Socialized Healthcare

[MarissaNicole]

Okay so I am totally ignorant on this issue and know nothing about it but as a medical spouse lots of people ask me what I think about it... so my question for all of you is do you really think it will happen?

While I think there needs to be healthcare reform I don't think socialized healthcare is the answer. I think there needs to be more reform or regulation associated with insurance companies - they seem to be the ones running the show. But like I said I am extremely uneducated on the issue so I'd like to hear what y'all think....and whether you think Obama's gonna do it?

This was a good show that covered the different aspects of various ways to reform the health care system. I actually want to listen to it again.

http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/05/11.php#26275

[poky]

I highly recommend watching this:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...roundtheworld/

[McPants]

do you really think it will happen?

No. It would be too dramatic a change and would be completely incompatible with U.S. culture. Obama might take a few tentative steps towards it during his presidency, however his republican successor will make sure to erase any such changes post haste.

[GrayMatterWife]

No. It would be too dramatic a change and would be completely incompatible with U.S. culture. Obama might take a few tentative steps towards it during his presidency, however his republican successor will make sure to erase any such changes post haste.

Yep.

[MarissaNicole]

No. It would be too dramatic a change and would be completely incompatible with U.S. culture. Obama might take a few tentative steps towards it during his presidency, however his republican successor will make sure to erase any such changes post haste.

That is what a I thought but I wasn't sure because lots of people seem to think that it is gonna happen ... and I figure he's got the majority - which makes things a lot easier for him to accomplish his agenda... but then again things take TIME...

[McPants]

That is what a I thought but I wasn't sure because lots of people seem to think that it is gonna happen ... and I figure he's got the majority - which makes things a lot easier for him to accomplish his agenda... but then again things take TIME...

Also don't forget that there would be absolute chaos while the transformation to socialized health care is in progress.

Yeah I agree, and should have said that, in the above link it talks about various steps the US may/could take - that is more like socialism but in essence is not true socialism. Btw, that documentary Poky put up is great.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

To second the comment that it will take a while and be CHAOS, Massachusetts mandated universal healthcare 2 years ago and now the wait to see a PCP is the highest anywhere in the country despite the fact that MA has a VERY high doctor to general population ratio (second only to Maryland I believe). Just imagine if they mandated it in places with a low doctor to population ratio. I think it's something like 50 days wait now to see your doc for a non life threatening issue (and check ups are scheduling 8 months out). AND, to my knowledge, this has not lessened people showing up at ERs (a common argument is that we do have de facto universal healthcare because if you wait long enough at an ER, you get care).

[GrayMatterWife]

To second the comment that it will take a while and be CHAOS, Massachusetts mandated universal healthcare 2 years ago and now the wait to see a PCP is the highest anywhere in the country despite the fact that MA has a VERY high doctor to general population ratio (second only to Maryland I believe). Just imagine if they mandated it in places with a low doctor to population ratio. I think it's something like 50 days wait now to see your doc for a non life threatening issue (and check ups are scheduling 8 months out). AND, to my knowledge, this has not lessened people showing up at ERs (a common argument is that we do have de facto universal healthcare because if you wait long enough at an ER, you get care).

They don't care. The White House and the Congress both have their own staff physicians. Waiting is something for the little people. It's like Biden's call for all of us to start paying more in taxes--that's what people like us do...sacrifice for their agendas. It's like Obama's refusal to support vouchers as one way to help the less fortunate can educate their children the same way he can educate his. No, the little people must be willing to sacrifice their children to the bowels of inner city public schooling. This is what happens when the state is put before the individual--mediocrity except for those in power at the state.

Although my favorite irony of the Administration's plan of Nanny State Health Care has to be Obama's utterly empty "pay as you go" proposal for the federal budget he offered today. Of course, it carves out costs related to His proposed health care plan and the His ongoing Spendulous plan. So, again, sacrificing is really about what we are going to be forced to give up...not what The Annointed One deems acceptable, self-serving exceptions.

[Sheherezade]

The wait to see a doctor here in Ohio is also high in many cases. You can't get in to see my DH (without special favors) for up to two months. That's just the regular wait with regular insurance. Obviously, these are necessary visits since the patients have been diagnosed with cancer. I've gotten used to waiting a few months for all my regular appointments now - and I'm a "dawkter's wife". My husband's scheduler has been a godsend for "getting us in" for my son's tests, etc for his knee injury. Otherwise, 45 days. My point? The wait time isn't just managed care and being in Cleveland it is also not doc/patient ratio. We've got plenty of docs.

[Pollyanna]

sacrificing is really about what we are going to be forced to give up...not what The Annointed One deems acceptable, self-serving exceptions.

His entire Presidency is self serving...

LOVE the reason you stated for editing your post Abigail. Heehee!

[GrayMatterWife]

His entire Presidency is self serving...

LOVE the reason you stated for editing your post Abigail. Heehee!

Well, I was all full of the snide bug last night, after the Supreme Court's denial of cert of the Indiana's teacher's union's appeal of the proposed section 363 sale of the Chrysler assets. The Indiana Teacher's Union was trying to get the Supreme Court to review whether the proposed sale was arranged in violation of federal law. What happened to get that sale deal was: the AdminiMafia intimidated and threatened non-UAW creditors, strongarming them into a really crappy deal. A deal that is actually a sub rosa plan of reorganization. And the Teacher's Union--along with many other non-USAW creditors--got completely screwed for the benefit of the UAW.

It was absolutely appalling, from a bankruptcy law point of view. The whole purpose of bankruptcy is NOT to prefer one creditor over another--it is to ensure that all creditors are treated equally, pursuant to the rights that they had at the moment the case was filed. Now, apparently, the pounding fist of the federal government can be used to prefer certain union interests over the interests of other (including other unions!!) creditors.

It makes me want to quit my job. Heck, it makes me want to quit the profession. It is completely depressing to know that Obama, and whatever interests he deems to be in his best political interest, can manipulate the bankruptcy process in de facto extortion. I feel so sorry for the GM non-UAW creditors. The door has been opened for Obama to completely bend them over. This is EXACTLY why the federal government should stay out of private business negotiations.

I will NEVER EVER EVER buy a Chrysler. Ever. Ford all the way, baby.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

The wait for a specialist should be long. I'm talking about a PCP wait. That's RIDICULOUS to wait that long. What if you have something minor that turns into something larger? PCPs are going to be at the front line of so much stuff and they're just going to force them to cover thousands of patients a week instead of first addressing the PCP shortage.

[poky]

Well, it's awfully tough to have short wait times for PCPs when we reimburse them so crappily that nobody with med school debt can afford to be one. Other countries have figured out that they need to make sure GPs make a more reasonable amount than our "reimburse for procedures" system does. Maybe if we did, too, more people would go into it, and the wait times would go back down.