what do you think about universal health care for the united states

[moma7777]

 

[jamrow36]

The insurance industry has way too much money tied up to ever allow that to happen. it wouldn't be bad though.

[masked_brown_guy]

would be cool if it actually happened.

[southernhorizons]

If it was fair for everyone, not based on income, it would be a good idea. But you'll never get a good system in this country, because the insurance companies and drug companies have too much pull in the governemnt, since they are extremely rich. Money talks, especially on that scale! So no real healthcare reform will ever happen, because the only way to get real reform is to take the power away from the insurance and drug companies.

[sgluckadoo]

I think it is just one more thing government has involved itself, which usually turns out badly.

[moma7777]

im a american citizen, but live in canada. I also live in the province that started canada on the universal health care system. It works well, but like someone has said that money talks and so some of our provinces have gone to private insurance.  I think saskatchewan is the only province that still has it. When moving here i was very blown away. that you never got sent a doctors bill, hospital bill, ambulance bill, because the govenorment insurance paid for it. And when you paid for your drugs it was only 2.00 . now we are paying our drugs on a percentage. so if you make 40,000 a year you only 35 percent of your drug

[samrhett2]

Well let me put it this way....If you like how the post office works or you love going to the Department of Motor Vehicles then you will probably like it.

There is already now a shortage of doctors in Florida because many doctors are closing their practices or selling them to hospitals.  A lot of doctors are changing their practices to cosmetic surgery so that they don't have to accept insurance.

As the government takes over the private insurance companies won't be able to compete and the will go out of business.  The government will lower the amount the doctors and hospitals get paid until they can no longer offer superior service.

I hate doctors and hospitals and insurance companies, but putting the government in charge is like hiring Beavis and Butthead to run your healthcare.

[sigmapi1501]

Well let me put it this way....If you like how the post office works or you love going to the Department of Motor Vehicles then you will probably like it.

There is already now a shortage of doctors in Florida because many doctors are closing their practices or selling them to hospitals.  A lot of doctors are changing their practices to cosmetic surgery so that they don't have to accept insurance.

As the government takes over the private insurance companies won't be able to compete and the will go out of business.  The government will lower the amount the doctors and hospitals get paid until they can no longer offer superior service.

I hate doctors and hospitals and insurance companies, but putting the government in charge is like hiring Beavis and Butthead to run your healthcare.

I like the enthusiasm, however the facts aren't there. The post office delivers the mail 6 days a week, snow, sleet, hail. The DMV seems to be working as well. Those statement are just propaganda. 

I am not for government run health care.  I am for heath insurance actually being health insurance.  It has changed. It used to cover a catastrophe, now it has become a currency to pay for heath care. If heath care was used for emergencies only, the premium would be lower and so would regular doctor visits.
You would save money if you didn't go to the doctor and if something terrible happened, you're covered.  America is "addicted" to going to the doctor. Why? There are commercials for medicine.  Not over the counter medicine, medicine you have to ask your doctor for.  The drug companies have placed the idea in many people's head that they need their product.  It has gotten ugly, there is no easy fix.

[Optiwoman]

I don't know that I am for government run health care, but something does need to be done about insurance companies.   It's a business to them, and they are making money hand over fist.    Every year I have patients ask me about their vision coverage when it is time to renew their enrollment, and I sit down with them and go over their premiums, their copays, and what they had done in our office over the last year.  About 70% of the time, we find that their insurance didn't save them any money at all.   

Since insurance companies only pay the medical facility a little more than  1/3 of their usual and customary charges, we have to raise our fee's in order to cover our operating costs.  I give a cash discount to patients who don't have insurance.  I don't have to pay someone to bill the insurance company or wait to be paid.  I still make more money than I would if I billed the insurance company, and the patient can get whatever they want (contacts for example).   

I also dropped my insurance a few years ago.   My monthly premium was $485, and when I went to the doctor, the insurance company only paid them $40 for a physical.   I called the doctor and told them I was thinking about dropping my insurance, and asked if they would take $50 for the physical in the future since it was more than they got from the insurance company.   That way we both win. 

The only problem is if I ever have an emergency - but even hospitals will work with you if you don't have insurance.

I think that the insurance companies need to be reigned in somehow, but I don't have the answers on how to do it.

