Milt Palacio

Universal health care is a plan that would provide health insurance coverage for all Americans. The best way to do it would be through a single-payer plan, meaning all health costs would be paid by one governmental entity, such as Medicaid, thus eliminating the middleman (insurance companies). This would help save billions a year in paper work and other adminstrative costs.

It is said that single-payer health care could actually be cheaper than our current system. This is possible though savings on administrative costs as well as cost controls (setting price ceilings on what the drug companies and doctors could charge). Health care would still be a private enterprise, but would be paid for publicly (by the government through taxpayer money). This is similar to the Canadian system. Canada pays something like 60% less for their prescription drugs than we do because their government is able to set ceilings on what they pay for prescription drugs.

Are you for or against universal health care? If If it could be done without raising taxes, would you be for or against it? it meant paying a little more in taxes, would you be for or against it?

Some information:

http://www.pnhp.org/facts/what_is_single_payer.php

http://www.amsa.org/hp/myths.cfm

http://personalinsure.about.com/cs/h.../aa060903a.htm

http://www.kucinich.us/issues/universalhealth.php

mh67511

I just don't see how you would determine how much everyone pays. If someone eats a healthy diet, exercises regulary, maintains a healthy body weight and fat percentage, would they be paying the same as someone who doesn't exercise, doesn't eat healthy, etc.? That what concerns me.

Mio

Isn't that what Canada is doing? They pay for most of it and all you do is pay premiums for the insurance company you choose?

Milt Palacio

Well, this is an issue that would have to be worked out. If I were in charge, people would pay a small percentage of their income (1%-3% hopefully) that would be used solely for full medical coverage. Because of this, the 1.45% that is deducted from your paycheck for Medicare would be eliminated. Again, there are a number of ways it could be paid for, with the goal to be reducing costs for everybody.

We're already doing that. With single-payer health care, we'd just be paying less for it.

Milt Palacio

I believe there are no insurance companies, that's why so much money is saved. The government pays for all costs and puts a ceiling on drug prices and some medical procedures, and the result is a huge cost savings and health care for everybody.

*Lauren

I don't know about Canada, but in Australia we have universal health care, but there is an option to have private health care as well. It gets you into (supposdly) better hospitals and elective surgery is much quicker. There are downsides to private health care (like my family having to pay out thousands, despite having private health care, because they changed something and didn't inform us, but put a notice in the least read paper in the country. Charming) But universal health care is a neccessity for any First World country. Otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, they are not first world.

mh67511

Well if it's a small percentage, that's good. I just worry about all the employees of health insurance companies -- I guess a lot could work for the government, but they'd probably get paid less. At this point in my life health care isn't a top concern of mine, simply because I'm very healthy and I get coverage under my dad. But I do know that the church he is the pastor at pays nearly $13,000 a year for health insurance for him and my family. They are a small country church too so that would save them a lot of money. But still it's a good idea, since many counties and cities don't have free hospitals where the poor can go to.

summerbug

Some private insurance companies already do that...people get a lower rate based on their physical.

I think a universal plan is a great idea. The cost of insurance is so incredibly high that it encourages folks not to have it (small business don't offer it or sometimes offer it at such a high cost workers cannot afford it as one example). Thus, they use the ER in non-emergencies driving up costs and don't have a regular doctor or get preventative care thus driving up health care costs. Early treatment is a lot better health wise and cost wise then treating something when it is too far along. And if you look at the cost of say, having a baby, if you didn't have insurance a lot of folks would have a difficult time paying those thousands and thousands of dollars.

I just think as a civilized society we owe a basic level of care to everyone. I think if you even want to ignore the humanitarian aspect and look at it even primarily from a cost savings it is cheaper to pay for preventative care then ER visits and late stages of a cancer that could have been treated with relative ease in the early stages.

Mio

We do have insurance companies here, I have one. The government pays for the drugs (in some provinces, ours does when you reach your premium)

Milt Palacio

Does the government pay the insurance premium? How exactly does the Canadian system work?

Mio

I think they pay some amount to make it affordable. Some provinces have provincial run insurance companies so people can afford health care, etc.

I don't know to what extent that it works, but it's not like the states where they pay nothing.

*ADARA*

I think the government should offer the same quality health care to civilians that they offer to military personel. I've seen military doctors. It may be a long wait but that's the same with any doctor. The doctors are the same as any other doctors but it's free and so is the medicine. If it's good enough for the people protecting the country, why isn't it good enough for all of the people in the country?

~Chrissy~

Elizajoey

I believe in the idea of universal health care. It's very important.

I believe there is nothing more disgusting than a sick person in a wealthy country not being able to receive suitable health care that can either make them better or at least remove their suffering. It angers me, it disgusts me and I just find it repulsive.

Australia USE to have a brillant universal health system - admired around the world as the best system except now we have an arse of a government who believes in privatisation and proping up people who can afford health care anyway rather than looking after the unfortunate in society who have no means to care for themselves.

The system is terrible in Australia - of course, it's not the insane extremes of the United States but I think of the hey day when it was introduced by Gough Whitlam and look where it is now and you just mourn the lose of a great system that allowed everyone access to health care no matter, heck he offered things to just about everything but I'm going to shut up now because now is not the time to share my love for Goughy!

Maggie aka Sarah

Medicare in Canada is basically separate health insurance programs that are run by the individual provinces and territories. Health care in each province and territory is run in a somewhat different manner. Here's a link that gives an overview of the system:

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/media...ct/glance.html

For most of the provinces, medicare is paid for via taxes with the federal government also contributing money... that is also from taxes. I think that some provinces may collect money from individuals. I know people who live in Ontario who are self employed who have to pay for OHIP every year.

Doctors mostly work in private practice in clinics... but some doctors work at government run clinics. The amount that they get paid for each procedure is negotiated with the provincial medical associations. Hospitals are mainly run by non profit organizations.

I have heard a number of times that medicare covers about 70% of health care costs. Most drugs aren't covered under medicare. Also some types of physiotheropy and rehab type whatevers aren't covered and some are.

Private health insurance usually covers stuff like having a semi private room at a hospital and the costs of medications, physiotheropy, glasses, some times dental whatevers.

Some provinces have their own drug insurance plans though. The drug insurance plan for Quebec... where I live... has a list of approved medications though... so if your doctor prescribes you something not on the list... then you have to pay the full price yourself.

What is paid for by medicare is different from province to province. I made sure that I had my wisdom teeth out when I lived in Winnipeg... before I moved to Montreal... because the removal of impacted wisdom teeth was covered under medicare in Manitoba but not in Quebec at the time.

Also, there are waiting lists for some types of operations... the length of which differs from city to city. And some ERs are more crowded then others. Usually it's a good idea if you are mobile enough to get to an ER yourself to go to a walk in clinic first and have a doctor there check you out and then direct you to the right hospital if you have to go to a hospital. There are also medical help lines where you can call for advice.

The government also does prevention type whatevers... like since I turned 50 the province keeps on sending me information about how and where to book an appointment for a mammogram. Probably should do that whatever. That kind of stuff can seem a bit meddling at times... but at the same time making people aware of health related stuff is a good idea.

Maggie

Milt Palacio

The number of uninsured in this country is 45 million and only going up. It is expected to reach 51 million by 2008.

Here is a good article about the subject:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...nsurance_tango