Kamala Harris under fire after calling for abolition of private health care ...

[jonny5]

Your statement is false to start with. I don't buy that Sovereign Citizen crap.

I said no such thing. You claimed a majority agreed to govt controlled healthcare. Just show me where we voted, since thats how we express agreement. The constitution is clear on the process. It lists the powers of govt. Healthcare is not one of them. The process for making it one is 3/4 of the state legislatures ratifying an amendment.

But wait, no need to respond with another "youre wrong" post with rhetorical statements and no actual argument

 

[manofknowledge]

I said no such thing. You claimed a majority agreed to govt controlled healthcare. Just show me where we voted, since thats how we express agreement. The constitution is clear on the process. It lists the powers of govt. Healthcare is not one of them. The process for making it one is 3/4 of the state legislatures ratifying an amendment.

But wait, no need to respond with another "youre wrong" post with rhetorical statements and no actual argument

The laws are on the books. That means a majority supported existing law. We vote. That's how government works.

 

[manofknowledge]

That's not quite true.

However, if there were no "government management" there might well be LESS AVAILABLE modern health care in America.

In fact, the situation with respect to "modern health care" would be rather akin to the availability of abortions prior to Roe v. Wade - if you had money, then "safe abortion" was available and if you didn't it wasn't.

Modern health care means modern facilities and trained medical professionals. The vast majority of medical professionals are trained in government funded institutions and facilities. Many hospitals are directly funded by government and those that aren't depend on Medicare to stay in business. Medicare represents 10-20% of any hospital's revenue. Very few hospitals could stay solvent without it. So yes, modern healthcare would not exist in this country without taxpayer funding.

 

[jonny5]

The laws are on the books. That means a majority supported existing law. We vote. That's how government works.

A majority of a few hundred people, you mean. Who didnt have the power to pass such laws. Because there is a supreme law which says they dont. HOw about we put it to an actual vote? Do you think 3/4 of states would agree to allow govt to control healthcare? Of course not, which is why they have to do it with only a couple hundred people in one political party.

 

[BWG]

So you already enjoy the benefits of "Socialized Medicine".

Yes.

And another way of looking at that is that your wages are depressed by the amount that your company pays for your Medicare Part B premiums. The same effect could be achieved if your wages were increased by the amount that your company pays for your Medicare Part B premiums and your taxes were increased by a like amount.

I'm retired. I took my retirement in a lump sum. I receive no wages to be depressed. The only ties I have with my company is my medical and life insurance benefits.

More "Socialized Medicine"?

Yes

And here it would have been US$0.00 IF you were a "Covered Resident" (essentially that you had lived here long enough to qualify for coverage and if your "residency" was not temporary).

It's affordable for me here in the U.S. due to my planning, using the system as it's currently set up and because we have "Socialized Medicine" for seniors.

*And it's 74 degrees in Feburary and I don't have to shovel snow to get to the golf course. :lol:

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Modern health care means modern facilities and trained medical professionals. The vast majority of medical professionals are trained in government funded institutions and facilities. Many hospitals are directly funded by government and those that aren't depend on Medicare to stay in business. Medicare represents 10-20% of any hospital's revenue. Very few hospitals could stay solvent without it. So yes, modern healthcare would not exist in this country without taxpayer funding.

I don't take any exception to "Modern healthcare - as we have come to know and expect it - would not exist in this country without taxpayer funding.", but to hold that every hospital and doctor in the United States of America would simply shut up shop without "government funding" is going too far.

As was the situation regarding "safe, affordable, and readily available abortion" before Roe v. Wade, "the rich" will have it and the rest won't.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

I'm retired. I took my retirement in a lump sum. I receive no wages to be depressed. The only ties I have with my company is my medical and life insurance benefits.

OK then so your wages were "depressed" while working and your cash pension benefits were similarly lowered by the amount that your employer anticipated paying for your medical care insurance - same thing.

*And it's 74 degrees in Feburary and I don't have to shovel snow to get to the golf course. :lol:

Strangely enough the temperature is the same here as it is there. (OK, so we use Centigrade and you use American, but 24 is 24 right?)

 

[manofknowledge]

I don't take any exception to "Modern healthcare - as we have come to know and expect it - would not exist in this country without taxpayer funding.", but to hold that every hospital and doctor in the United States of America would simply shut up shop without "government funding" is going too far.

As was the situation regarding "safe, affordable, and readily available abortion" before Roe v. Wade, "the rich" will have it and the rest won't.

The majority of patients treated by hospitals are covered by Medicare (40.9 percent of patients treated in U.S. hospitals). The average payer mix of a U.S. hospital is as follows:
Medicare: 40.9 percent
Medicaid: 17.2 percent
Blue Cross Blue Shield, other private insurance: 16.5 percent
HMO or PPO: 14 percent
Self-pay: 4.9 percent
Worker's compensation and other government programs: 2 percent13

https://www.beckershospitalreview.c...ings-to-know-about-the-hospital-industry.html

So what happens to a hospital if Medicare goes away?

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

The majority of patients treated by hospitals are covered by Medicare (40.9 percent of patients treated in U.S. hospitals). The average payer mix of a U.S. hospital is as follows:
Medicare: 40.9 percent
Medicaid: 17.2 percent
Blue Cross Blue Shield, other private insurance: 16.5 percent
HMO or PPO: 14 percent
Self-pay: 4.9 percent
Worker's compensation and other government programs: 2 percent13

https://www.beckershospitalreview.c...ings-to-know-about-the-hospital-industry.html

So what happens to a hospital if Medicare goes away?

Assuming that your figures are accurate, and I don't doubt that they are "accurate enough", what would happen is that around 59.1% of the hospitals would close and the remainder would stay open since 40.9% of the available funds would still be available.

"Safe, affordable, and readily available" health care would still be around - it just wouldn't be available to as many people (until after the next election, of course, when "Universal Medical Care Insurance" would be passed by the House of Representatives at 0900 on Day 1, passed by the Senate at 1000 on Day 1, signed into law by the President at 1100 on Day 1, have a court challenge against its constitutionality filed at 1200 on Day 1, be boosted into the Supreme Court at 1300 on Day 1 ... argued before the Supreme Court at 0900 on Day 1+X, and upheld by the Supreme Court at 1000 on Day 1+X).