Is U.S. Health Care Truly 'Broken'?

The American Thinker ^ | October 24, 2010 | Deane Waldman

[screaminsunshine]

Right. I sure do not have the answers. I do know that we are at the breaking point for the Monster we have created. I also know that Article 5 is probably our last chance to save ourselves from it. It beats food riots in the streets.

[November 2010]

I’m with you. I think it is absolutely brilliant. Kudos.

[screaminsunshine]

They will not default. They will print. They will destroy us totally if we let them and we will lose our soveiegnty to some Socialist world government. If you do not understand that this is the intention then I can not help you.

[GlockThe Vote]

That’s my same situation. I just got a thirty percent inmcrease after getting a twenty percent increase a few months ago. I am beyond livid.

[November 2010]

I've checked out high deductible policies. They cost almost as much as ones with low deductibles. It seems like almost all of the risk you pay for in health insurance is the catastrophic risk.

[Maurice Tift]

  The progressive income tax hits doctors hard. Doctors should be exempt. This increases the number of practicing doctors and the competition reduces costs. (just abolishing the IRS might be simpler) (Supply-side medicine beats the heck out of communist medicine)

  Lawyers hit doctors really hard. Doctors should be permitted to hit back really really hard. (tort reform)

  States need to drop many of the ridiculous mandates on health insurance and let the market work.

  

[Non-Sequitur]

We only need 34 states to call for it and this spider web of failure can be eliminated.

Look at the people we have in Congress. Are those the kind of folks you would trust to rewrite the Constitution?

[November 2010]

We elect the “they.” If we can’t win the battle over who the “they” are, we can’t win, period, in my opinion. The Constitutional Convention you picture would be populated by our current crop of politicians, which is a frightening idea.

[screaminsunshine]

The state legislatures will be in charge. Read Article 5. The Feds will have no say. Nobody really knows what is in the Constitution for our self defense against a runaway Federal Government. The Founders knew this would happen and gave us an out if it got too bad. Well if it is not bad enough for you yet give em a couple more years.
I am still waiting for someone to tell me how we can pay off over 200 trillion dollars of debt in the next 30 years when the rates go up to 7 or 10%.
Sadly it is time for the states to take action.

[November 2010]

I’m not always with the doctors on the liability issue. I’ve seen awful doctors ruin lives.

[C210N]

Health care IS truly broken. The cause is mostly the federal government, which over the course of many years has broken it with a thousand cuts, for the sole purpose of putting in place its statist solution.

[sodpoodle]

Just compare the practice of human medicine to veterinary medicine and the case for personal responsibility is clear.

Vets charge almost as much (or more) for shots and routine check ups. They get paid in cash and are not required to file pet insurance claims.

Pet owners don’t expect anyone else to pay for their pets’ medical care. They pay for what is needed to keep them healthy.

It’s a billion dollar industry!!!!

When and why did we begin to approach our own medical needs with a totally different mindset?

Some of us pay for more expensive insurance on our automobiles than our own bodies (which cannot be traded in)!

[Maurice Tift]

There are many legitimate lawsuits. If lawyers thought they might have to pay for filing a frivolous lawsuit, then they would be more selective. With less frivolous lawsuits, the legitimate ones increase in importance.

[kabar]

Forty-five million American residents (13% of our population) have no health insurance

•In 2007, 33.2 percent of all immigrants (legal and illegal) did not have health insurance compared to 12.7 percent of native-born Americans. (Table 1)

•Immigrants account for 27.1 percent of all those without health insurance. Immigrants are 12.5 percent of the nation’s total population. (Figure 1)

•There are 14.5 million immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) who lack health insurance. They account for 31.9 percent of the entire uninsured population. Immigrants and their children are 16.8 percent of the nation’s total population. (Figure 1)

•In 2007, 47.6 percent of immigrants and their U.S.-born children were either uninsured or on Medicaid compared to 25 percent of natives and their children. (Figure 2)

[GailA]

Should have made sure that old geezers would still have doctors...oh, I forgot doctors cannot be conscripted to serve in the private sector.

