Hot Topic - Universal Healthcare
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| Tue, 07-14-2009 - 1:59pm |
This may be a hot topic and cause a bit of controversy, but I am throwing it out there.
I understand that Universal Healthcare is a hot button issue in the US and Obama has pledged an overhaul of the system. One option is taxing healthcare benefits to pay for it. Another is to eliminate tax breaks for the $250k + crowd.
Where do you stand? Do you think its a good idea or bad idea? Would this save you money in the long run? If Universal Healthcare had been available 10 years ago, would your debt situation be different now (for better or for worse?)
My bias is that I'm from Canada where we have a truly Universal Healthcare Plan meaning the government is responsible for providing essential services and we are not allowed to purchase private insurance to cover these essential services (i.e. if the wait was too long we go to the US and our insurance pays). Contrary to popular belief, private healthcare providers ARE allowed to operate in Canada, but they cannot bill the public system. Essentially, the only people who use them are the wealthy. Prescription drugs are covered on a province by province basis, and generally only for the elderly, those on social assistance and those with catastrophic drug costs. (I'm not saying this is the way to go, but I see the media is using Canada as a comparator and I don't think its appropriate based on what Obama wants to do, I think Eurpoe is more appropriate)
In Europe, most of the plans are a public/ private mix (you have to

I have mixed feelings about the plan.
Norma
"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus
In principal I am for Universal Healthcare as I believe certain things, such as basic education and healthcare, should not be denied based on a person's financial state.
Basically the situation with waiting times for surgeries and other important medical procedures is so bad here that the government has resorted to farming out contracts to the private hospitals.
Given what I've seen here, I think that universal healthcare is a great idea in principle, but here at least, it doesn't really work as well as it could.
To give you all a sense of the issues I will throw out some numbers and hopefully some descriptions as well.
Right now our employers pay the bulk of healthcare costs as part of compensation.
The tax rate in the US is actually very low compared to other western developed countries. No, I am not eligible for most tax credits and can only deduct a very small portion of the interest on my student loans, but for what I am making (low six-figures), and as a single person, I would be paying at least 50% on taxes in any one of the Scandinavian countries. I maintain I am willing to pay more taxes. What I dislike is not paying more (and making the country a healthier place), but how efficient my money will be spent.
At the same time, medical costs in the US is artificially high for a variety of reasons, such as huge awards on malpractice lawsuits that compensate beyond the actual physical harm (such as millions for "emotional trauma"), and ironically, the large number of uninsured people. Hospitals normally only recover 50 to 85 cents to the dollar, and the uninsured used the emergency room as the primary care, so you, with a good job and insurance, are being charged more to make up for their loss. In a way we are already paying for everyone. By having a more organized and more accessible system, we may actually save money. It is more cost-effective to provide preventive care than having people wait till they are really sick to show up at the emergency room, as is now. For example, a series of three hepatitis B shots costs less than $200 total, but after years of chronic inflammation a patient may need a liver transplant that costs $200,000 or more.
We also need to realize that not everyone needs to have your kind of schooling. In fact, it would be a nightmare if everyone is like you and with nobody to empty dumpsters, clean offices, drive buses, fix plumbing problems, etc. There are people with limited education, work hard, and contribute to society but may not be able to afford expensive insurance plans. I have no problem seeing my money go that direction provided they try their best to keep themselves healthy.
I don't believe illegal immigrants should receive any social benefits, and that includes medical. The word illegal means just that, illegal. But there is no free lunch. If they are here, we need to take care of them to a certain extend. That costs money. If we kick them out, then we will pay more for many things, such as produce and meat as many of them work at farms and slaughter plants at low wages with no benefits and often unsafe conditions.
Perhaps the real reason is you marketing people are too good in triggering the primal greed response and people want too much. It is not sustainable. Perhaps we all need to learn to live with less.
While I agree healthcare in the United States needs to be made more reasonably affordable, needs an overhaul in the way things are done -- I am against Obama's healthcare plan.
You can check out www.whitehouse.gov and look under issues. That will give you an idea of what the president's ideas are. I cannot seem to find the actual bill yet, but I am sure it is online somewhere.
I personally am not sure I am for universal health care. What I would like is for it to be more affordable overall. I am lucky to have good health care coverage for my dh, myself, my college age dd and for my ds. Due to a change in our state law, I was able to put my ds back on my insurance even though his 22 and no longer a student. He can be covered until he is 25. This saves him from having to get his own through his work. With his two chronic health conditions, this is wonderful to me.