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44 Comments
- jasmeetsb, on 06/12/2009, -7/+21Coming from Republicans, it doesn't surprise me at all!
- raptorlightning, on 06/12/2009, -6/+18We need something to get the prices down, and if this is a spark of hope that does it, its fine by me.
I am sick and tired of psychopath corporations running our lives. - Hetman, on 06/12/2009, -0/+9How far back in the day are we talking about here?
- BlueWindKami, on 06/12/2009, -4/+13Call, email and write the White House, your senators and your representative now and tell them all "single payer, no trigger, affordable, universal health care". We have the most expensive health care in the world and yet rank 57th in overall health statistics including longevity, infant mortality, and preventable diseases. Insurance companies put profit before their own customers health. They are ripping us off and it's time to stop them. Hold your government responsible, remind them that they are supposed to be representing taxpayers, not big insurance.
- Hetman, on 06/12/2009, -2/+10That would be kind of difficult because the majority of democrats are for the public options.
- inactive, on 06/12/2009, -1/+9probably because it doesn't need to happen 98% of the time, unlike republiclones.
- inactive, on 06/12/2009, -0/+8you're a *****.
- kingmanic, on 06/12/2009, -1/+8Don't forget that even now health costs are the leading cause of bankruptcies. Nearly every American family is one serious illness away from poverty.
- inactive, on 06/12/2009, -0/+7because corporations should be profiting over our bad health? insurance companies already set what they pay doctors, so it's no different.
- treehugger87, on 06/12/2009, -5/+11I don't think it's just the Republicans who are working to kill the notion of public funded or single-payer health care. President Obama won't allow single-payer advocates at the table, and all of the discussions are going on without any representation from the option that 50% of Americans want.
- ImagineReality, on 06/12/2009, -1/+6This is certainly true in St. Louis. Even the hospitals are consolidating there. We used to have Barnes hospital, Jewish hospital, and Christian hospital. Now we have BJC which I believe even includes baptist west.
- homercles337, on 06/12/2009, -1/+6Pick up a history book junior. Its FILLED with examples.
- homercles337, on 06/12/2009, -0/+5Uh, yea, because HEALTH insurance companies should be all about profit, right? /facepalm
- sigmaman2, on 06/12/2009, -0/+5“if Mr. Obama signs into law a ‘public option,’ government-run insurance program as part of health-care reform we won’t be able to undo the damage.”
...to the Republican party. - leephil, on 06/12/2009, -0/+4Wow, talk about simplistic viewpoints.
- trer, on 06/12/2009, -1/+4Most everything that comes out of Karl Rove's mouth is crap.
- inactive, on 06/12/2009, -1/+4***** karl rove, he needs to crawl back into the maggot hole he was spawned in.
- sigmaman2, on 06/12/2009, -0/+3Efficiency? Maybe not. Accessibility? Maybe so.
Private health care is profit health care. You don't get what you pay for. You get what you can afford. And as health care costs rise, fewer people can afford it. a public option would give access to those people priced out of the private system.
The oligopoly (I think that's the word you mean) of insurers isn't interested in lowering their prices, and thus their profits. So, if somebody that's been priced out gets sick, they could lose their home, or more. And if they lose their job and get sick, God help them.
One sickness or injury can be disastrous for a working family. And this scenario is playing out all over the country, both drawing from and contributing to the recession. We agree that things need to change. But what other entity, besides government, is willing and able to implement that change? - EricSchC1, on 06/13/2009, -0/+2To be fair, the government is technically not a for-profit industry, so yes. Its a little harder to get away with greed-driven agendas, when its not the intended purpose of the entity in question. Not to mention the fact there's less transparency in the private sector.
- intothebreach, on 06/12/2009, -1/+3If it's that simple do it. I can think of effective government programs, but none that are efficient. Now inefficiencies I can name off the top of my head. NASA, Social Security, Medicare, Amtrack, etc etc.
- homercles337, on 06/13/2009, -1/+3Are you really this stupid? Seriously? I dont have the time to type out 12 years of CIVICS lessons for you son. Its what you learn in school. I take it you were home skoold?
Yea, thats what i thought. I can write volumes on your question, but im not going to be your teacher, educator, and instructor in this medium--digg. I feel sorry for you, i really do. Corporations depend on society and society depends on ... awww, ***** it, youre not worth it. - EricSchC1, on 06/13/2009, -0/+1"Using a government system to keep those business honest will drive them out of business. Well because the government plan will always be cheaper, its not in to make a profit. Obama also wants to set a pay for doctors, well you know you get what you pay for. A lot of good doctors will just leave."
Nearly every European country with universal healthcare doesn't have that problem. How do they make it work? - Khast, on 06/12/2009, -0/+1What does Fact Checking mean these days? It usually is supposed to mean to look through events and actions which have been made to see if someone is lying.
