This problem began during WW II when employers because wages were frozen offered health care as an incentive. The IRS later declared these costs not taxable to the employee; hence, health care became employer based and government subsidized. Medicare and Medcaid began in 1965. The former was for the elderly and the latter for the poor. Demand and costs have exploded in both these programs. For example, in Ohio Medicaid expenses now exceed monies spent on K1-12 education. In Florida Medicaid costs have gone up, on the average, 13% a year; Medicaid in Florida now represents one-quarter of the state budget. Medicare in 2003 as now constituted will cost 25 percent of federal income-tax revenues. The unfunded liability for the next 75 years is 63 trillion dollars--more than five times the current GDP. As seen by the Urban Institute Medicare suffers from the four I’s:”inadequate, inefficient, inequitable and insolvent.”, Dr. Gratzer’s three broad remedies are: (1) Health care must be made portable; (2) We need to re-think how we provide elderly health care; (3) And, we must do this in a way that maintains and extends innovation in drugs and health care devices.
"...The basic problem with US health care is payment is divorced from care. Americans do not directly pay for the health care they receive.
The Clintons and the N.Y. times, liars with an agenda.
Mitt Romney is a big supporter of 100% health coverage. The for-profit companies like HCA won’t make a profit until it becomes a reality. Romney has already implemented it in Mass and supports a nationwide system like Hillary’s.
This isn't entirely true. Some of us have HSA's. If everyone used HSA's it would go a long way towards fixing what is wrong.
Two other things that need to be done to make health care affordable is tort reform and insurance reform.
It's really no more complicated than that.
One thing is for sure, if you think health care is expensive now, wait until it's "free"....
This is still going to be a problem politically for the GOP. Young parents struggling with the cost of family health insurance are going to be easy targets for the mommy party. They aren’t going to much care for GOP’ers preaching federalism and personal responsibility and just saying no. Especially if the candidate looks like Grandpa on Medicare. Sorry, I wish it were otherwise but we’ve been down this road before and I think the drumbeats are louder this time as the costs are even higher. I believe moderates and independents are going to swing toward SOME sort of health care program this time and rationalize that the warts can be cleaned up later.
1) Tort reform to prevent lawyers from driving up the Doc’s insurance premiums.
2) Prevent administrators from determining what is covered treatment. If the Doc says it’s necessary that’s all that matters.
Can anyone explain exactly what that means? And who are the wealthy?
I found myself stunned to see and hear Joe Scarborough kissing Hillary Clinton’s ass this morning, basically asking her multiple times for forgiveness for ‘the 1990’s’.
If anyone wondered why MSNBC hired Joe Scarborough to replace Don Imus, you got your answer this morning.
Whats amusing was his reference ‘I’m going to get creamed by the bloggers for this’....which came across pretty much the same way a teenager out way beyond his parents curfew does....(eyes rolling)
The Left institutionalizing their mistakes. The one thing they’re good at.
She says there is a basic right to health care.
Should there not also be a basic right to the food we all need to survive every day?
And what about the right to a place to live?
Al Gore believed in a basic right for poor people to have free internet and saw to it that we got taxed on our phone bills to pay for it.