Re: Worries about Clinton/socialized medicine? Archived Message
Posted by Doc B on November 6, 2007, 7:50 pm, in reply to "Re: Worries about Clinton/socialized medicine?"
Yes I think you make good points which I pretty much agree with. My post was more concerning what I believe WILL happen under a Hillary-esque health plan rather than what I think we SHOULD do. As far as the "mandatory" argument I think you could make that case about essentially any law. You will only be punished if you get caught. That would apply to health insurance, car insurance, theft, murder, etc. As far as denial of care at the ER door, I doubt we would have it either - so that's no different than things are now. I don't believe we should deny such care though so that's not really my point of contention with such a system. If I gave the impression of being a socialist then you may have misunderstood me - although I'm not a laissez-faire capitalist by any stretch. I think the idea of people dying due to not having enough money is wrong, but I don't think that socialized insurance is the proper solution. What we should do IMO is abolish medicare and let private (well regulated) insurance companies compete. At the same time, I would offer a combination of tax deductions and tax credits to insure availability of care. Realistically though, that won't happen anytime soon (or perhaps never). So another more immediate tactic is to lobby for medicare reform. A major reason why medicare payments are so low isn't because of it being "socialized" per se, but because the sustainable growth rate it uses is derived from the nation's GDP (which is largely irrelevant to the costs of providing care). In fact there will be a 10% decrease in anesthesia reimbursement in 2008 in accordance with the SGR if nothing is done to stop it. This is nothing new though being that it happens every year and has always been amended at the last moment to prevent such absurd cuts from taking effect. Last year, I believe President Bush signed the fix into law within two weeks of the end of the year. I want to emphasize that it is EXTREMELY important for anyone in the field or going into it to be politically active and stand up for change to the SGR.
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