Not to spin the facts around, and make it whatever we want it to mean. (Or sound like the facts are right out of the insurance companies handbook.) - zemkacz, on 06/12/2009, -0/+1Lets ask sweeden how they do it.
- homercles337, on 06/14/2009, -0/+1Yea, and you *could* be ***** educated. Youre not. At least i have the benefit of being a prick, you, on the other hand, are an uneducated ***** asshat.
- TruckStuff, on 06/12/2009, -2/+3Isn't the postal service going bankrupt?
- Chakat, on 06/12/2009, -0/+1Private health care is not necessarily profit health care. Providers like Kaiser, which even the british health system has looked at as an example of how to improve patient care and efficiency, is a non-profit. The big problem is that because of things like the 1973 HMO act, insurance providers have little incentive to be non-profit because they already get most of the inherent tax breaks, etc, non-profits get. Were you to repeal the tax breaks, you'd have a competitive system where you can avoid the bastardry of our current for-profit system and have little government intervention.
- Ocyris, on 06/12/2009, -1/+2Too bad they have a legal monopoly of first and third class mail all while they continue to have a budget deficit.
- intothebreach, on 06/12/2009, -4/+4Two things:
This talks about added efficiency because of the public option. The only thing the government does well is build roads and run the military and those aren't even efficient. Redundancy is built into the government to ensure fairness, I believe it has went far beyond that, but that's a different conversation.
Public option will be a form of rent control. It will create a false floor for premiums and costs, to stay viable private insurers will only have to slightly beat and will not have to participate in a true free market (like hospitals don't have to now becuase insurance always reimburses at steady rates). Granted the barriers to entry make insurance a natural oligopily (right word?--been a while since econ 101).
I'm not saying things don't need to change, but government is rarely the right answer to increase efficiency in a system, and they have a 230 years plus track record to prove it. - kingmanic, on 06/12/2009, -1/+1Signed a note to let a little girl be excused from class to attend a civic event.
- TruckStuff, on 06/13/2009, -1/+1That's what I thought.
You know, you could just say that you don't actually have an example instead of being a complete prick about it. But then again, this is digg.
meh... - kingmanic, on 06/12/2009, -2/+2Postal service is still around and kicking despite competition from private parties and technology.
- jjsavage81, on 06/13/2009, -0/+0I'm all for doing SOMETHING to improve our health care, but our government has a profound, almost mystical ability to royally screw up anything it touches.
- ewagnerjr2000, on 06/12/2009, -2/+2Health care is expensive because pay of doctors is high and the medical malpractice insurance. They could bring the cost down if they bring the trial lawyers under control. Sorry I don't want the government meddling in my health care, name one thing the government has done right lately.
- Chakat, on 06/12/2009, -1/+1The postal service is far from an example of fair competition. In a lot of ways, competition exists in spite of the postal service's best effort to make other mail providers as uncompetitive as possible. If you got rid of their legal monopoly on first class mail, and the mandate that private companies charge more, you'd see the post office flounder.
- intothebreach, on 06/12/2009, -0/+0First, thanks for the well thought and worded response and the help with spelling.
Profit can be made by increasing efficiences, not only raising prices, this is seen daily in business everywhere. A public option eliminates the need for private insurers to find efficiences in operations and vendors (hospitals) because they no longer need to worry about the lower margin of the public.
Business will lower prices to make profits, this is done for two reasons; deliver more value for less money than the competitors, and lower prices below the level of inelasticity to maximze profits.
Government intervention will not fuel any of this, it is more likely to cause the outcomes you mention because it cools competion. - tehelsper, on 06/12/2009, -4/+3If you are sick of corporations running things, do you really think the government would be any better?
- ewagnerjr2000, on 06/12/2009, -4/+1you can pay cash when you go to the doctor. Nothing stopping you there.
- TruckStuff, on 06/12/2009, -4/+1Please name one that didn't leave later generations with a massive debt to pay off.
But I suppose this is what I get for trying to learn something on digg.
/sigh... - TruckStuff, on 06/12/2009, -6/+3FTA: “One of the options in the exchange should be a public insurance option — because if the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honest and help keep prices down,” Obama said.
Could someone please cite an example of a well-run government program that has successfully competed against the private sector? Honestly, I'd like to know if such a program exists. - JordanTW90, on 06/12/2009, -6/+21950s.
- ewagnerjr2000, on 06/12/2009, -8/+3Using a government system to keep those business honest will drive them out of business. Well because the government plan will always be cheaper, its not in to make a profit. Obama also wants to set a pay for doctors, well you know you get what you pay for. A lot of good doctors will just leave.
- AntBing, on 06/12/2009, -16/+5Fact-Checking Democrat Attacks Against The Public Option? Front page...never.
- JordanTW90, on 06/12/2009, -15/+4Back in the day when government was not at all involved in health care we had the best in the world. There were no handouts, no free services, and doctors were pissed they weren't making ENOUGH money. If we'd get government OUT of healthcare, it would be a ton cheaper.
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