What is YOUR Ideas to Fix Healthcare in the US

[danfrank]

So, people might be getting frustrated by the back and forth between the proponents of the current healthcare plan circiling around and opponents of the plan. For purposes of this thread, let's acknowledge that improvements should be made to the healthcare system in the US. So, what exactly what you do...

Here are mine:

(1) Provide government-run health insurance for those who cannot afford health insurance. Provide guidlines on these income levels that increase with inflation. Permit illegal aliens to enroll in public health insurance without fear of prosecution for being illegal.
(2) Mandate that private health insurance providers provide health insurance regardless of pre-existing conditions and other factors (such as lengthy stays in hospitals). Scrap state restrictions.
(3) Provide for stiff penalties for attorneys and plaintiffs who bring frivolous medical malpractice law suits.
(4) And, to piss off everyone, mandate that insurance must cover abortions, but provide an exception for healthcare providers (such as Catholic hospitals) for religious reasons.

Interesting.. I will agree with 2 and 3 ... I disagree with 1 tenfold over 4. Take california and newyork for example. These states are running comparative deficits . Mainly because they cater to the illegal aliens. Illegals have taken the jobs that i once performed when i was a child and now the youth of today do not have these oppurtunities available to them. So to allow these non tax payers to continue to suck this country dry is not acceptable. Deport them all.. Immigration is a beautiful thing if it is done legally. Number 4 .. I agree partly with this statement , insurance covering abortions , for the obvious reasons would you rather an unwanted troubled child, or no child at all. Of course limits would have to be set , when is it inhumane to abort a fetus. My children were planned so i never had to face this decision. I liked the idea of coming home and saying are you pregnant yet? rather than saying oh shit your pregnant. Now for the religous aspect.. So if catholic hospitals did not have to perform abortions then public and hospitals of other faiths would. I do not see this as a cure to religous bigotry. Also if the religion card was allowed to be played by catholic hospitals then idividuals of the same faith in public hospitals may also attempt to play it too..

[PLAYER57832]

Player, one question I have regarding your list... what's the difference between "baseline" and "premium" insurance? I guess my question is a little tongue-in-cheek because baseline insurance, as I understand it, means that a lot of the preventative medical care that those with "premium" insurance get would not be covered under baseline insurance. Kind of defeats the purpose, does it not?

No. "baseline" would be the universal standard for everyone. "Premium" would cover things over and above the "baseline". If you get in a car accident and need your jaw repaired -- that would be basic. If you want to look like your favorite movie star and decide to go to Switzerland for Surgery (or Mexico, for that matter), you need extra insurance.

But, yes, it probably would be more than that. Right now, there are many, many, many procedures simply not covered by insurance because some bureaucrat in the company decided it was not worth covering. Those decisions have to be made. There is just no way around it, and I think most people recognize this. As much was we would all like to be able to take OUR child to the top brain surgeon or oncologist in the country at a moment's notice, we know that just is not realistic. For one thing, one person cannot serve everyone. What people need, then, is to know that what limits do exist are set forth with reason... and that "reason" entails something other than insurance executives making more profit. I can stomache the idea that my child might not get some obscure treatment because it is more critical for 1,000,000 kids to be vaccinated (realistic comparisons, by-the-way, not exaggeration) or even that 3 kids get kidney transplants or cured of leukemia. As a mom, I will absolutely push to get my kid's disease recognition. But, the rational part of my brain will recognize that choices just have to be made. And, truly, that is not necessarily the best comparison because often times it is not the cure, but the research that is needed for obscure diseases. Often times the final cure is not terribly expensive. (it can be, but not always).

Perhaps a better example comes in the unborn. Not so much abortion, but things like certain prenatal surgeries, tests, etc. At some point, like it or not, all kids are just not meant to survive. At some point, we have to accept that nature/God plain and simply does say "NO" and that it is arrogance on our part to push further. Again, in an ideal world with unlimited resources, unlimited funds, I would push for anything to be done for any child that would provide more benefit than pain... and in some cases, even push for things that might cause significant pain IF there was a potential for learning or just a potential for a better outcome for that child.

