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Politics : THE WHITE HOUSE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MJ who wrote (10795)	11/13/2007 7:05:56 PM
From: GROUND ZERO™	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25737

All we have to do is look at all those countries that have socialized medicine to see why we shouldn't have it... it's a disaster, as are most things run by government clerks... GZ

To: MJ who wrote (10795)	11/13/2007 9:27:28 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25737

PLENTY of areas could use a lot of 'fixing' and process improvement in our very disfunctional health care system. 1) Patent law reform. (Why should a patent be 'automatically' extended if all the company is doing is, say, changing the color of the pill?) 2) Insurance changes (for example: a ton of money could be saved if forms were standardized... now, how hard is that?) 3) Remove the 'ring fence' that prevents free trade in pharmaceuticals. (Why should the US be the highest cost market in the world? What'sa matter? Don't we believe in free trade anymore?) 4) Let the guiding principle of US federal law be: 'If you do harm, you are responsible for that harm'. Then, when the government gets around to actually spending the taxpayer's money in the health care arena... have them tilt their spending toward PREVENTION - because that is far more cost-effective... and when they are spending in medical research, let it be in areas where the free market system has no natural incentive to spend money on research (for example: 'orphan drugs' or natural medicinals that cannot be patented, so companies don't spend money researching in those areas). In short: don't DUPLICATE what for-profit Big Pharma is already doing, rather, pick up slack where they have no financial incentive to. 5) Technology improvements (for example: why can't your personal medical records be PORTABLE, why must you ask permission of your physician to access them? If, for instance, they were in electronic format, you could carry them with you on a memory stick, on your key chain or something. Same if they were centrally stored.... 'Vendor lock-in' is seldom cost-effective to the consumer.) 6) The AMA has reported that - according to their stats - around 50% of all malpractice law suits are processed against a small subset of the total number of Doctors --- around 5% or less. No doubt many improvements could be made at the intersection between lawyers and physician professional associations and insurance companies that would save the whole system a lot of money. (For example: insurance companies have little difficulty raising rates for 'bad drivers'. Why shouldn't the system be able to differentiate more readily between the 95% of physicians who statistically attract the fewest suits... and the 5% who attract the most? Why not 'tiers' for rates?) Etc., etc. TONS of room in the system for major improvements --- and most of the problems can be laid on the doorsteps of disfunctional government....

To: MJ who wrote (10795)	11/14/2007 1:49:06 AM
From: John Carragher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25737

i am not sure about all those insurance policies you mention and the association with retirement. long term care is elective and most people do not have it. it is very costly. i do not have it, wife on hospice for last year. i am her caregiver and wouldn't even consider putting her in a nursing home. In fact i doubt she would have survived in a nursing home as her needs require 24/7 attention, special temperature in the room, etc etc. I do not have dental and do not know why i would want to have it. If i care for them teeth and have a cleaning once a year or two or three, and xrays , even a filling the insurance doesn't come close to break even vs out of pocket cost. my health insurance covers doctor, hosp and drugs all in one policy and has for forty years. now with medicare in two months i will have a supplement to it for coverage. no cancer insurance, no short term insurance what ever that applies to. someone working around the house perhaps? fire insurance you have had this for life time too and if apartment may not even want to carry it . disaster insurance ,has to apply to very few people . like flood insurance ? car insurance.. just eliminated collision etc and have lowered miles on car to point i do not even need an environment inspection on car each year. Liability insurance if you vol. I asked my daughter about this since she does vol work.. she checked awhile back and everything she does is covered or you cannot sue per legal counsel. bottom line ,, you can be insurance poor,, i do not know what in retirement you would want a large amount of life insurance , assume your dependents are able to provide for themselves and long gone. you should only need enough to clear up bills and bury you. I got lots of stories , bad ones on social medicine in other countries. careful what you wish for. oh, they all pay for the social medicine program. its not free. But you wait in long , long ,, long lines for care... In England i know of two with cancer that didn't live long enough to even get treatment. ps retired 15 years now 65, I never found insurance to be a burden. school taxes.. certainly a major problem for retirees.