Al, > Look at the language you use..."inevitable"...conservatives in both congress and senate go further and consider it unacceptable, socialist, and a collection of other choice references. How does one find compromise on that basis?
Good question. This will sound like a sorry excuse, but conservatives have been backed into a corner with regard to health care. Having failed to be ahead of the game, their options have been reduced to obstructionism or acquiescence. This is just as much the fault of the Democrats, who pursue their own game of "My way or the highway," as it is the Republicans.
Hard-core conservatives and libertarians say that government ought to be completely out of health care, but I don't think American society will ever accept a "laissez-faire free market" system. Nor will doctors and other care givers, since the Hippocratic Oath is fundamental to their profession. Selling life-saving services to the highest bidder would never fly (despite how much it already exists in our society).
On the other extreme, Democrats are pushing full steam ahead toward the "promised land" of single-payer. There isn't any problem that more government cannot solve, despite numerous examples in history to the contrary. American society is suspicious of government-run collectivism, and understandably so.
Where do you find common ground? I personally think a "public option" is just fine, funded by cheap premiums on the beneficiaries and a small tax on everyone else. It will give the most basic health care services, and if you want more, you should be free to choose a private plan. Much like the USPS hasn't bankrupted FexEx, UPS, and other premium, more costly shipping services.
> How do you conclude that $100B is too high? I think the national average for HC is $6.7K/person.
OK, my $100B/year figure might be low, but don't you think $6.7K/person is too high? Or that 16% of the American GDP going toward health care is too high?
How is Obamacare going to reduce those costs? Obama keeps claiming that costs will be reduced under his plan, but to me those claims are meaningless platitudes.
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