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| Home Front: Politix |
| ‘Medicare for All': The Impossible Dream |
| 2019-03-05 |
| [NYT] The Brits and Canadians I know certainly love their single-payer health care systems. If one of their politicians suggested they should switch to the American health care model, they’d throw him out the window. So single-payer health care, or in our case "Medicare for all," is worth taking seriously. I’ve just never understood how we get from here to there, how we transition from our current system to the one Bernie Sanders has proposed and Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and others have endorsed. Despite differences between individual proposals, the broad outlines of Medicare for all are easy to grasp. We’d take the money we’re spending on private health insurance and private health care, and we’d shift it over to the federal government through higher taxes in some form. Then, since health care would be a public monopoly, the government could set prices and force health care providers to accept current Medicare payment rates. Medicare reimburses hospitals at 87 percent of costs while private insurance reimburses at 145 percent of costs. Charles Blahous, a former Social Security and Medicare public trustee, estimates that under the Sanders plan, the government could pay about 40 percent less than what private insurers now pay for treatments. If this version of Medicare for all worked as planned, everybody would be insured, health care usage would rise sharply because it would be free, without even a co-payment, and America would spend less over all on health care. It sounds good. But the trick is in the transition. First, patients would have to transition. Right now, roughly 181 million Americans receive health insurance through employers. About 70 percent of these people say they are happy with their coverage. Proponents of Medicare for all are saying: We’re going to take away the insurance you have and are happy with, and we’re going to replace it with a new system you haven’t experienced yet because, trust us, we’re the federal government! |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #11 I retired very early when I discovered I had been committing a felony for every slight typographical error I made on a chart, even if it mattered not a whit to the patient or to his care, even if what I did was quite clear to a reasonable reviewer or the chart or of the care given. Felony fraud IIRC. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2019-03-05 20:06 |
| #10 Socialists Criticized as 'Math Deniers'. -Babylon Bee |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2019-03-05 17:48 |
| #9 *takes deep breath* Lemme explain: Medicare Geezer goes to my doctor and receives $100 in services, and my doc gets $50 payment. I go to my doc for the exact $100 in services and am charged $150 to make up the difference. Fine, but Geezer is old and does multiple doctor visits, paying only 50% of the costs for many, many visits. Multiply that by millions of Geezers and you have our current system. Medicare for All means we go broke literally tomorrow, rather than 20 years from now. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2019-03-05 16:27 |
| #8 Yea price fixing and government monopolies! Never fails! |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2019-03-05 16:27 |
| #7 But they're the good guys so coercion is OK.... |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2019-03-05 16:20 |
| #6 Do they even do their own math? force health care providers to accept current Medicare payment rates. Medicare reimburses hospitals at 87 percent of costs You gonna hold a gun to the head of doctors and nurses and FORCE them to stay in jobs that don't pay enough to cover costs? Who the f**K do these people think they are, FORCING people? Want a mass exodus of doctors and nurses? This is how you do it. The saddest part is the author doesn't even see himself in the jackboots he just put on. |
| Posted by: Vespasian Unairt7733 2019-03-05 13:58 |
| #5 1) If anyone ever hits your car while you are driving, say you have chest pains and want an ambulance. You will get a full cardiac workup on insurance company dime. In many cases it will be the "uninsured motorist fund" so you will be drawing from something you most likely paid into. 2)The old drunk who fell and hit his head, or the woman who was in a fight with her spouse will be seen ahead of you in ER even if you are bleeding out in the waiting area. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2019-03-05 10:49 |
| #4 >If this version of Medicare for all worked as planned, everybody would be insured No they would not be insured... They'd have their poor health choices subsidised (as it would make ZERO difference to their premium). Should I go on? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2019-03-05 09:54 |
| #3 >Then, since health care would be a public monopoly, the government could set prices and force health care providers to accept current Medicare payment rates. BWHAHA. facepalm. Only competition and fighting rent-seeking can lower prices. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2019-03-05 09:52 |
| #2 >The Brits and Canadians I know certainly love their single-payer health care systems. Go online and do some journalistic research and you'll find plenty of people fed up with the shite NHS. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2019-03-05 09:50 |
| #1 It would be foolish to do anything other than let the FREE-MARKET handle health care, IMO. We are NOT doing that right now. |
| Posted by: ranture 2019-03-05 09:42 |