[Tresbn00]

I don't believe that it will ever come to fruition.  I think that the idea will be tweaked and toyed with and governmentalized till it no longer makes sense.  I also think that it will end up costing those that work(legally) in the United States far more, financially, than the benefits they could ever possibly hope to gain. My wife's insurance is fantastic and she has earned it by working hard at the same company for over thirty years. The management is anticipating a two hundred dollar increase per month if universal health care is brought in to play. We use her insurance. I work at two other companies that I do not have to utilize insurance benefits from.  I think that those companies should have to pay into a pool for my non-use and that the pool be used for uninsured (legal) healthcare needs.

[madeara]

I think something must be done about healthcare.  The US needs universal healthcare.  I hope universal healthcare passes and becomes law.

[Timberlan127]

It sounds good and other countries make it work very well but I don't think politicians here will ever allow it to go through because I'm sure some of them are receiving profits from the health insurance industry.

[BMaston12]

If it was fair for everyone, not based on income, it would be a good idea. But you'll never get a good system in this country, because the insurance companies and drug companies have too much pull in the governemnt, since they are extremely rich. Money talks, especially on that scale! So no real healthcare reform will ever happen, because the only way to get real reform is to take the power away from the insurance and drug companies.

You hit the nail on the head with the BIG Business not wanting to give up their gold mines. I think that universal healthcare would probably bring down the quality of healthcare and would also cause your treatments to be rationed. Right now with Obamacare, that is what the ultimate goal is.Force everyone to pay for insurance in his plan, which sort of makes it universal, because no one has a choice. That is where the plan goes wrong. NO one should be forced to particapate because it is against our constitional rights. Our country was founded on personal rights or he Bill of Rights. Lets not let them be taken away because of our lack of attention to the details.
BMaston12

[vickysue]

I think it sucks. Anything the gov. does gets broken or messed up. Just like ss and medicare. If they had kept their greedy hands ou of it, it wouldn't have problems now. 

[samrhett2]

Well let me put it this way....If you like how the post office works or you love going to the Department of Motor Vehicles then you will probably like it.

There is already now a shortage of doctors in Florida because many doctors are closing their practices or selling them to hospitals.  A lot of doctors are changing their practices to cosmetic surgery so that they don't have to accept insurance.

As the government takes over the private insurance companies won't be able to compete and the will go out of business.  The government will lower the amount the doctors and hospitals get paid until they can no longer offer superior service.

I hate doctors and hospitals and insurance companies, but putting the government in charge is like hiring Beavis and Butthead to run your healthcare.

I like the enthusiasm, however the facts aren't there. The post office delivers the mail 6 days a week, snow, sleet, hail. The DMV seems to be working as well. Those statement are just propaganda. 

I am not for government run health care.  I am for heath insurance actually being health insurance.  It has changed. It used to cover a catastrophe, now it has become a currency to pay for heath care. If heath care was used for emergencies only, the premium would be lower and so would regular doctor visits.
You would save money if you didn't go to the doctor and if something terrible happened, you're covered.  America is "addicted" to going to the doctor. Why? There are commercials for medicine.  Not over the counter medicine, medicine you have to ask your doctor for.  The drug companies have placed the idea in many people's head that they need their product.  It has gotten ugly, there is no easy fix.

I agree with most of what you said, but if you think federal and local governments run things just fine, like the Post Office and the DMV, you must either have very low expectations of service and what you should expect for your tax money or maybe you just love waiting in long, slow lines.  Our tiny town of about 10,000 people had to add 2 privately run postal annex locations out of local businesses.  Our regular post office is so slow and unpleasant to deal with that the people demanded an alternative.  It was a joke.  The government does not reward excellence in employees, therefore the incentive to excel is never there, but the pressure from you fellow workers to "slow down and don't make the rest of us look bad" is there.

They may delivery six days a week in rain, sleet and snow, but I would just be happy if they would delivery one day a week and make sure I get my own mail instead of someone else's.

Regarding healthcare, Here's part of the problem.  If a person goes in to get blood tests and they have medicaid they end up owing nothing and the government reimburses the provider less than $10.  If I go and have the same tests and do not have insurance, they bill me $198 that I have to pay out of my pocket.  I don't think that practice should be legal.