Bush's Health Insurance proposal

Email Print posted by blairwitchgreen 01/25/2007 02:56:01 PM EST

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What does Bush's Health Care proposal really aim to do?  To subdivide the electorate enough to eliminate the momentum for a single-payer national health plan...

It seems to me that Bush's Health Care tax-break proposal really aims at eliminating the momentum for a single-payer national health plan.  By satisfying just enough disgruntled middle class worker bees to bleed off the outrage, giving them their "I got mine" and assuming they won't worry about the poor saps who still get nothing.  This leaves the status quo for the insurance industry to continue reaping its enormous profits as our health care quality continues to decline.  Subdivide the lower and middle class worker bees and the wealthy elite continue to get all the marbles.  Keep your eyes on the prize, Democrats, and continue the push for a real national health plan, and the voters will love you for a generation!
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Bush's Health Insurance proposal | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 hidden)
comment (none / 0)
for the glitch...

by blairwitchgreen on 01/25/2007 02:57:52 PM EST

plan (none / 0)
actually i think a national single payer plan is a bad idea.  I doubt bush's plan will do a whole lot of good for the poor though.  In principal I think we are much better with private health care as long as there is a significant driving force for competition in the marketplace.  The problem with the current system is that insurers only have to sell their plan to the employers and then the employees are stuck.  At least with bush's plan it gives you alternative options.  You'll end up seeing adds like geico where they can save you up to 15% on health insurance. 

As for insuring the poor, i'm not exactly sure the best thing to do about that, but some form of subsidized private health insurance is probably the way to go.  In my opinion anything that the government does is going to be many times less efficient than private industry as there is no incentive for efficiency. 

by alphasigmookie on 01/25/2007 03:45:25 PM EST

If this is true (none / 0)
then why are Medicare and Medicaid so efficient?

by jarett on 01/25/2007 06:53:11 PM EST

[ Parent ]
how are they effecient (none / 0)
How so?  By what measure are medicaid and medicare efficient?  What is the driving force of their efficiency?

by alphasigmookie on 01/25/2007 08:36:03 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Mookie is catching on. (none / 0)
“As for insuring the poor, i'm not exactly sure the best thing to do about that, but some form of subsidized private health insurance is probably the way to go.  In my opinion anything that the government does is going to be many times less efficient than private industry as there is no incentive for efficiency.”

Let's call that an understatement.

Most people in this country have health insurance through their employer, or they are self-insured, or they are retired and receiving MediCare.

There is a subset of people, like illegal aliens, who refuse to take responsibility for their health care. They have automobile insurance, because it’s the law. They can’t drive without it. But they’ll be damned before they will pay for health insurance.

Here is the KenTX proposal for single-payer, government-provided socialized medical coverage for people who refuse to take responsibility for their own life. Take two aspirin, and lie on this cot until you feel better. 
got cots? 

by KenTX on 01/26/2007 10:06:39 AM EST

[ Parent ]
health care (none / 0)

Is there any “single payer” system that you guys like? It seems like there is always complaints. Sometimes in Canada for certain surgeries you must wait 6 months when you could do it here almost as soon as you are diagnosed.

Our focus on treating illness instead of preventing illness is what is wrong in my opinion. There is no money to be earned in preventing heart disease at the 1<sup>st</sup> level of care. There is a little bit of money in secondary care- taking pills for high blood pressure etc. There is a lot of money\research\emphasis in coronary bypasses, stints, heart transplants etc. The sicker people are, the more resources, money, effort must be put into treating them.

And actually obesity itself is the one factor that seems correlated with just about everything- Diabetes, Heart Disease, Strokes etc etc. If people exercise enough to stay health, all of these problems are avoided. When a person is on 20 or even 50 various pills a day to keep their body from imploding, there is little hope to get the person out of his\her rut. All the pills have side effects. People go to the doctor wanting them to fix their high blood pressure, and then the next problem and then the next problem. This is like trying to take a pill to sleep- you might be tranquilized but you’re sure as hell not resting.

by acroso on 01/25/2007 04:37:46 PM EST

good post....maybe (none / 0)
This was one of the more intelligent things i've ever seen you post. 

However the added HTML tags which were not removed lead me to think it was simply a cut and paste without any atribution to the source. 

by alphasigmookie on 01/25/2007 06:07:31 PM EST

[ Parent ]
HTML tags (none / 0)
I typed primary. I don't know if I used the symbol or what I used, but it changed what I typed to the HTML stuff.

by acroso on 01/25/2007 11:29:59 PM EST

[ Parent ]
text (none / 0)
Why don't you google parts of my text. I'll tell you in advance, you're not going to find it from anywhere because I typed it. But....please try

by acroso on 01/26/2007 11:34:53 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Wow (none / 0)
Our focus on treating illness instead of preventing illness is what is wrong in my opinion.

This is almost certainly the smartest thing you've ever said.

by jarett on 01/25/2007 06:54:40 PM EST

[ Parent ]
It can't be.... (none / 0)
Acrosos said that?...No it's reasonable just can't be...it had no 'libs surrender to illness'  or other such nonsense.

by MRFred on 01/25/2007 07:27:42 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Bush's plan is a total joke (none / 0)
I agree with you that the Bush plan is a joke. It doesn't do anything to solve the huge problem we have now. Even the conservatives should be for some sort of national health care because it will take the burden off of corporations.  50 million ppl in this country with no insurance many of them the working poor. and that's the best Bush can come up with?  Its disgusting.

by Stay Tuned on 01/25/2007 05:44:46 PM EST

dems (none / 0)
Well what are the democrats proposing?

by acroso on 01/25/2007 05:50:19 PM EST

[ Parent ]
more right wing nonsense (none / 0)
the one thing you can always count on with george bush is that he's trying to screw you if you're in the middle class.  whether its social security or health insurance, its always something inordinately complex, always built on giving tax breaks to the rich, and always taking away something from the least that need it most.

its time to make health insurance affordable.  start by capping ceo's pay, investor dividends, user premiums, and mandating that no one can be denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions or high risk.  its nonsense to only offer health insurance to people that don't need it. 

if we can blow trillons of dollars in iraq then we should be able to take care of our own.

by thbbbt on 01/26/2007 08:48:51 AM EST

Bush's Health Insurance proposal | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 hidden)
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