I am not trying to start another thread like the one we had before on this topic, just wanted to share something I saw in the news.
Since the Democrats won the house and senate, the have mentioned that they are looking at a National Health Care Program, since they think everyone should have healthcare.
Tired of news like this. This could very well be a 30 year old thread since everytime there's been an election it's "we're gonna get national healthcare."
Listen, the closest we ever came to it was "Hillary-care" when Bill got elected. They didn't even get past town hall meetings and they got crucified.
I think the closest we'll ever get to it will model after car insurance. You have to have it, you can choose any private company, and no matter how bad your record it you must be offered it. In Maryland it's MAIF - Maryland Auto Insurance Fund. It's where you go with 10 DUI's and 5 accidents.
And by the way, we already have national healthcare. It's called Medicaid.
I too am tired of news like this, but when watching the rah-rah we won speaches one of the demos that won said that the people want a higher minimum wage and health care for everyone.
That is why I brought it back up. Pelosi already said that she is going to raise min wage within the first 100 days of her being speaker, and I know that the health issue is on the plate as well. Bush looks like he is going to sign off on the min wage issue, so how far is he willing to go to play nice?
I am not trying to beat a dead horse or start a political debate, but this is what they are talking about.
And you know how the public is about hearing things on the news...
I have no doubt that the Dem's are going to overplay their hands. Really, as close as all these elections were and all exit polls showing that Iraq and Scandals were the number 1 and 2 issue for the vote the Dem's yet have found a mandate for Minimum Wage and National Health Care, it should be a hoot for the next two years!
Well, all I can say is it went a heck of a lot farther than that when Clinton got elected. National healthcare was one of his major platforms that got him elected. Right after he took office he tried to get the ball rolling to institute national healthcare. After that I've never seen such a major shift in attitude. Apparantly "the country" really didn't want any part of national healthcare when it actually came down to talking details. Support pulled back and Clinton has was wondering which bus had hit him.
I remember some of the televised town hall meetings. They were brutal. The ending sentence was that it simply cannot be funded. The government can't pick up the tab without taxes going crazy. You can't mandate that business provide coverage without small businesses folding.
England and Canada's systems are both train wrecks. Some smaller European countries pull it off. Their citizens are also taxed 50% of their wages and live very modest lives. You think you can tax "Joe Schmo" 50%? How would he pay for his cigarettes and large screen tv.
What Americans THINK national healthcare will be is their little $10 copays and seeing their specialist anytime they want. What it WILL be is a heard of cattle crammed into a sub-standard pseudo-ER facility as patients wait hours for care and 6 to 12 months for scheduled surgeries.....just like Candada and the UK.
Our healthcare:
Mother: "My daughter has a 102 fever and I'd like to bring her in."
Doctor: "You can bring her in at 11am."
National healthcare:
Mother: "My daughter has a 102 fever and I'd like to bring her in."
Doctor: "Is it life-threatening? If not I can see her in about 6 weeks."
They are going to tell the public how wonderful the system will be with everyone having coverage. That we will all be better off and that we need to take care of each other.
However, if it is like Medicare, where private insurance companies are funded by the government to provide coverage, I am going to brush off the ol' health insurance folder and start that up again in April (when the Medicare lockin hits).
That could be very good for agents who are in the health field. It has been really good to the Medicare Advantage market.
And just like Medicare, no doctor has to accept it. One of the wake-ups calls my parents go when they first went on Medicare was the very small percentage of doctors they could see.
So we can indeed go with national healthcare. But you can't force doctors to take patients.
Most likely, it would mirror the UK system. In the UK the poor and lower-middle get the free crappy healthcare. But the middle class on up buy private insurance and have quality care.
Right now you basically have to be indigent to go onto Medicaid. What might change is the income qualifications - lower-middle on down could now qualify for Medicaid. Go ask someone who's on Medicaid how fantastic that program is.
There is far too much wealth in this country for us to ever go with completely socialized medicine. Your lobby group against that would basically be every single person in this counrty who's middle class and above.
And by the way, I'm not against this entirely. There are huge loopholes in our system where the working poor can't get coverage. You have a lot of working families making $12 an hour, no health provided at work and cannot afford a policy. They should absolutely be able to have health insurance.
Oh well, lets face it with people like Rep. Stark (very anti market) Chairing the committee of Health in the House and Kennedy in the Senate the HSA and the MA is in serious trouble, of course likely the Rep's will fillibuster any bill that challenges or dismantles the HSA and MA and Bush will likely veto any bill that makes it to the White House. Yet I have no doubt the Dem's will attempt anything they can do to shut down the HSA.
I'm numb to all this. I've heard all this bull about national healthcare since the 70's and it's never gonna happen. Period. It's been the platform of coutless senate and presidential races since I was a kid and as soon as anyone's elected the idea vaporizes.
