Quote:
Originally Posted by habs1009
Is the healthcare becoming like the Canadian one?
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No, it's not.
In fact, what is being proposed is most like everyone getting the same options that workers in the federal government do. They can choose from dozens of different plans.
The biggest point of contention is the addition of a public plan (Which is not the same thing as single payer). The primary reason for the addition of a public plan is to force competition between insurance companies, who currently compete very little directly with each other.
Single Payer isn't even being seriously discussed, which is sad, because that is the simplest way to reduce medical spending. Currently 20 to 30% of all money spent is ate up by insurance and hospitals and doctors filling out paperwork and filing paperwork with all the various insurance agencies. In countries with universal healthcare, that number is 3-10% which would be a massive reduction. To give an idea of that reduction, tort reform would reduce medicial spending by about 1/2 of 1%.
I highly recommend checking out articles available on politifact.org and factcheck.org (both non partisan sites) on the accuracy of claims being bandied about, most of which are outright false.
We are the only industrilized nation in the world without universal health care. We do not have the best average health care in the world, or even close. In virtually every catagory we lag behind nations like Japan and France. We spend more per person than any other nation in the world for less effect.
Something has to be done. I don't like most of the choices but at least some people are trying instead of trying to scare seniors and fearmonger. Personally, I'd love the French system (often considered the best in the world, with Public insurance single payer system, but the medical profession is all private) but that won't happen. In that case I'd like a public option, because otherwise, the insurance companies will get to screw us even more than they already do. I don't have much hope however, as polls have already shown how gullible the majority of the American population is regarding this. We are so easy to fearmonger it's not even funny. Oh, and I'd like pre-existing conditions removed (most insurance companies wield that like a mace, knocking people off the roles when they need insurance the most). Sorry, rambling on, but that's my 2 cents.
EDIT: Here is a great article about healthcare from Business Week concerning our healthcare system vs. France's.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...8/b4042070.htm