OUST obama clone steve cohen

Charlotte Bergmann
http://www.youtube.com/user/CharlotteBergmann?feature=mhum#p/u/3/IFgFNlIq7RQ

[Dusty Road]

“If it ain't broke, don't fix it.”

If I waited until something broke before I fixed it I wouldn't be in the oil business very long. To keep all my wells running at they're peak production takes constant maintenance and a watchful eye. Keeping your oil levels where they're suppose to be, grease your bearings often and replace worn parts before you have a complete failure. The same could apply to health care business that has ignored the demands for pre-maintenance, ignored bad or substandard parts and has let the entire industry's production fall to levels that now need a costly and major rebuild.

So where do you start?
You replace old worn out parts, you service your wells to bring back production and cease certain methods that eat up your profits. Once you have everything running at peak production, you fire the SOB’s that let it fall into such a dilapidated state.

A little grease, oil and a vigilant eye goes a long way.

When I took over these wells our production was 13,500 barrels per month, the same wells now produce over 13,750 barrels per month by doing nothing more than a little preventative maintenance and constantly trying to reduce operating cost. I've since lowered production costs by 10% and raised production by 250 barrels per month.

So I guess I'll have to disagree with the old “If it ain't broke don't fix it” standard.

[Smokin' Joe]

I think we're having a definition problem.

To keep all my wells running at they're peak production takes constant maintenance and a watchful eye.

..is preventative maintenance, not "fixing". You change the oil in your pickup (maintenance), but you don't tear down the engine (fixing) unnecessarily. There is a difference.

If the voters in this Republic had been practicing preventative maintenance, it wouldn't need fixing--and that holds at all levels. The decline hasn't happened overnight.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

Whereas there are thoughtful elements of this article, overall the author doesn't get it right. First, anything devised by human beings, like our health care system, is imperfect and can always be made better. By that measure we can certainly make health care better and more cost efficient. Beyond that basic premise things get much more complicated.

Let's start with the most overused and misunderstood issue, infant mortality. It is a slap in the face to those obstetricians, neonatologists, highly trained nurses, and technical staff to not recognize that the US has the most advanced capacity to save sick and premature infants of any in the world. If you, as a parent, were to have a premature child, there is no where in the world you'd be better off at than in the US.

Infant mortality is the number of live-born infants that die within the first year of life. In the US two-thirds of these unfortunate deaths occur within the first month after birth, and are primarily due to health problems of the infant or pregnancy, such as birth defects or premature birth. In many other countries these infants would never be counted as an infant mortality statistic because they wouldn't survive long enough to be consider a ‘live birth’ in those countries. Babies that we try to save are considered non-live births statistically in many countries.

Further, WHO statistics are skewed and it would be foolish to hang your hat on WHO generated statistics as a true measure of health care quality. They are a UN-like organization with an agenda.

Finally, with regards to this single issue (infant mortality), the incidence of premature and underweight births is a problem that reflects societal issues, not medical care. Teen pregnancy, drug use, alcohol, etc. are big contributors to the incidence of prematurity and underweight births. These are fundamental issues that the government has helped to create, not failures of medical care.

There's so much more to be said, but I'm already using too much bandwidth. Sorry.

[November 2010]

True. It’s hard to balance though. With the average citizen who has a legitimate claim versus the average doctor and doctor’s insurance company, the citizen is at relatively more risk for the costs of the case. A 50,000 legal bill is small potato’s for an insurance company, and a life altering event for the average citizen. Also, the wealthy party tends to run up costs to increase the pressure on the poorer party to settle when legal fees will be awarded.

[Dusty Road]

“If the voters in this Republic had been practicing preventative maintenance, it wouldn’t need fixing—”

I think we’re both on the same page.