Why not free health-care competition AND create a single-payer public option?

From: http://freeindependentsun.com/republic/charter-12-the-american-federalist-platform/

"Health-Care

Citizens of each State should be allowed to buy insurance from any company within the United States.

Practitioners should be able to compete in price.

The Constitution must be Amended to provide a National Insurance Single Buyer program (“Single-Payer”) Public Option; the Department of Welfare (see Executive Branch), would negotiate a large number of citizens as customers to insurance companies to provide the cheapest and most comprehensive coverage; citizens of any State would be able to buy this Public Option for the cost to the Welfare Department plus the shared cost to cover Children, Senior, Veterans, Native Americans, and those living under the Poverty Line."

 

It won't work because for a singlepayer system to be sustainable, everyone has to pay into it. This was the reason the latest SCOTUS decision about the mandate was so important. Without the mandate the entire house of cards falls apart. Anyone that wanted private insurance would be essentially paying twice. As it is Obama care is unsustainable. The people that would be most likely to use a "singlepayer" system would be the very poor and they certianly aren't going to pay for it.

 

You are kind of missing the point of "single payer". It would look like a 10% - 15% tax increase in every tax bracket and you receive Major Medical with your birth certificate. You could by even more if you wanted, (think Medicare supplement), and there would still be any number of doctors that would work outside the system in private practice if you didn't like the public program doctors or wanted elective procedures. At least that's the way it works in the 140 or so countries that have it already.

Most of the doctors we know, (wife has spent 30 years in healthcare), would love to see single payer. It would simplify their lives by an order of magnitude. No more 16 different forms for different insurance companies. No more having to check what medicine or which procedure is approved by your plan. And probably along with it, their outrageous malpractice insurance would be reduced or disappear, (government protection).

The insurance companies will probably never let it happen, but I'd vote for in a drop dead second.

 

How about people get off their lazy ass and quit living off the government and get it themselves.

 

Ya, tell that to a cancer patient that can't work off their medical bills because they are sick from chemotherapy. This is just a completely (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*) answer to people who are truly struggling for their lives.

 

You would take care of yourself, if cancer was in your "ass"? (I seriously doubt you'd be able to.)

 

LOL!! You beat me to it.

 

Republicans do want a single payer/public option system. That is why the republican created the individual mandate, as an alternative to the single payer system that democrats origanally had as part of Obamacare.

The problem is that once republicans got their way and the public option was thrown out, they decided to, as usual, blame the mandate on Obama and, as usualy, their moronic hick followers ate it up.

I would dare say that 99% of republican voters actually believe that the mandate was written into Obamacare from the beginning and don't even realize that it was the republicans who create it.

 

People struggle because of dumb decisions they've made in their life. Its not the governments responsibility to make sure they don't do stupid things.

 

We haven't pinpointed exactly what causes cancer yet. Scientists are still coming out with new information about it and it's not an easily avoidable condition. To blame it purely on "dumb decisions" is not only insensitive but downright simple minded.

 

Indeed, you are correct.

 

Not only that, but what about people that are born with potentially fatal medical conditions that stick with them for life? They haven't even had a chance to make any dumb decisions. This conservative attitude of "I'm healthy so (*)(*)(*)(*) you" really gets on my nerves.

 

The cancer is not dumb, that wasn't my point. Not having insurance to deal with it is.

 

I will give you that one and I believe we should have coverage for them. Also any young person who's been in a debilitating accident that prevents them from attaining equality in life. This 30 year old guy who doesn't have insurance because he didn't save money for it or work to improve himself to get a job that offers it should be out of luck.

 

If they can't work to pay the premiums/co-pays that let them keep the insurance because they are sick from chemotherapy, that doesn't really make a difference does it?

 

Glad we agree on some things at least.

 

You can't lose your insurance if you have it before you get sick.

 

Except then if someone wants private insurance they will still have to pay for it. So they get hit twice. I am all for streamlining the process but the fact is that we are the best healthcare providers in the world. The US is responsible for over half the advances in medical science and remember that we are only 5% of the world's population. The last thing we need to do is emulate other countries because they are stagnant and are not nearly as adaptable as we are. Frankly I would just be more comfortable if the government just cut a check to poor people and let them pick their own insurance. Basically it would be school choice but for kids.

Another problem with singlepayer is that it is one size fits all. That is extremely inefficient and wasteful. Someone in their twenties in good health does not need the same kind of insurance that someone in their 70s does.