Public Medicine

Published:

Look at public schools, public housing, and public rest rooms. Look even at ... public defenders. Confused

Now, people are clamoring for even more public medicine (socialized healthcare), which if you are in it you get low prices but lousy quality. If you are not in it you might get decent care but you'll certainly get exorbitant prices, to compensate for those people who are getting the low priced (but lousy) care. There are medicines which cost hundreds to thousands per month to the uninsured - to make up for the people on Medicaid/Medicare paying twenty bucks.

Here's Stott's take on public medicine. Perhaps we could even throw in some price controls to keep costs down.

Brilliant!!! Why haven't we thought of this before?


 

It's looking like 'the people' know what they want ... and deserve to get it good and hard.

(Locked)
Entry #74

Comments

Avatar justxploring -
#1
to make up for the people on Medicaid/Medicare paying twenty bucks

Medicare & Medicaid are not the same programs, although I realize there are a lot of people who get all their prescription meds for free or for very little. That isn't the case with many seniors however.

Since this is your blog, I won't tell you the story about my friend who got breast cancer except that I remember when she cried "I am fighting for my life and the insurance company is giving me a hard time." I agree that socialized medicine is often a bad idea. But if the plan is designed intelligently, I believe it can work, time*treat.   I've always said we need "affordable" healthcare and health insurance, not necessarily free care. The American Cancer Society reports that a person who is uninsured or underinsured has a 60% greater chance of dying than someone with good coverage. By the time many people finally go to a doctor, it's often too late. No man or woman in America should have to decide between paying the rent or getting a biopsy. It's like saying people without health insurance or money are invisible or lower on the food chain. Many people with families who don't get group coverage are faced with a $700+ a month premium. Then often the insurance company denies a claim. I wish I knew the answer, since I agree that publicly run facilities are often poor choices, but our healthcare system is in peril and we live in a society where profit is more important than life.
Avatar time*treat -
#2
MediCare is for the old & MedicAid is for the poor. I mentioned them together because they do the same thing. Only their "target audience" is different. The high premiums that you mention are *because* of lowered costs to other people in the system. I believe the MedicAid prices are lower (and their service appropriately crappier). These plans are *not* designed intelligently from the standpoint of the customer.
They are designed to provide job security for their managers, test subjects & profits for Big Pharma, and a continuous a supply of voters for their administrators. Taking MedicAid, as an example, I took this from their page (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicaidEligibility/) "The option to have a "medically needy" program allows states to extend Medicaid eligibility to additional qualified persons who may have too much income to qualify under the mandatory or optional categorically needy groups. This option allows them to "spend down" to Medicaid eligibility by incurring medical and/or remedial care expenses to offset their excess income, thereby reducing it to a level below the maximum allowed by that State's Medicaid plan. States may also allow families to establish eligibility as medically needy by paying monthly premiums to the State in an amount equal to the difference between family income (reduced by unpaid expenses, if any, incurred for medical care in previous months) and the income eligibility standard." I.e. "We want to make sure you can't get in a position to get away". If you wanted to invest or start a business, it would take some time to build up enough money to quit their system. Oh, noze. They'll not be having any of that $#!7-and-shenanigans, today. They regularly check to make sure you're "eligible" and *stay* that way. Note the phrases "Excess income", "Too much income", & "Spend down". The only people who can afford to quit the system are the doctors, and they are doing so. Workable solutions have been proposed, but they are not going to be taken seriously before the system collapses, and maybe not even after.
It's going to get worse, too. But I'll save the "why" for another day.
Avatar justxploring -
#3
Time*treat - just off topic a bit, I ran across a blog   http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=1524
and now I can't even call myself a Liberal. LOL Last year I worked for a Medicare Advantage company and left because it wasn't a good plan (too many gaps) and the manager lied at presentations (as the blog says) but this article is full of manure. Some of the better plans save people a lot of money. At least it gives them a choice. Anyway, where it says that these plans "cherry pick" healthy clients is so untrue, I had to laugh out loud (for real) The first thing we were taught, even at this sleazy place, was never to ask any health questions at all. Period. It's illegal to even ask about prescription drugs or high blood pressure. You can't even ask "have you been to a doctor?" So even people I might have agreed with are full of crap sometimes. Clowns to the Left of me, jokers to the Right...here I am, stuck in the middle..

Post a Comment

Please Log In

To use this feature you must be logged into your Lottery Post account.

Not a member yet?

If you don't yet have a Lottery Post account, it's simple and free to create one! Just tap the Register button and after a quick process you'll be part of our lottery community.

Register