Quote: (06-21-2016 05:36 AM)Fast Eddie Wrote:
If you have your shit straight professionally and take care of your health, the pre-Obama paradigm was perfectly serviceable. If you don't, then that's your own damn problem and not anyone else's.
You can't honestly believe this.
The pre-Obama system was a disaster.
Sure, it was great if you had a big employer who would pick up most of the healthcare costs but it was horrible if you were self-employed, a small business owner, a unemployed/underemployed single person without children, or worked for an employer who didn't pick up enough of the tab. Insurance companies had full and complete leverage over you (as in, buying insurance as an individual) to basically charge whatever they felt like it while they had to at least entertain the idea of negotiating with organizations with a lot of employees.
And even if if you worked for an employer who picked up a large part of healthcare costs, the lack of basic regulations and protections allowed insurance companies to drop people for the most bullshit of things; often during critical times.
Finally, the pre-Obama system was not even fiscally sound or efficient in any capacity.
I'm not speaking academically here by the way; I know from direct and very painful experience how fucked up the pre-Obama system was. Myself and many others could share very tragic personal stories highlighting how the "perfectly serviceable" system operated.
You honestly sound like many intelligent people I knew back in the day (and even today) who were just simply ignorant of how broken things really were; usually due to lack of exposure or direct experience. I understand it but you really should try to take a step back for a minute and try to see things from a different perspective.
Quote:Fast Eddie Wrote:
Healthcare is a good like everything else. The very poorest cannot afford a car, and the very richest have much nicer cars than everyone else. That is not a problem, and if it were, it could not be solved without trampling on the basic rights of individual.
Healthcare is just like cars, except people are on a moral crusade to turn it into a "human right."
Come on Fast Eddie, I thought you were in a top tier MBA program if I recall correctly? You had to learn about elastic and inelastic demand at some point and the difference between the two.
Healthcare is NOT like most goods and it is certainly not "just like cars." That's ridiculous.
There are alternatives to cars:
-Walk
-Scooter
-Live closer to work
-Bus
-Train
-Bike
-Motorcycle
-Boosted board (electric skateboard)
-Work from home
-Uber/taxi
-Carpool
What are the alternatives in healthcare if you need emergency surgery:
-Go die
-Go to ER and be at the complete mercy of the nearest hospital and a insurance company.
You don't have the option nor the time to shop around, check out different hospitals, talk to different doctors, get prices, and negotiate.
Having said all that: I'm mostly in agreement with your other viewpoints.
Should a homeless bum have same access as a billionaire? No, I don't think so.
Is Obamacare a disaster of a program? Yes, it is. Very much so. Mostly due to how it doesn't help keep expenses reasonable.
The fundamental problem is that there ARE too many middle men in the process already who basically add no value AND game the system to get their unfair cut; usually at the expense of the patient AND provider. The cost of the product is already pretty high naturally and the demand is essentially inelastic while also being unpredictable (do you know when you are gonna get cancer?), meaning everyone needs it and has very little room to negotiate. The only fixes to this are:
1) Eliminate the middle-man via single-payer
or
2) Create a regulated private market of some variety where insurers can compete on minor stuff but can't gouge the fuck out of of people.
I suppose you could do a two-tier system where you have government cover emergency/basic stuff and let private insurers pick up rest as well.
That all said: I ask everyone to please look at things objectively and not come to quick conclusions base on pre-defined ideologies.
Healthcare and providing it effectively in a fiscally sustainable manner DOES NOT operate like the vast majority of goods/services. It is a unique product with unique challenges.
The US back in the day and currently has one of the most inefficient, broken, and fiscally unsound healthcare systems in the modern world. We need something better and that is going to require everyone to look at things with a very objective eye.