I agree that we need a healthcare safety net. We don't want sick people to suffer and not get help. We do provide such help, in many different ways. What we do is far from ideal, but no one in this nation is dying in the street from a heart attack or from an acute abdomen. But, agreed, it's far from perfect and there is more than enough room for improvement.
The problem with all those good things in the current "reform" that you listed is that every one of them will require resources and will cost money. The government can take votes and mandate anything they want, but if the numbers don't add up, those good things will not become reality. As private insurers fail to to deliver on those unfunded mandates, it will become necessary to introduce alternatives - which will be the next step towards socialized healthcare.
Indeed, I can't help but have the impression that this is in fact the longer term design for the reform. The net result of all this will likely be a tax based, government run system. Based on what I see with Medicare and Medicaid, it won't be anything to brag about, but it will work. All Healthcare systems work - more or less.
Politically, it will be a departure from capitalism and from the American tradition.
If they'll allow a parallel private fee for service system (like in UK), it may be not so bad - it would preserve innovation and higher quality care. However, if the government orders that everyone should be treated exactly the same - that would lead to stagnation, and the outlook would be bleak. |
