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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (262989)	4/29/2008 2:41:11 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 281500

An Epidemic of Meddling The totalitarian implications of public health Jacob Sullum \| May 2007 reason.com Could National Health Care Be Behind Britain's Anti-Drinking Campaign? Ronald Bailey \| June 15, 2007 reason.com coyoteblog.com The Health Care Trojan Horse coyoteblog.com

To: TimF who wrote (262989)	4/29/2008 3:03:44 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

"A lot of disputes about Medicare and Medicaid billing are anything but routine" What disputes are those? What are they about? What percentage of the disputes about Medicare and Medicaid billing do they represent? What percentage of Medicare and Medicaid billing do they represent? "mistakes or differing interpretations are much more likely to lead to prosecution (rather than just nonpayment) than similar disputes in the private sector)" What are you talking about when you say prosecution? Cosmetic surgery, in the absence of a defect such as a clef palate or injury, is not normal medical care. Adding calf or breast implants is not normal medical care. Do you think that a cosmetic nose job is normal medical care? Does private health insurance cover that today? I see that you are happy to see people with cancer not get coverage, suffer and possibly die. That is where you and I part company. I find that morally repugnant and, yes, I put people before money. Walmart has plenty of power including political power. Until we get single payer campaign financing, Walmart will continue to have tremendous power. Were you born yesterday? You are protecting a system that does not provide results commensurate with its costs. Your desire to protect this system is very anti-capitalist. Why are you protecting such a system and its inefficient, ineffective participants? The market for healthcare is not competitive. When the AMA is allowed to restrict the number of doctors practicing in the US, that is not competitive. When Medicare is not allowed to negotiate prices, that is not competitive. When there is no free flow of information about hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmaceuticals, etc. that is not competitive. I thought you didn't like our litigious society. So, when someone is injured by an unapproved drug, they can clog up the courts with individual suits. How does that make things more efficient, effective or safe? Why are you willing to let people provide garbage to other people in the name of profit? What do you mean a trusted outside lab? Trusted by whom? How would a consumer know if XYZ is 'trusted' and ABC is bought and paid for by the drug company? How many people know about Billy Tauzin even today? Who has time to keep track of these things for every product and service we buy today? This is woefully inefficient. What an incredible waste of time and resources on the part of the individual consumer. So, after people start dropping dead from poisoned toothpaste, who is going to go after the manufacturer, the distributors, the retailers, the product on the shelves, the product in the pipeline, etc. after you've dismantled the regulatory apparatus for consumer products? So, you can't murder anyone without getting into trouble but you can lie like a banshee about your product and you may or may not get sued by your customers because no one in the government will go after you. That will lead to a huge amount of lying which is already a problem today. ---------- If you cannot turn quality into a number as you say, how can you say that quality of health care in the US is going up?