I find it SUPREMELY ironic that some of the very same people (NOT you!, I realize this!) in this forum who push for "fiscal responsibility", "personnal responsibility" are the same ones saying "don't make me fund abortions", etc. They won't pay for an abortion AND they complain about having to care for the expensive medical care, subsistance support for the children. (never mind the FACT that "abortio" refers to a good many true miscarriages).

I would set up a panel of ethicists, doctors, economists, etc. to make these decisions. They would review, because things change and because it is almost certain that their first assessments will sometimes prove wrong. Things they thought most beneficial might not be so and vice-versa. When it comes to research, it will get tricky. We DO need to fund a certain amount of purely exploratory research that very well might not go anywhere, because the bottom line is that we don't know which threads will or will not find useable results. Had you asked someone in the Middle ages if studying mold would lead to cures, many would have said "no" ... yet, well.. pennicilin. A dumb example, perhaps. Yet, look at the discovery that most ulcers are caused by bacteria and not simply stress as was thought for many, many years.

I see two general issues running through most comments.

First is that people don't want their care limited. However, they ignore the fact that it already IS limited and quite severly in many cases.

Second, they don't like the idea of socialism in any form. Again, they forget that we do have quite a bit of socialistic systems already and, they tend to ignore real reasons why medicine is not like most products that do respond to market forces.

[thegreekdog]

Oh, I don't want to fund abortions (in the same vein, I don't want to fund state executions). Not sure how I can get around that, short of not paying taxes.

On the baseline vs. premium issue, I think your premium scenario is too far fetched. I'm unaware of any health insurance that covers elective surgeries, for one thing.

[pimpdave]

Oh, I don't want to fund abortions (in the same vein, I don't want to fund state executions). Not sure how I can get around that, short of not paying taxes.

On the baseline vs. premium issue, I think your premium scenario is too far fetched. I'm unaware of any health insurance that covers elective surgeries, for one thing.

Which is the reasoning one could use as to why abortion shouldn't be covered. Isn't that still considered elective surgery?

[thegreekdog]

Oh, I don't want to fund abortions (in the same vein, I don't want to fund state executions). Not sure how I can get around that, short of not paying taxes.

On the baseline vs. premium issue, I think your premium scenario is too far fetched. I'm unaware of any health insurance that covers elective surgeries, for one thing.

Which is the reasoning one could use as to why abortion shouldn't be covered. Isn't that still considered elective surgery?

Sometimes. Sometimes not. But, yeah, your point is a good one.

[PLAYER57832]

Oh, I don't want to fund abortions (in the same vein, I don't want to fund state executions). Not sure how I can get around that, short of not paying taxes.

On the baseline vs. premium issue, I think your premium scenario is too far fetched. I'm unaware of any health insurance that covers elective surgeries, for one thing.

Which is the reasoning one could use as to why abortion shouldn't be covered. Isn't that still considered elective surgery?

Sometimes. Sometimes not. But, yeah, your point is a good one.

Also, my main point has always been that whilst opponents of abortion focus on voluntary "for no real reason" abortions, (which I think most people abhore), the term actually is very broad. Because there is no definition for life in early stages (among other issues), many miscarriages are termed "abortions". This is also true even in some later stage procedures (including most of the so-called, "partial birth abortions"). Further, while we can debate over how severely injured a child can have a decent life, etc... the point is that it is a very complex medical AND moral debate. No matter how strong your or my personnal feelings, freedom of religious belief is one of our strongest held principals. In this case, becuase decisions have to be made quickly, the abilty to make this decision has to be established or it amounts to those opposed forcing their will on the rest of society. (as opposed to those who want abortions in certain circumstances insisting that doctors who choose to practice should be able and willing to do them).

Bottom line -- because the health issues are so complex and further, there is no one set overriding moral stance, the debate belongs, like any such issue, in the churches/families/communities and not in the legal arena.

[Snorri1234]

Keep it out of government hands. The rest is cake.

BECAUSE THAT HAS WORKED SO WELL!

[MrWainthrope]

Keep it out of government hands. The rest is cake.

BECAUSE THAT HAS WORKED SO WELL!

Shut up Stalin!

The Free-Market is the answer to everything and always makes everything right. It's why everybody in the US thinks that policing, road-building, foreign-policy and legislation ought to be done on a free-market basis. Because just like with healthcare, it would make everything perfect and brilliant, just like it is now.