What Republicans and
Democrats can
do to fix our health care
American Thinker,
by
Dr. Chad Savage M D
Original Article
Posted By: tisHimself,
8/7/2019 8:41:11 AM
Anyone watching the most recent round of Democratic presidential primary debates should recognize that in both the first and second sets of debates, all the candidates worked from the assumption that Americans face a binary choice: government-run health care or private health insurance. Republican responses to the debates made the same assumption.
Big Brother or Big Insurance — love one, hate the other. That's the anemic range of health care messaging to expect from Democrats and establishment Republicans alike. The problem? Both sides are wrong —
Reply 1 - Posted by:
bpl40 8/7/2019 8:55:39 AM (No. 145142)
The honest answer is that both of then will do absolutely nothing at least until the election. But we the people can. Go to the polls and vote the socialists out. Without that first step nothing else is possible.
1 person likes this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
6079 Smith, W 8/7/2019 9:08:52 AM (No. 145163)
The best thing they can do is to get out of it and let the market work. It is really that simple.
6 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
paral04 8/7/2019 9:18:49 AM (No. 145181)
Our health care is excellent. Most people are not taking care of themselves and want someone to fix it. I don't particularly want to pay for people who wantonly abuse their bodies and expect someone else to pay for fixing them. I also don't want to pay for frivolous procedures such as transgender mutilations.
3 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
chillijilli 8/7/2019 9:41:01 AM (No. 145206)
Here's my personal experience while living/working abroad in countries with so-called "free health insurance." Dr Savage is right---the government has to find ways to pay for it. Here are the trade-offs that I experienced:
In Tokyo, the patient's family is expected to clean the hospital room, bring food and feed the patient, change the sheets, clean the toilets and bathe the patient. I lost a dear friend who had a heart attack and died in an ambulance en route to a hospital but they couldn't find a nearby hospital that would accept a patient who didn't speak Japanese.
In Dusseldorf, the hospitals were always filled beyond capacity, so the corridors were classified as "rooms." Many patients spent their entire hospital stay stashed in hallways, gurney-to-gurney. Germany is hardly a 3rd world country and to my American eyes these conditions were appalling. Pity the patient who needed to use the toilet. They'd have to call out for a toilet and a portapot would be wheeled through the overflowing corridors so the patient could do his business in front of everyone. But...health care was free! Just how many Americans do you think would tolerate that?
And in the UK, a basic endoscopy was Rxed...and the wait time for such a simple test was...8 months! Yeah, but it's free! However, if you had "private" health insurance (which was fortunately the case), the procedure was miraculously available the very next day.
I wonder why the GOP doesn't do some basic research and point this stuff out.
8 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
bad-hair 8/7/2019 9:53:38 AM (No. 145223)
When I retired from corporate employment and started doing casual consulting work instead I of course lost my company health insurance. Unlike Obamacare I got to keep my doctor. I did not bother with insurance aside from catastrophic coverage. Being in good health I would see the doc when I was ailing. He would bill me 75 bucks for an office visit and in a lot of cases would send me out the door with medication in hand. I'm inclined to agree with the author.
3 people like this.
"Fixing our health care" begins and ends with the fleecing of the consumer, who generally pays through a third party called an insurance company. The sucker, er, insured, has no idea what it all costs, and doesn't care, fearful she might be otherwise thrown into bankruptcy. Charges are inflated by a number of factors, not least of it is the "free" ER visits for every coughing child. Prices regulated by supply and demand is dependent on an informed consumer. Medical service providers ensure the consumer has no idea.
2 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
red1066 8/7/2019 10:07:33 AM (No. 145243)
Unless the answer is, Stay the hell out of it. Then I really don't care.
1 person likes this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
DVC 8/7/2019 10:24:10 AM (No. 145276)
The right answer is to get the government entirely out of the business of having ANYTHING to do with health care.
Let patients and doctors figure out what they need, and how to pay for it.
LEAVE US ALONE!
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
msjena 8/7/2019 12:55:01 PM (No. 145503)
The author is right, but I doubt that people will ever give up on employer provided insurance without a fight.
People are used to thinking that healthcare should cost nothing or a very minimal amount. But they would actually pay less paying out of pocket until catastrophic coverage kicked in. Most people don't realize it but they are paying part of their employer-provided insurance through payroll deductions and the government is subsidizing those payments by making them pre-tax. Wouldn't it be better allow people the option of getting a raise for the $10,000-$12,000 or so that private insurance costs employers and employees and then self-pay for, maybe, $2500 until high-deductible coverage kicks in?
1 person likes this.
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "tisHimself"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)