Blogs home Loyal Opposition

Health Care – yada –yada -yada

Nobody has provided any data that supports that a single payer government owned and operated system will be substantially cheaper then what we have now. How does it do that? It will have administrative costs not dissimilar to existing health insurance only they will present as employees on salary. I challenge one of the proponents to at least ferret out the cost of executive compensation and share holder returns for health insurance executives rather than throw around 31% figures that include administrative costs (see above).

It would be very helpful to resolve the quality of care argument. How does national health care perform compared to our current system in delivering quality care? I suspect that it is more uniform (except where there is parallel fee for service for the wealthy). Are the waits I read about real? Do people no longer seek care they know they will not get? Could we have people without care here (or maybe not)? Medicaid is real. I read heart rendering tales of people not covered and am having trouble understanding the gap. If the problem is really extending care to the uninsured why is an expanded system under Medicaid not appropriate? Medicaid provides coverage that is in some respects better than Medicare.

So many of you argue with such definitiveness yet I can find no creditable data. Have we become so frustrated that anything is presumed better? I would like it to be cheaper too. I would like to have care equivalent to what my Congress Person gets. Maybe even care equivalent to health care insurance executives. I am at the age where this really matters. Probably isn't going to happen despite our desires. It could easily bankrupt us!

Perhaps the real issue is a desire for us all to be equally miserable. I want what you have so to get it I will take from you. The really wealthy escape notice and continue under fee for service (must be nice to have your own physician who follows you around).

So Mr. Obama and company strive for a first step that broadens care and includes some element of government operated insurance broadly available that would give us all a better handle on how that might operate. I can see why the Republicans are afraid of that. It might prove better. It might also be a fraud perpetrated on all of us that hides costs and leads us in the wrong direction.

Will the left torpedo the first step for want of the last step so many on these blogs demand? Will the right torpedo it because it might offer promise and become more difficult to check?

Tune in tomorrow for episode 1045!