dressed up "private" version of the same thing; everyone deserves healthcare - rich and poor all catch colds - so trying to lay over some attempt at free market incentives (private providers being paid off by insurance companies) merely just adds inefficiency and the proverbial rent seekers.
Either do it properly and truely be free market and let the poor go without etc; or get involved properly: provide some baseline care (better than A&E) that is open to any citizen of the great United States.
Our concern should be making our healthcare sector more stable, more available, and keeping it open for business. Yes we need to be concerned about poor people too, but the cart has to come behind the horse, not in front of it.
But the "concern for the poor" being coupled with "free market; f*ck yeah!" has lead you down the path of some hybrid scenario that pretty much screws everyone.
Interestingly, I like a few things as well. Whereas perhaps it should not be scrapped, because there are some good things in there as I have conceded on many occasions, but those were just the things to get the bill passed, and those parts can survive a partial repeal. My only point on this issue has been that the good parts of the health care reform could of and should have been passed individually or in a smaller package, but the reality at the time was the Democrats had a supermajority, and supermajorities are not in the habit of getting away with less than they are able to get away with. "Never let a crisis go to waste"
Health insurance is a luxury. It is a luxury that someone is able to spend 10 years in school, become highly specialized and efficient with knowledge and tremendously expensive equipment. If the money does not keep coming in to sustain that knowledge and equipment, then people are not going to strive to be doctors and equipment is going to be downgraded or not replaced, and most likely certain coverages will continue to be dropped from the plan as time goes on.
I will stay consistent with what I have said all along about a great many issues. This does, can, and should be handled more at the state level. If a state wants to have Obamacare, then I support that, Hopefully the people will get to have a Democratic say on the matter.
This one size fits all Obamacare is not going to work. Again, it's not 100% about the program. A lot has to do with the manner and the level upon which it was imposed, the lies that were told by all sides, the liberties that will be infringed upon, further redistribution of wealth, and I could go on...
It's been good talking to you tonight. Did you get laid recently or something?
). The government provisioning of healthcare and education seems to be doing very well; while there are always complaints from both polticial sides, we have affordable healthcare for everyone, and *most* of the population has access to schooling of a very high standard. Your very interesting story (not being sarcastic here 
) doesnt really have any relevance to this...
