Comments (24) (Please sign in to comment)

1. 

   pirate227 said, about 3 years ago

   “…if it’s the last thing I do.”
2. 

   Kylop said, about 3 years ago

   It brings to mind…..
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STeVTzWelns
3. 

   braindead08 said, about 3 years ago

   I still don’t understand why Republicans/Fox “news” viewers don’t want health care to be improved in this country.
4. 

   ARodney said, about 3 years ago

   Because Obama is the first black president. There is simply no rational argument — small business hiring is up, premium increases are down, health care costs are going down, health coverage for the middle class and poor will be vastly improved, and a new freedom to quit your job if you’ve ever been sick. But this is what we have to destroy the American economy over? Please, if you can’t govern, at least get out of the way.
5. 

   Rockngolfer said, about 3 years ago

   Ten myths, note number 5 especially.
   .
   http://people.howstuffworks.com/10-myths-about-health-care-reform.htm
6. 

   dtroutma said, about 3 years ago

   If the “healthy folks” sign up, as the should for ANY insurance company/organization to succeed, even as flawed as the GOP insisted on making it, as with having to buy private insurance instead of “single payer”, the program isn’t a wreck, but high speed rail compared to our current system.

   
   Looking at my mom’s over-priced drugs purchased without competition in Medicare, the error of Republican “thought” regarding health care is obvious, well, blatantly a ripoff of the taxpayers!
7. 

   Rockngolfer said, about 3 years ago

   I paid for health insurance out of my savings account for over 4 years until it went up to $350 a month.
   Back then if I went to the doctor, I paid a $35 copay and the insurance company paid about $145.
   When I told the doctor I just needed my prescription refilled last week, I was told he would charge $50 or $60 since I don’t have insurance anymore.
   We have been ripped off for many years.
8. 

   motivemagus said, about 3 years ago

   @Rockngolfer

   Nice summary article, Rock.
   And it is particularly ironic in that this is a Republican plan from first to last, operated by private insurance companies at a profit. If we went to something more sensible, we could wipe out HUGE administrative costs above and beyond of cost-savings from cutting out the middleman.
9. 

   Jim Guess said, about 3 years ago

   @motivemagus

   “It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication, and a government bureaucracy to administer it.”
   —Thomas Sowell
10. 

    Mr. Ngn33r said, about 3 years ago

    Sowell is a self-declared Libertarian…so this opinion is not surprising.
11. 

    Rockngolfer said, about 3 years ago

    @motivemagus

    Now administration costs can’t be more than 20%. But when you consider we are overcharged anyway they still make huge profits.
12. 

    braindead08 said, about 3 years ago

    Does that mean that you don’t want health care to be improved, or you don’t think it’s possible?
    -
    Is it like Mitch McConnell said, the greatest health care system in the world and needs no improvement?
13. 

    Hawthorne said, about 3 years ago

    @Rockngolfer

    “When I told the doctor I just needed my prescription refilled last week, I was told he would charge $50 or $60 since I don’t have insurance anymore.”

    I’d say you did pretty well, on the whole. When I was uninsured, and paid for my doctor’s visit OOP, it was closer to $150. Plus the prescription. The co-pay, when I was insured, was $20, if memory serves.

    I qualify for Medicare this year, but the program is basically extortional (if you don’t sign up now, you WILL pay penalties later), and wlll strip us. Not sure what we’ll be eating, but my various health conditions might be dealt with.

    Yeah, that was a vote of less than perfect confidence, because my system is hostile to chemical drugs. It will be interesting, but all we can really say about it is that I at least, have had some experience living in destitution in this culture We may survive.
14. 

    Uncle Joe said, about 3 years ago

    @Hawthorne

    I think the point was that Rockngolfer’s doctor got ~ $170 for something he was willing to do for $50. The question is, would this doctor be willing to do this across the board, or was he being nice to a long term patient?
    
    I would welcome conservatives exploring the idea of a system where people pay a reduced fee for routine care from their doctors & insurance is only there for catastrophic care.
    
    I have no idea if it would fly, but it seems like a reasonable way to bring the market forces that conservatives claim to love into the picture.
    
    My suspicion is that doctors would not accept such a steep ‘cash discount’ on a widespread basis.
15. 

    I Play One On TV said, about 3 years ago

    @Jim Guess

    As noted in another thread, Mr. Sowell conveniently leaves out the cost of an insurance bureaucracy to administer the former. When you compare apples to apples, his argument falls to the ground.
16. Load the rest of the comments (9).