Saying that, everyone should have access to affordable health insurance. Of course, that's not the current system. We have families with health conditions finding out after they're laid off that Cobra is $1,600 a month, their state doesn't have a risk pool and they're uninsurable. Hourly wage workers certainly can't get health insurance if their employer doesn't offer it - so a lot of changes do need to happen.
How ironic that this thread was started. Well, Hillarybeast is back at it.......see the following release.....
Hillary: 'Health Care Is Coming Back'
Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday outlined an ambitious agenda of legislative priorities while continuing to deflect questions about her presumed presidential ambitions.
"I will look at the possibilities, but I ... haven't really had the time to talk to people about it," Clinton told a breakfast gathering hosted by the Association for a Better New York. "It's been a busy election season that worked out well, so I will think about it. I'm open to thoughts."
Clinton was returning to Washington on Monday to participate in a lame-duck session of Congress in which lawmakers will tackle several pieces of unfinished business before ceding control of both the Senate and House to Democrats early next year.
But the New York senator was clearly looking ahead to the next Congress, which she, like other Democrats, has vowed will operate on a more bipartisan basis than it had under Republican control.
"We are ready to roll up our sleeves and work with our Republican counterparts. Our country works best when we govern from the vital, dynamic center," she said.
Since cruising to re-election last week against a weak Republican challenger, Clinton has parried repeated questions about her political future. While she hasn't disclosed her plans, polls show her the clear front-runner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, with a national infrastructure of strategists and advisers and at least $10 million in her campaign account.
"Before, I didn't have time to think - I was too focused on what I was doing," she later told reporters. "I'm thrilled by the results, and now I'll have some time to think."
In her remarks, Clinton outlined a range of challenges she said Democrats would tackle in the coming months, such as trimming the federal deficit, reducing dependence on foreign oil, and improving the image of the United States abroad.
She also said Democrats would focus on improving the quality and affordability of health care - a touchy matter for the former first lady, who in 1993 led her husband's calamitous attempt to overhaul the nation's health care system. The failure of that effort helped Republicans win control of both the Senate and House the following year.
"Health care is coming back," Clinton warned, adding, "It may be a bad dream for some."
She also said Democrats would focus on improving the quality and affordability of health care - a touchy matter for the former first lady, who in 1993 led her husband's calamitous attempt to overhaul the nation's health care system. The failure of that effort helped Republicans win control of both the Senate and House the following year.
"Health care is coming back," Clinton warned, adding, "It may be a bad dream for some."
Yes the next two years will be nothing but investigations and Hildabeast stomping her hoofs demanding National H/C. Which I do believe will leave the Dem's with one bad session of congress as gridlock will set in like never before. At least I hope that the Rep's will give back what the Dem's did the last 4 years, nothing but gridlock! Yet that is good, I like Congress in gridlock and let it continue!
Well, a short study into how the country runs will show you that the president basically can't do anything. The president can play with the military at will, but can't come close to enacting law on his/her own.
And just how many bitter MALE senators would be out there if Hillary actually got elected? It would be four years of nothing getting done - just to spite her. 100% pure gridlock.
And if Hillary is the Dem's choice for their candidate to win the primary get use to a Republican president for 4 more years. They'd better off up someone better than Hillary.
I am not trying to start another thread like the one we had before on this topic, just wanted to share something I saw in the news.
Since the Democrats won the house and senate, the have mentioned that they are looking at a National Health Care Program, since they think everyone should have healthcare.
Has anyone heard anything more on this?
I dread the thought of having government workers in charge of my health care. Thankfully, I don't think it's possible that we would change to a nationalized health care system since America leads the world in research, development, and care. If people want the government to pay for their health care, their personal assets must go first - hence medicaid. The only thing wrong with the system that we have now is that too many employers provide health insurance for employees. Somehow that needs to stop. People should pay for their own health insurance. They would be much more akin to purchase HSA plans and hense more likely to price shop for treatment. This would lead towards competition in the health industry.
Worst case scenario (from agent perspective) is you have a base plan with catastrophic coverage, similar to Medicare and it will open up a market for supplemental policies.
Read my lips; we will never have national healthcare. Both the UK and Canadian systems are complete train wrecks. We can barely keep social security alive and there's simply zero funding for it. It's lip service to get canditates elected. You cannot force businesses to provide it and the government can't pay for it without a significant tax increase.
The closest we'll come would mirror car insurance; make it mandatory and some state plan would have to take uninsurable people - but you'd still choose any company you want.
The country is all about the free market. National healthcare is socialism and it'll simply never happen here. If it was gonna happen it would have happended duing the Clinton admin. Not only didn't it happen, but it got slaughtered. National healthcare didn't even make it out of the starting gate.
Don't worry if you sell health insurance. You'll be selling it 40 years from now.
National Health Care Proposed
Linear Mode
