Check out this powerful speech from Ronald Reagan. He does a great job explaining how socialized medicine takes us one step closer to socialism.
This enforces my belief that the anger we saw at the town hall meetings last week went much deeper then simple health care reform. It represents a belief system that goes against everything this great nation was founded on.
Take a listen and lets hope that we can find strong leaders that will protect what our founding fathers fought so hard for:
I will have a market update later today.
12 comments:
I don't see how public health care is a bad idea. It exists in many countries with great results.
On another hand in US costs of medications and hospital stay are so astronomical that many people can hardly afford it. One shouldn't have to sell their house so they can pay a large hospital bill. Also the private health insurance is there for profit, many people get their claims denied.
As for Regain video, it came out in time when everyone was anti communism/socialism, also I am sure he was lobbied by private health.
No individual in right mind would refuse public health care, where all your health needs are covered by a minimal monthly fee. In fact in some countries private sectors are lobbing governments to reverse their public health care programs because of the huge potential profits in "for profit" health care system.
As an example, in Canada public health care is mandatory for all citizens, it cost $55 a month and covers 80% of all health related expenses, also with most employers you get extended health coverage which costs about $35 a month and covers everything from dental to hospital stays. Further more with basic public coverage there are no approvals to go thru, no receipts to send out, you pay nothing at the hospital or doctor, same with most extended coverages, you just go in, show the health card and pay nothing.
Now tell me what is the cost of basic health insurance in US?
Anon
Its a great idea. The problem is we don't have the money to pay for it.
Canada has a 51% tax rate on income. How many Americans could afford their bloated house payment with a tax rate that high?
The math simply doesn't work. I have no problem with the idea of free health care in theory.
Its simply not financially feasable right now IMO.
Here's another legacy of Reagan's
http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-the-rich-get-richer-and-the-poor-get-fired-2009-8
Jeff,
health care is a hot issue, beware a comments deluge!
Remember, healtcare is free in many countries all over the world, bit the service sucks. You get what you pay for. At least here we pay big bucks, and the service is so-so but the cutting egde stuff is always on the table.
Get
Yup its a controversial issue.
I try not to be political about it either. We see this issue from the other side given our backgrounds.
So how much is basic health insurance in US?
Anon
Depends on your employer. Its not cheap.
There is nothing inherently bad about socialized medicine, just as there's nothing particularly wrong with having a socialized police and fire department system.
However, it will never work in the US because:
1. Those in socialized systems don't think of suing doctors, just as nobody sues firefighters over here. People in a socialized profession are treated differently because they don't think of cost in their direct line of work.
2. The sheer lack of ability to debate complicated issues here means it ultimately gets owned by right-wing pundits and nothing happens. And the left wing goes nuts too. *sigh*
3. The tie-ins with insurance/drug companies make any real reform very, very unlikely. The fact that these companies are major contributors to the Democrats would be a conflict of interest in Wall St - but apparently ok in DC.
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Btw, I offer this opinion as a Brit moved here (getting Citizenship next week, hurrah). And I love this country, but the approach the medicine is totally screwed up and whether you like it or not, change is a-coming.
Fundamentally:
1. If you do nothing, Medicare/Medicaid will be bankrupt in 3 years.
2. US industry loses to foreign competition all the time due to increased direct healthcare cost (no news here).
3. Drug companies, hospitals and insurance companies are dancing the happy dance while people die.
I *really* wish - REALLY - as a relative newcomer - that there was a sensible debate that didn't include Sarah Palin-driven nonsense and other crap flying around. Americans should make the decision about healthcare in an informed way without the distractions.
You have to realize that in any democracy things happen in incremental change, meaning that:
- The system won't change that much
- Whatever happens won't fix many of the problems
- We should also adapt our ways of thinking, since that's always the way we move forward.
That's my piece. Feel free to tell me to go home but I won't ;-)
PS - Claims that the US has the best healthcare in the world are hogwash. Try Spain, Vietnam, Australia and almost anywhere else where the infant mortality rate is higher than the US...
PPS - I only offer this because I want to make a better system.
Minton
Great thoughts. Socialized medicine can be good.
The only way it works here is if the cost of living dramatically reduces.
The only way it works is with a 50% tax rate. There is no other way to do the math. Every country with it has that tax rate.
Americans are strapped right now. Healthcare reform can't happen as long as the consumer is leveraged too highly in debt.
We need an economic reset. Without it, national healthcare is unaffordable.
Jeff - true. But if $1 or $2 trillion dollars over ten years sounds a lot, we just gave that to the banks in a month and got zip for it!
I really hope for a decent healthcare conversation in this country soon, otherwise the 'compromise' will help nobody. The Democrats' major lobbyists are all healthcare, like the oil companies are to the Republicans. And all the Republicans can raise is scare stories that don't advance the debate in any meaningful way at all.
Personally, I'd like to see only these things:
1. Killing pre-existing conditions and intra-state nonsense.
2. Putting small businesses on par with corporations for healthcare access (I have a small biz and we get killed on this).
3. Tort reform in a real sense.
4. Beating the drug companies with a stick (many drugs you can buy in Canada or Europe for a fraction of the price for no apparent reason, even over the Internet).
That's all. I don't think these four issues would fundamentally cost very much at all. Right now, if you had a major uninsurable health problem, your best bet is to get a Federal job, join the military or go to jail. That's pretty f***** really.
I completely agree about US consumers being maxed out - but it's a little late for that now. The shop's been given away since St Obama got elected. Actually, has Obama really done anything at all?
Minton
The only thing Obama has done is spend money.
I agree with all of your points except for #4 because I work in pharma..LOL
FYI
To give you are perspective. Pharma represents only 8% of healthcare costs. The only reason its talked about so much is because its the one part of healthcare that people pay for out of pocket.
The total cost of drugs is a drop in the bucket in the whole scheme of things.
The real crooks are the insurance companies. they are the pones that cap drug coverage at $1000 a year on many plans.
Meanwhil they pay nothing for the drugs but charge full price when it goes against your 1000 cap.
For example, they may buy Lipitor for $30 and then charge the patient AWP(average wholesale price) against their cap. AWP for the drug may be $150!
Its a total scam.
We do need healthcare reform. Things are out of control. I also believe that drug costs need to drop. They will. We just agreed to cut their cost by $80 billion in Obama's plan.
Cheers
J
You should see the markup on prescription drugs. Even for the generics. That's why there's a lot of companies out there that want to manufacture the generic drugs. Nobody would want to do it if it were a money losing proposition.
Walmart,Target, Walgreens, etc... are still making money on those four dollar generic drugs. Quite a bit of money.
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