ObamaCare is two main things- a massive Medicaid expansion and subsidies to buy private health insurance. Sure there are a bunch of taxes and rules trying to prevent charging market rates, but at the end of the day, it is really the Medicaid expansion that got people "insurance". And as Leash outlines, insurance is a complete misnomer with health insurance. It is quite simply a dollar trading scheme.

Medicaid is completely broken, and ObamaCare made the problem worse. It underpays providers on the backs of the private healthcare system. That is why many doctors do not accept new Medicaid patients. The healthcare system is going to collapse under its own weight. It is consuming about 20% of GDP, and by all accounts, it produces poor outcomes.

I don't think the GOP House bill will solve the underlying cost drivers. It will help the private market in small measure. I like the Medicaid block grants. But frankly our health system is unfixable at this point. People are used to over consuming healthcare. It is no different than the obesity epidemic.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I wouldn't say everyone. Tea Partiers and Libertarians believe that healthcare is a commodity like any other. Practically they may be correct, but if you say that you're seen as heartless.

But you're correct in that healthcare is now seen by most as a right. And most of us would agree that we shouldn't let people die in the street. But to say that a guy with more money shouldn't be able to purchase superior care pretty much goes against the entire basis of the American economy.

I think we would have been better served ten years ago to simply address those who didn't have healthcare rather than this massive take over of 1/6 of the economy by the government. And now, there are obviously problems with Obamacare, but we should be addressing them as simply as possibly rather than this Republican gambit that just really come off as, "Fuck Obama!"

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Yet it passed the House....

Health care cannot be a "right" anymore than cheeseburgers from McDonald's are a "right." We should provide health care to everyone, IMO, but that doesn't make it a right.

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Whoa whoa whoa

I would assume your health care insurance is BCBSIL?

Mine is, and everytime I call a doctor for my kids, my wife or myself, their 1st question seems to be: What insurance? A lot of health insurance pays like shit, and a ton of doctors discriminate.

Huh?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Most large corporations, like mine, are self insured. Our plan is administered by United Health. Network access has never been an issue/

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Healthcare should be a "right" for every child in this country. Full Stop. There is no single debate to the contrary.

With the expectation the Senate version will look nothing like the legislation passed yesterday. Simply an activity over accomplishment vote.

What's hard to understand?

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I agree we should provide healthcare to everyone...the question is how much healthcare is someone entitled to. The current system, as you and Dennis point out, creates an extreme over-consumption of healthcare. It also results in an over-compensation to doctors and other providers. Comparing the health care systems/costs/mortality of rest of the world to us is not useful, because the rest of the world benefits from our pharma innovation, the rest of the world pays their health care providers much less, and the rest of the world doesn't have nearly the poor diets and lack of exercise as Americans.

The rising costs can be attributed to the influx of "free money" similar to the rising costs of higher education. The more money that is thrown to people in the form of student loans, subsidies, or "insurance" doesn't ultimately help...all it does is encourage the providers to jack up prices.

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Well said. It is disturbing that we spend twice as much as our GDP on health care than any other country. And you outlined several of the key reasons.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Have you used it for mental health care? Find a primary care doctor?

Your first sentence sums up what I was trying to say quite nicely.

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I used mine for a therapist when my dad got real sick. Worked beautifully.

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When the product is the end result of the labor of someone else, it is not a right.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

This too.

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Then elect politicians that make it so. It's a perfectly reasonable request. If you go down that road, please design a system that functions well and is paid for. We already can't meet our pension obligations, fix our roads, pay our debts, and properly educate our kids.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Let me say this...

I am not saying you can not use it for mental health services. For let's say the better doctors/therapists, UnitedHealthcare is not gonna work.

Tackling the cost structure would be the best way to improve health care. I'd find ways to increase competition to lower prices.

I'd cut back the FDA as they basically serve to turn pharmaceutical companies into monopolies during their patent period. Notice how quickly costs fall once the generics come to market. The company that produced epipens could only raise prices because the FDA approval process for a generic would take years and cost millions so they had government granted monopolies. Open up the markets, let foreign drug makers sell here (Canada for example) and prices will come down via competition.

We also need to institute tort reform and get the ambulance chasers out of the way. They are helping to drive up costs.

You can fix the costs of health care by removing government hurdles that create the monopolies and drive up costs. My $3600 a month Humira (I pay $5 thanks to Cigna) would cost a fraction of that price if Abbvie didn't have a monopoly on the chemical formula. That's the government's fault since no one can pop in and compete with it.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

That's a pretty obtuse angle. I'm pretty sure you know what I mean. If a child in a family that lives below the poverty line has cancer, they should have the "right" to see the best doctors in the world. Alos just not labor(doctor services), but the best chemo drugs available as well. They have the "right" to get those, no questions asked. The same quality of care that millionaires get. You can play the "pick yourself's up by the bootstraps and earn it" card for adults, but not with kids.

Well, you're getting a bit personal on the mental health thing. Again, access has never been a problem for a wide variety of doctor types. The only place I recall UHC having network access issues is with certain hospital groups.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Dennis mentioned diabetes, and that is going to tank our healthcare system in the very near future. There are projections of more than 100 million people with diabetes in this country in the next 20 years. The funny thing is that Republicans not only hated the healthcare plan they also hated Michele Obama's healthy eating in schools program.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

HMO vs PPO


If I am gonna pay for a PPO, I will use who I want.

Great news for Big Pharma projections.

Ruff, real Republicans do not want the Federal Government trying to solve every problem.

But Republicans in general hated anything the Obamas did. I thought her initiative was great.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Isn't this against Capitalism?

Amending Tort Reform....IDK Yes and No. And by Yes, you might be opening up a can of worms. If a tort happens, you must be made whole.

I'd argue that our laws preventing importation of drugs from Canada (and other countries) are against Capitalism. Notice how when the Senate voted on it Rand Paul was fully in favor of importing drugs. Anything that increases competition and prevents government created monopolies is pro-free market in my book.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

A more realistic goal would be to try and move/gain residency in a country that has a higher living standard vs the United State and just let his country fall into the abyss of shit and eventual revolution.