America, Want Freedom of Choice? Try Public Healthcare Like Canada

[Tom Joad]

This is what we should have here.

It is so obvious.


http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/11/27-4


America, Want Freedom of Choice? Try Public Healthcare Like Canada
Our system ensures the right to care without considering ability to pay or profit margins. No one gets betweens us and our doctors
by Adrienne Silnicki

Administrative costs are about 16.7% of health spending under Canada's public system, compared to 31% in the US. Canadians are following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act with the hope that it will lead to better healthcare for all Americans. But that hope is tempered by feelings of disappointment and confusion that America still has not progressed to a single-payer universal healthcare system.

For Canadians, the value of public healthcare is self-evident.

We spend roughly 60% of what the United States does on healthcare (pdf), and manage to cover everyone (10.6% of GDP in Canada vs. 17% in the US). In a public system, spending less does not mean worse healthcare outcomes. Measured by life expectancy, infant mortality, cancer survival rates and many other measures, Canadians enjoy the same or better levels of care than Americans. Public healthcare costs less, delivers more and is there for everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.

Continued

[donquixote99]

16% vs 31% in admin costs? The difference is 15%. That's 15% of a very big number. In fact it is (figure figure) something like $435 Billion this year. So, he people getting $435 Billion do not want their 15% to go away.

$435 Billion a year swings considerable weight.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

16% vs 31% in admin costs? The difference is 15%. That's 15% of a very big number. In fact it is (figure figure) something like $435 Billion this year. So, he people getting $435 Billion do not want their 15% to go away.

$435 Billion a year swings considerable weight.

Yep, to find out who is behind the opposition to real Healthcare reform all you have to do is "Follow the money".

[Tom Joad]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-pol...eats-obamacare

Dear America:

Costly complexity is baked into Obamacare. No health insurance system is without problems but Canadian style single-payer full Medicare for all is simple, affordable, comprehensive and universal.

In the early 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson enrolled 20 million elderly Americans into Medicare in six months. There were no websites. They did it with index cards!

Below please find 21 Ways the Canadian Health Care System is Better than Obamacare.

Repeal Obamacare and replace it with the much more efficient single-payer, everybody in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital.

Love, Canada

Number 21:
In Canada, everyone is covered automatically at birth – everybody in, nobody out.

In the United States, under Obamacare, 31 million Americans will still be uninsured by 2023 and millions more will remain underinsured.

Number 20:
In Canada, the health system is designed to put people, not profits, first.

In the United States, Obamacare will do little to curb insurance industry profits and will actually enhance insurance industry profits.

Number 19:
In Canada, coverage is not tied to a job or dependent on your income – rich and poor are in the same system, the best guaranty of quality.

In the United States, under Obamacare, much still depends on your job or income. Lose your job or lose your income, and you might lose your existing health insurance or have to settle for lesser coverage.

Number 18:
In Canada, health care coverage stays with you for your entire life.

In the United States, under Obamacare, for tens of millions of Americans, health care coverage stays with you for as long as you can afford your share.

Number 17:
In Canada, you can freely choose your doctors and hospitals and keep them. There are no lists of “in-network” vendors and no extra hidden charges for going “out of network.”

In the United States, under Obamacare, the in-network list of places where you can get treated is shrinking – thus restricting freedom of choice – and if you want to go out of network, you pay for it.

Continued

[mpholland]

I'm game...now convince the money people that actually make these decisions.

[icenine]

It took several years to get Medicare off the ground...
in fact they were sending people to door to door in 1966 to get people to sign up...it is an exaggeration to say the Medicare was set up quickly.


Single payer yes....but you have to realize taxes would have to go up OR cuts made elsewhere in the government.
You cannot do single payer for free. If the decision was to cut back way on defense you would most likely have a huge loss of jobs.

You may have to pay the insurance companies for Obamacare but under single payer....a vast increase in Medicare for all....you would still have to pay for it in some fashion.

If the Republicans like Rand Paul were really smart they would champion single payer throught the lens of libetartianism and tone it down on some of the crazy stuff they believe in.

[mpholland]

Originally Posted by icenine

It took several years to get Medicare off the ground...
in fact they were sending people to door to door in 1966 to get people to sign up...it is an exaggeration to say the Medicare was set up quickly.


Single payer yes....but you have to realize taxes would have to go up OR cuts made elsewhere in the government.
You cannot do single payer for free. If the decision was to cut back way on defense you would most likely have a huge loss of jobs.

You may have to pay the insurance companies for Obamacare but under single payer....a vast increase in Medicare for all....you would still have to pay for it in some fashion.

If the Republicans like Rand Paul were really smart they would champion single payer throught the lens of libetartianism and tone it down on some of the crazy stuff they believe in.

I think if it was integrated into the Medicare system, it could probably be done for less than the combination the average worker pays for his medicare taxes and his insurance premiums (including employer payments on his behalf).

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by icenine

It took several years to get Medicare off the ground...
in fact they were sending people to door to door in 1966 to get people to sign up...it is an exaggeration to say the Medicare was set up quickly.

I wouldn't know. I was only 19 in 1966, But today virtually everyone signs up. In fact most people are counting the days until they are eligible.

About the only people I hear about that don't sign up are people like Mitt Romney who is worth $250 million bucks which is about what you need to self insure these days. And that might not even be enough. I mean the Dude that played Superman went bankrupt due to medical bills.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if even Mitt has signed up now that the campaign is over.

Originally Posted by icenine

Single payer yes....but you have to realize taxes would have to go up OR cuts made elsewhere in the government.
You cannot do single payer for free. If the decision was to cut back way on defense you would most likely have a huge loss of jobs.

Of course taxes would have to go up, but with the average family policy costing $16,351 per year, http://kff.org/private-insurance/rep...alth-benefits/ ,

we are already paying for it. I'm on Medicare, but I'm still paying about $10,000 a year out of pocket for Medical Insurance to cover my wife who isn't eligible yet and to supplement what Medicare doesn't cover for me. That's $10,000 a year that I would gladly pay as additional taxes to the government if we could go to the Canadian system.

[icenine]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

I wouldn't know. I was only 19 in 1966, But today virtually everyone signs up. In fact most people are counting the days until they are eligible.



Of course taxes would have to go up, but with the average family policy costing $16,351 per year, http://kff.org/private-insurance/rep...alth-benefits/ ,

we are already paying for it. I'm on Medicare, but I'm still paying about $10,000 a year out of pocket for Medical Insurance to cover my wife who isn't eligible yet and to supplement what Medicare doesn't cover for me. That's $10,000 a year that I would gladly pay as additional taxes to the government if we could go to the Canadian system.

in 1966 not everyone signed up immediately is my point....

I am sorry you have to pay so much and under single payer you may not have to pay such an amount....

I am just saying basic income tax rates would have to rise accordingly. Plus under national health millions of people who would normally not go to the doctor will certainly start going more and more.....that would drive up costs also.

You are basically nationalizing the US health care system. I am not one of these anti-tax false deficit guys who think we are running out of money...but we would have to pay for this somehow.

doctors and hospitals will be getting paid by uncle sam for almost everything. In the old days I think doctors were afraid of this but not anymore considering how bad the private insurance system is

or was before Obamacare
time will tell

[icenine]

I mean the GOP will be up in arms if we had to increase taxes or cut defense to pay for single payer. I think the individual effective rate for the average UK citizen is around 30%...anyone from England here?

I know I did not pay that much in federal taxes last year.