Thread: Health Care Reformers Want to Kill You!

Originally Posted by Bigsky

Do you think these doctors don't understand what they're supporting?

The latest sign is a poll published recently in the Annals of Internal Medicine showing that 59 percent of U.S. doctors support a "single payer" plan that essentially eliminates the central role of private insurers.
The Doctors' Revolt | The American Prospect
Physicians for a National Health Program | Single Payer Resources



it seems that some people are afraid of change, any change! The old devil you know/devil you don't.
The politicians are caught between giving up their perks from the industry lobby and worrying about re-election, so they baffle with bullshit and stall!

Believe what you choose to believe. Most doctors do not support govt takeover of healthcare. Most polls of doctors show that about 2/3 are against.

Originally Posted by panhunger

What I can't figure out is why the US has among the worst system in the developed world and nobody can make the hard choices to fix it?

Worst system = pure left wing propaganda. Look at the outcomes for major disease processes. WHO estimates of quality of care are pure bullshit politics based on weighted formulas for how wealthy a country is.

Originally Posted by Killing Me Softly 101

Certainly those concerns are less than the current concerns of that some "company' decides who gets to live and die.

You are certainly 100% wrong based on current opinion polling.

Originally Posted by Intrepid

So what's wrong with a private health insurance plan competing with a full user pay public option? If the private health insurance is the good deal they say it is, what does the private sector have to worry about?

The issue is not as simple as you pose it. No private enterprise can compete with govt in any area because the govt has unlimited resources. Nobody is saying that private insurance is "a good deal". Everyone recognizes the need for reform.

Originally Posted by barfomcgee

But why should "private enterprise" be allowed to compete at all when it comes to health care? Why do you consider it acceptable for people to profit from illness, disease and death? Shouldn't access to health care be considered a fundamental human right beyond the realm of business and profits?

Should healthcare be free? Should a national maximum wage for doctors be established - maybe the same as an auto mechanic. What would happen to Pharma companies if they were non-profit. Should undertakers, morticians, and funeral parlors actually get money for their service? What profiteering scumbags!!

POLL RESULTS: Specialty Physicians Strongly Oppose Government Run Health Care | Wilson Research Strategies Political Insider Journal

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Grim Prognosis From Doctors Opposed To Health Care Plan

I will personally poll my doctor on thursday when I see him.

I got one neuro-surgeon friend in America who hates medical insurance companies.

Originally Posted by Golani

Because the federal government can print money while the private health insurance companies are not able to do so. The government will always win and that means higher prices for everyone.

The public option will be a not-for-profit system funded by the users. And isn't it neo-con mantra that public programs are bloated and inefficient? If this is true, then what are you worried about? Clearly, you and your neo-con friends and greedy insurance company buddies know that the days of scamming the population are coming to an end.

Originally Posted by barfomcgee

Not exactly "free," but paid for in other ways. It should also be a not-for-profit system, similar to the way our schools are operated. Would you honestly like our schools to be privatized? McDonald's Grammar School, Kinko's High School?


No. Is there a cap on teacher's salaries? They may start rather low, but if you make a career out of it the wages can become quite respectable. My mom was a teacher in the public school system for 30 years and was extremely satisfied.


There is more to life than the profit motive. Most scientists and doctors are interested in making discoveries and curing diseases for the sake of knowledge alone, not profits. The government is already heavily subsidizing the pharmaceutical industry - wouldn't it be much more efficient if we just admitted it and made a it a not-for-profit system? A "free market" hasn't existed in the pharmaceutical industry for generations.


Even you must realize that argument is completely irrelevant. There is an enormous difference between a doctor and a mortician.

Sore point with me. I believe that public education is a failure as an education system but a success ast political indoctrination. I believe in a modified voucher system. Back to the point - so how would healthcare be paid for? What would it cover? What rights would consumers have? Wouls there be competition?

Interesting take on doctors and scientists. More doctors are specialists in the US because they make much more money than family practitioners. Most scientists make great money working at for profit companies. I think your view reflects an ideal rather than reality. And notice that I don't use the phrase "free market", because I believe that no market is free.
You either believe that the profit motive is an incentive to achieve high standards or you don't.

I don't include universal healthcare in with the right to life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. IMO a country as rich as the US should be able to have a system that provides access to all legal residents. How to pay for it, what it includes and what are its limits, and who runs it are the issues that should define the debate.

Originally Posted by johnny larue

Should healthcare be free?

Should the CEO of United Healthcare get $100,000,000 dollars for a year of "work"?