"Health Care" in America - Good, Bad, or Ugly?

Thought I might start a new thread on the differing view points on Americas Health Care System in general, and the "recent" Health Care legislation. I'll start by asking your opinion of the state of care in our system. Would you say it's "The best in the World!", "Lacks caring doctors", or something else entirely. It's all yours.

My view is that while we have the best in the World, we don't have very good access to it. If you have a certain amount of income, your choices are vast. But even with a large bankroll, you may not be able to get all the treatment you need. The truly rich of course have the best access, as they should, they'll be paying top dollar for it.

The lower you income is though lessens your ability to get proper care. The poor, though I'm sure many will disagree with this, have almost no care. Unless they have Medicare or something, then they have some access, but not a lot. There are quite a few who do not, and/or can not, receive assistance. Some will never see a doctor for anything until an emergency forces them to.

Either way, a limited income translates to minimum care. Our doctors may be top notch, but the vast majority of them will not do more than the minimum necessary by law. If you do not have the money, you will not get the treatment. Some will say this is a sign that Democrats want old people to die, others will say the same about Republicans.

But, I always think of what's written on that plaque on the Statue of Liberty "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses..." and wonder why it's sentiments have to be lost to reality. The truth is, most people care little what happens to those who have little money, they see assistance as being wasted money, THEIR money. They have been consumed by their greed.

Final point. The new Health Care law is more of an insurance boon than an improvement in care. Yes, poorer people may now have a chance at a healthier life, and being poor, I can certainly appreciate it. I doubt rich people are going to go bankrupt over it. The upper middle classes should also be relatively unconcerned with this, as in all likely-hood, they have insurance already. The lower middle class however, is probably the only loser. Some will be forced to buy insurance they don't want, though some already have insurance and shouldn't be affected much. The BIG winner? The insurance industry. There may be some new rules they don't like, but they are never going to lose.

All opinions are welcome, but please try to stay on topic.

 

Awww, don't listen to me, I stray off topic all the time! (laughs) ...Just try to do the best you can...

 

Forgot to give my opinion! (laughs) It would be "Ugly."

 

We've had a few Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) discussions here and it usually comes down to the people that currently have health care and would be unaffected by the provision that makes people buy health care argue that they shouldn't be forced to buy health care. "Don't force me to buy something I'm already buying damn it!!" But you're right, it is a matter of access to the best health care in the world. It's not the health care quality that is the problem, it is people having access to even the basic kinds of care that is the issue. The for-profit health care system is failing this country and 10's of millions of people are being priced right out of market. If the private system worked for all Americans and was actually improving the lives of people in this country, I'd say keep the government out of it but by every indicator the current system fails more and more people every day. I believe health care is a right. I don't believe that my health and wellbeing and the health and wellbeing of my family should be tied to the bottom line of some for-profit private insurer. I don’t believe that denying me health care should be a revenue stream for shareholders. I do believe that like Vermont, this country should move to a single payer model. Why shouldn’t we have at least a basic level of public health care and the wealthy pay for the latest technologies with their vast pool of wealth and resources?

 

Well said, I gonna guess and say you'd choose "bad". Anyone else?

 

My wife is a health policy analyst so I hear things. LOL!

 

Ok. I haven't discussed this in a while. There's a guy I know that tries to tell me the same thing. That the government needs to take it over in order to take the profit out of it. Let me put this out there in advance that I believe health care is a lose/lose proposition no matter who handles it.

First argument is against the private sector making too much profit. Ok, well how are new drugs invented? Is the money for development just created out of thin air? Or they just aren't developing anything anymore and it's all pure, greedy profit? The insurance companies are ripping everybody off. They take too much profit? Maybe they are. I agree! Profit driven insurance completely sucks. Alright, lets scrap the whole current system.

Now we can have 100% government controlled health insurance! And their track record is so GOOD at handling large, expensive programs!! IF it was a perfect world, I would agree that this would probably be the way to go. Since it is not a perfect world and we have the good fortune of history to look back on to predict the future, I can say with absolute certainty that this would be a failure as well. Most likely a worse failure. We have social security money being counted and used as general tax revenue and completely drained from being robbed.

ANYBODY, who thinks ANY government agency at ANY level would leave a pool of money sitting in an account untouched, to be used as originally intended, in this day and age, is a complete moron that should not be publicly expressing their views. Since they would have no understanding of reality. In 50 years or less, the money being paid in for health insurance would be diverted to everything else and the system would be bankrupt, despite the billions flowing in annually. It would be another tax and another mess they created that could never be gotten rid of. Won't even get into the shortage of doctors who won't want to go into the field, compared to the mass influx of patients. As it is now, it sometimes takes a week or two to get in.

Now don't get me wrong. I believe the intentions are good. But like so many other things, they're just not feasible in reality. I wish everyone didn't have to work and we could all be millionaires with plenty of health coverage and fancy cars. Better yet, I wish everything was free for everybody. It just can't be that way. Too many people. Not enough wealth to go around.

As for the rich paying for everything, people that believe this are living in fantasy land. If it ever came to that, they would move more, if not all of their money over-seas to where it couldn't be touched. And, even if you brought it all back from them at gun point, there ISN"T ENOUGH real wealth available out there to take care of something this massive for 6 months. I don't care if you take 100% from them. At THAT rate, it wouldn't be enough to make an impact past the first year or two!

But in fantasy land (the liberal mindset), the rich can pay down the debt, pay all the taxes, and pay for all the social programs with ease, forever!! It just has to be taken from them! It could be that easy. No more poor then! Everybody could be middle class forever. They wouldn't even have to work for it. The rich could fund it all. College educations, health care, public transportation. You name it and its taken care of. Population grows!? Who cares! That's ok! The rich will just have to pay MORE of their fair share! Got illegals flooding in that need to go to college?! Call up the rich. They're entitled to college and free healthcare just for being born too. Forget math. A kind heart is all that's needed.

 

vess1: I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say your vote is "Good" but with plenty of asterisks. And even more anger.

 

I have no particular issues with my healthcare. Can't speak for the rest of America. Especially since most people don't have the kind of healthcare plan I have.

 

We definitely have the best care in the world. For those who think access is a problem, just who is denied necessary care? Criminals? Aliens? Illegals? Even Canadians come here to get there care denied in Canada.

 

A vote for "Good"

 

Thought I'd repeat this for everyone. I speak from experience.

 

If I were a socialist, Stujoe, I'd tell you that you're going to have to give up a lot of benefits of your healthcare plan so that other people can have some. You're going to receive less so that your fellow comrades may share.

 

I am already under what most would consider a socialist plan. No premiums and the government picks up most of the costs.

 

That's a heck of a plan. The only thing is, YOU EARNED IT. The rest of us shouldn't have to pay for lazy bums who refuse to work.