Comments on: What Do We Owe Each Other? http://blogs.kqed.org/healthyideas/2009/05/20/what-do-we-owe-each-other/ Californians Weigh In on Health Care Reform Tue, 30 Aug 2011 02:57:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Marian Mulkey http://blogs.kqed.org/healthyideas/2009/05/20/what-do-we-owe-each-other/comment-page-1/#comment-75 Marian Mulkey Thu, 21 May 2009 23:01:01 +0000 http://blogs.kqed.org/healthyideas/?p=195#comment-75 I respect the opinions of the student I mentioned, Micsca, and RL. Two thoughts in response. To Micsca: many medical needs, unlike caloric intake or housing requirements, have an element of randomness. Different people need different levels of care, at different points in their lives. To me, that argues for pooling risk and sharing costs in a way that is not solely attached to employment. To RL: I'd be happy to see a serious debate about the role of profits and administrative overhead in health care, and have little doubt it would uncover ways ito constructively reduce costs. But that alone won't make health spending trends sustainable for either the public or private sector (nor will it bring the quality of US care up to the level that most of us aspire to.) My own view -- which, according to that "Just Coverage" project I mentioned, is shared by many but by no means all people -- is that we do share responsibility for financing some, but by no means all, health care services. I respect the opinions of the student I mentioned, Micsca, and RL. Two thoughts in response. To Micsca: many medical needs, unlike caloric intake or housing requirements, have an element of randomness. Different people need different levels of care, at different points in their lives. To me, that argues for pooling risk and sharing costs in a way that is not solely attached to employment. To RL: I’d be happy to see a serious debate about the role of profits and administrative overhead in health care, and have little doubt it would uncover ways ito constructively reduce costs. But that alone won’t make health spending trends sustainable for either the public or private sector (nor will it bring the quality of US care up to the level that most of us aspire to.) My own view — which, according to that “Just Coverage” project I mentioned, is shared by many but by no means all people — is that we do share responsibility for financing some, but by no means all, health care services.
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]]> By: RL http://blogs.kqed.org/healthyideas/2009/05/20/what-do-we-owe-each-other/comment-page-1/#comment-73 RL Thu, 21 May 2009 20:26:00 +0000 http://blogs.kqed.org/healthyideas/?p=195#comment-73 1. If we want to talk about big government and subsidies, food is the perfect place to start. How many billions do we pay to the agricultural industry to keep our markets flooded with cheap corn based products? 2.The real problem here is not the government, but insurance and drug companies that are pulling in huge profits at the expense of people's health. 3. United States’ ranks 46th in life expectancy and 42nd in infant mortality among 192 nations. Guess who is in front of us? Japan, Norway, Sweden, Canada, and the UK...just a couple nations that have chosen to prioritize the health of all over the profits of a few. 1. If we want to talk about big government and subsidies, food is the perfect place to start. How many billions do we pay to the agricultural industry to keep our markets flooded with cheap corn based products?

2.The real problem here is not the government, but insurance and drug companies that are pulling in huge profits at the expense of people’s health.

3. United States’ ranks 46th in life expectancy and 42nd in infant mortality among 192 nations. Guess who is in front of us? Japan, Norway, Sweden, Canada, and the UK…just a couple nations that have chosen to prioritize the health of all over the profits of a few.

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]]> By: micsca http://blogs.kqed.org/healthyideas/2009/05/20/what-do-we-owe-each-other/comment-page-1/#comment-69 micsca Thu, 21 May 2009 00:17:54 +0000 http://blogs.kqed.org/healthyideas/?p=195#comment-69 So, you don't want to live in a world where people actually have to pay for the health care they receive. That leaves the question, "who will pay?" Of course, the answer is taxpayers. Who will decide what is covered and what is not? Government bureaucrats. Socialized medicine doesn't work well in ANY country that it is tried. Why do you think it would work here? So we should detroy our healthcare system because you want to live in a world where government forces citizens to pay for others healthcare, where the government will decide what care you can get, and where the health care system will eventually bankrupt the country. Oh, and I'm sure because you have an MHP and MPP after your name, you're smarter than everyone else and can solve all those problems. Hog wash. It's because of people like you that we have the problems today. Half of our healthcare system today is paid for by government, which is the root cause of most of the problems with our system. Where is your evidence that socialism works? Why aren't you proposing we socialize food distribution? Surely that is more important than health care. You die without food. Yet there is not a single government office or offial that oversees food distribution in the country. There is no garantee that there will be any food in grocery stores tomorrow. Grocery stores turn over their inventory within 24-48 hours. Yet you can go to any city day and night and find an abundance of cheap food. It is no coincidance that healthcare of which government pays 50% of, and education which government pays 90% of, are the two areas in the economy where costs rise faster than overall inflation rate. Perhaps government IS the problem. That high schol kid seems to understand more about economics than you do. So, you don’t want to live in a world where people actually have to pay for the health care they receive. That leaves the question, “who will pay?” Of course, the answer is taxpayers. Who will decide what is covered and what is not? Government bureaucrats. Socialized medicine doesn’t work well in ANY country that it is tried. Why do you think it would work here?
So we should detroy our healthcare system because you want to live in a world where government forces citizens to pay for others healthcare, where the government will decide what care you can get, and where the health care system will eventually bankrupt the country. Oh, and I’m sure because you have an MHP and MPP after your name, you’re smarter than everyone else and can solve all those problems. Hog wash. It’s because of people like you that we have the problems today. Half of our healthcare system today is paid for by government, which is the root cause of most of the problems with our system. Where is your evidence that socialism works? Why aren’t you proposing we socialize food distribution? Surely that is more important than health care. You die without food. Yet there is not a single government office or offial that oversees food distribution in the country. There is no garantee that there will be any food in grocery stores tomorrow. Grocery stores turn over their inventory within 24-48 hours. Yet you can go to any city day and night and find an abundance of cheap food. It is no coincidance that healthcare of which government pays 50% of, and education which government pays 90% of, are the two areas in the economy where costs rise faster than overall inflation rate. Perhaps government IS the problem. That high schol kid seems to understand more about economics than you do.
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