Comments on: Single Payer

By: Why Now? » Blog Archive » My Bad

Why Now? » Blog Archive » My Bad — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 04:19:39 +0000

[…] I did my Single Payer post I should have included the cover story from Pensacola’s alt weekly, The Independent […]

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 04:23:14 +0000

Ah, but I was there 30 years ago, and things change, but I willingly give you Paris, while I remain outside.

The change to American bureaucrats since 9/11 has been a major PITA. Simple things have become a matter of “national security” and everything must be taken more seriously as we are all possible terrorists.

They are making getting information a bigger problem than ever, while releasing classified information for political reasons.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 03:35:11 +0000

There's also good food and drink to be had, and friendly people to be found, in Paris. The worst I've encountered there was a little bureaucratic stubbornness, but that is sui generis and has nothing whatever to do with the national or ethnic origins of the bureaucrat. Comes to that, the French bureaucrats I've had to deal with have almost without exception been far more gracious and polite (and helpful) than most of the American variety it's been my misfortune to have to contend with. And don't even get me started on service workers.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:58:21 +0000

Ellroon, I have no objection to people making money from health care; my objection is that they are making most of their money by not providing health care.

Exactly, Bobby, no one is saying a health care provider has to accept payment from a single payer system, any more than they are required to accept Medicare. Doctors and hospitals can refuse the patients except in an emergency.

The only problem with the French system, Fallenmonk, is that it is French. Our oldest ally and people freak out about them. Now, I don’t have a lot of use for Parisians, but that’s based on personal experience. OTOH, there is good food and drink to be had outside of Paris, and friendly people.

Andante, you can buy private insurance all over Europe and in Canada. You can go to medical facilities that are not part of the taxpayer systems, and wealthy people do, but everyone can go to the regular systems and things that become expensive emergencies in the US, are handled cheaply by doctor’s visits in most countries.

Steve, even the best insurance runs into the cost cutting by for-profit hospitals. The understaffing is absurd and dangerous. The mistakes made by overworked people are too often fatal. The system is broken. You are better off, financially and in terms of care, to go on a cruise ship, than go to a hospital.

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:14:21 +0000

As you note, Bryan, the question is not what is free… basically, the answer is nothing… but how we pay for what we get, and who among us has access. The current answer to those questions seems to be “everybody who gets any healthcare pays a lot” and “nobody, except those with the wealth to pay even more, gets even civilized minimum standards of healthcare.” That would be acceptable only if there weren’t better alternatives… and only if we decide, as a society, that healthcare is a privilege rather than a right.

The “free streets” argument is particularly offensive. In Houston, as in most cities, streets are a government responsibility, but I don’t see any road contractors going hungry. Indeed, they do rather better than the rest of us. It helps to have city government in your pocket, um, I mean, good lobbyists. (Aside: why no strikethrough tags in comments?)

(Speaking of Ron Paul, when he was the only OB/GYN in Brazoria County, TX, he refused to take Medicare or Medicaid patients. Reportedly he was charitable with his services to people who could not afford them, but a fair system would not place that decision with a doctor. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege, not something to be doled out as largesse by individual physicians. I take that fact about Paul as a statement of his attitude about single-payer healthcare.)

By: andante

andante — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:28:17 +0000

I wish I could remember where I read it, but one reviewer scoffed at Moore’s suggestion that private health insurance companies be abolished.

Not having seen the movie or read much at all about it, I don’t know if the reviewer is correct or (more likely) making up sh$t.

Much as they deserve it, I haven’t heard any reasonable plan that calls for the abolishing of private insurers. Yes, single-payer would somewhat halt their gravy train, but they could still provide supplemental insurance and make a pretty penny.

Medicare doesn’t cover every buck, and neither would single-payer. I’m sure the private insurers would be quite happy to step in, and most folks would be quite happy to buy their supplemental policies.

By: Fallenmonk

Fallenmonk — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:07:57 +0000

Everyone ought to spend some time in France if they want to see a proper national medical system that works. Costs less than we pay per capita here, everyone is covered, life expectancy for a Frenchman is longer than the U.S. and infant mortality is lower.

By: Mustang Bobby

Mustang Bobby — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:39:04 +0000

A lot of people also seem to think the Canadian system is a Cuban-style system. It isn’t. It’s bascially Medicare without an age limit. It doesn’t provide for everything; i.e. it doesn’t provide for dental care or vision, and prescription prices are kept low by state-imposed price controls. Also, it isn’t federal; each province handles it on their own. There are plenty of private doctors in Canada (or at least Ontario, which I’m most familiar with) and you can decide to opt out of it if you like. It may have its problems — name a program that doesn’t — but it works.

By: ellroon

ellroon — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 05:35:03 +0000

We need to move the insurance business out of making money off of health care. We need to get enough people angry enough to do something. Sicko will help.

Ot, Bryan, I’m tagging you:
http://rantsfromtherookery.blogspot.com/2007/06/tagged.html