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Congress on the brink of repealing Obamacare

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,335
Location
Southern California
@JayS - Medicare is a single payer health plan and it is great. My parents had good care under it. If a doctor ordered tests, they were done without a pencil pusher questioning whether they were necessary.

I've been on Medicare (due to SSDI disability) for 15 years. I've seen several good doctors under Medicare. I had extensive testing done by Dr. Kaufman at OMI, 95% of which was paid for by Medicare.

Having said all that, I have not been helped much by these doctors, because no one knows what to do about ME/CFS. Although I did have Nutreval testing done which helped with a couple of important nutritional deficiencies I was unaware of, which was paid for by Medicare.

There are no pre-existing condition exclusions under Medicare. I'm on straight Medicare, no insurance company involved, and it's great. And many doctors take straight Medicare though a majority of whom I consider to be knowledgeable doctors do not take the Medicare Advantage (HMO) plans, which are like HMOs everywhere.

So single-payer can work very well. Also the administrative costs of Medicare are something like 3% compared 30% or so for insurance companies. I really don't think health care should be a profit-making enterprise. (just like we all have access to the fire department regardless of our income)
 

Kenny Banya

Senior Member
Messages
356
Location
Australia
More evidence of how the American health care system is stuffed.
It truly is bizarre how millions of Americans vote against their own self interest

Martin Shkreli, who attracted the nickname "Pharma Bro" and accusations of price gouging, is on trial in the US this week.

But his case has little to do with the actions that won him notoriety.

Prosecutors allege he committed fraud. They say he lied to investors and misused money to cover losses at different companies.

But the much-hated drug price rise he enacted as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals was legal - and looks likely to remain that way, despite a push in the US for sweeping healthcare changes.

Washington debate
Mr Shkreli became a symbol of pharmaceutical greed in 2015 when his firm raised the price of Daraprim, a treatment for parasite infection that had been around for more than 60 years, from $13.50 a tablet to $750 (£584).

The move drew widespread criticism, including from US President Donald Trump, who called Mr Shkreli 'a spoiled brat' and said the industry was "getting away with murder".

President Trump later told Congress that a goal guiding healthcare reform should be changes to bring down the "artificially high" cost of drugs.

Alarmed at the mounting pressure, several major drug companies earlier this year pledged to limit price increases to less than 10%.

But healthcare shares rallied last week, as Senate and White House proposals for healthcare and prescription drugs came into focus without signs of a crackdown.......
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40358605
 

PennyIA

Senior Member
Messages
728
Location
Iowa
The part that ticks me off the most is that the whole point of having an electoral college was to prevent the popular vote from picking a 'popular' conman. Only, the popular vote picked Hilary and most of the electoral college had their hands tied behind their backs by legislation, and others stuck the party line just because. :-(
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Greed & demonisation.
Pure & simple.
You reap what you sow, America.
While I can list many things I don't like about many countries, including America, I also have to realize that the vast majority of human-centric things I like in the world are from the USA. Some of the biggest downsides in the USA I also see in the UK and ... Australia. The big bads tend to be global. Stupidity and greed have no bounds.

The reason the USA seems to feature so prominently is because its about a quarter of the world economy, although that percentage has probably declined in the last few years, and because it has a free press (though more partisan than it used to be). Its a big obvious target. Other countries have many other problems, and many of the same problems, they are just on a smaller scale.
 

Kenny Banya

Senior Member
Messages
356
Location
Australia
While I can list many things I don't like about many countries, including America, I also have to realize that the vast majority of human-centric things I like in the world are from the USA. Some of the biggest downsides in the USA I also see in the UK and ... Australia. The big bads tend to be global. Stupidity and greed have no bounds.

The reason the USA seems to feature so prominently is because its about a quarter of the world economy, although that percentage has probably declined in the last few years, and because it has a free press (though more partisan than it used to be). Its a big obvious target. Other countries have many other problems, and many of the same problems, they are just on a smaller scale.
I suggest you watch 'Sicko'. America is an utter basket case, self inflicted
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
I suggest you watch 'Sicko'. America is an utter basket case, self inflicted
I am well aware of the pitfalls of the US medical system. The average person used to get better medical care in Cuba just a handful of years ago. Its the medical politics that is the killer, and the huge wealthy "nonprofit" hospitals and clinics, plus price gouging practices from big pharma. This has been exposed again and again.

Let me put it another way. Some of the worst medical care standards in the world are from the USA. However to focus on this ignores that some of the best medical care standards in the world are in the USA.

I prefer Australia's mix of private and public health, but its not perfect either, and nearly always fails if you have ME. I am also aware that I might be biased in this regard. However when I had my broken ankle a few years back I mostly had very good care here. Even the well insured in the USA, but not seriously wealthy, wouldn't get that level of care.

Fully public health care seems to fall victim to excessive bureaucracy, but then private care in the US is dominated by insurers and HMOs. Its still bureaucracy when its not done by government.

A question I asked a few years back, based on an investigative expose, was how can a medium sized Canadian hospital have one clerk to process insurance, and a similar sized hospital in the US has to employ 400 people for the same job? Guess where a lot of the money is going? I proposed that a single standardized reporting system would slash costs. Different insurers, same forms, same codes. Doctors in the US used to lose most of a day every two weeks just doing paperwork. That can be fixed.

As for free health care, it makes money. There have been several US states that ran analyses and decided that the increase in worker productivity would more than pay for the increased health care.

Cost slashing doesn't work if it aggressively slashes income and profit as well.
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Let's please keep this thread on the possible repeal of Obamacare--not on the general state of various countries in the world.