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[El Guapo]

I personally know a woman who had full coverage.  Her employer offerred to continue the coverage or give her the cash for the coverage.  She took the cash!

[userfriendly]

I personally know a woman who had full coverage.  Her employer offerred to continue the coverage or give her the cash for the coverage.  She took the cash!

I can't comment on this woman's reasoning but I'm sure she had one. When my children were small, I worked just to make sure they had coverage. I didn't have too much money left over from my so-called pay check after deducting the money for the insurance,but never the less, the children were covered. My husband don't have the choice to get insurance.

Yeah, I know alot of people on welfare and get to go to the doctor anytime they want, and spend their money on whatever they want (drugs,cigs,booze). But isn't the government footing the bill for these people already?

[riversbend again]

Not all uninsured are on welfare, or want to be on welfare. Going to the hospital is not a free ride.
I have many Canadian friends, and they will tell you that they like universal health care, but the quality has declined due to abuse by the people. People will go to the ER for a hang nail, and things like that just cripple the system.
The cost of health care is the problem. It can be astronomical. I know, I am dealing with that right now, in the ballpark of  $300,000.00. My husband has some coverage, but the bills are staggering to say the least.
Is a bill for $2200.00 for an ambulance to transport a person from Toledo to Monroe a fair amount?
I don't know, I don't know what cost they incur in doing so. It just seems a bit high. I would have transported him for much less, but the hospital would not allow that.
I don't know that government being involved is the answer. I just know that if I needed hospitalization right now, it would be out of the question.

[mohamed_kalij]

Not all uninsured are on welfare, or want to be on welfare. Going to the hospital is not a free ride.
I have many Canadian friends, and they will tell you that they like universal health care, but the quality has declined due to abuse by the people. People will go to the ER for a hang nail, and things like that just cripple the system.
The cost of health care is the problem. It can be astronomical. I know, I am dealing with that right now, in the ballpark of  $300,000.00. My husband has some coverage, but the bills are staggering to say the least.
Is a bill for $2200.00 for an ambulance to transport a person from Toledo to Monroe a fair amount?
I don't know, I don't know what cost they incur in doing so. It just seems a bit high. I would have transported him for much less, but the hospital would not allow that.
I don't know that government being involved is the answer. I just know that if I needed hospitalization right now, it would be out of the question.

You have a lot of good points. I think the reason things are so expensive, is that insurance companies will not cover all the costs for most things. Since they will not cover the costs, hospitals up the costs on paper to recoup the stuff that isn't covered. Insurance companies then cover less and hospitals charge more. The inflation of costs make medical prices soar for people without insurance. Sue happy people tend to raise insurance prices as well. Also, since insurance companies are such large powerful monsters, no small company can come in and give them any competition.

If medicine becomes non-profit, this may fix some of these things. Also, to stop people from going to the emergency room for simple problems, they could start compiling a list of non-emergency room problems that people will have to pay out of pocket for. If more non-critical items come up that start hurting the system, they can add those as well. As long as they do not add critical items, it should work.

What does everyone else think?

[monroedude]

Universal Health Care is not the answer.  Health care is a privalege, not a right.  Sure I agree helping out needy people, but bigger government is not the answer.

[mohamed_kalij]

Universal Health Care is not the answer.  Health care is a privalege, not a right.  Sure I agree helping out needy people, but bigger government is not the answer.

I think you are combining two issues here. I think most people combine these issues when they think of UHC. I know I did for a while. Here they are:

1. Inefficiency of our government; out of control spending, unlimited red tape, top-heavy agencies, and lack of bargain hunting. Overall, just bad management.

2. Lack of health care for all. This is due to people trying to make a profit off of those in need of medical treatment. Profit hungry monster corporations are mostly responsible for that. If you have no money, and you do not qualify for the poor excuses we call Medicade/Medicare, then there is no money to be made off of you and you are ignored.

These are two separate problems. If the first one is solved, then the second will be solved really quickly by UHC. That doesn't mean we should let countless people suffer while we wait for the citizens of this country to get their sh1t together and elect the proper officials. They need help now.

Besides, how many anti-UHC theories do you think are 100% true and how many are inflated, or just flat out lies, made up by the one group of people (insurance companies) who stand to lose from UHC? You're suggesting that we give up before we even try.

[riversbend again]

If medicine becomes nonprofit, this may fix some of these things.
What does everyone else think?

medicine is not going to become nonprofit.  Many of the pharmaceutical companies are owned by the insurance companies, or oil companies. Many, possibly all,  medical schools are funded by the pharmaceutical companies. They have a tight circle going.

It's all pretty crazy. I remember going to a Dr. and being asked if I had insurance. When I asked why, he responded that if I had insurance it would be a different price.  The Dr's up the price if you have insurance. This is why insurance costs so much. I called around trying to find a Dr. and would ask if the Dr. was taking new patients. They would ask first what insurance I had. When I responded none, they said Dr. is not taking new patients.  This makes me feel like they are saying, hey we can't make enough money off you, so we don't want you.  I tried calling the health dept. to see if they would do an annual exam, and stated I was willing to pay.
I was told that they only do that for women under 21.

We had insurance for a while, but when the cost exceeded the amount of our house payment with taxes and insurance, we had to drop it.

[old salt]

Is a bill for $2200.00 for an ambulance to transport a person from Toledo to Monroe a fair amount?
I don't know, I don't know what cost they incur in doing so. It just seems a bit high. I would have transported him for much less, but the hospital would not allow that.

Why is it that the hospital would not allow a cheaper form of transportation?  What can they do?  Heck, I'll do it for half that.

[A Reasonable Person]

Why is it that the hospital would not allow a cheaper form of transportation?  What can they do?  Heck, I'll do it for half that.

If something medically goes wrong during the transport the hospital is liable.  If we didn't have a country of SUE happy people hospitials might more willing to allow the patient to be transfered by other means. 
I'm sure at one point they did and there was a problem and they got their *sses sued so now everyone gets transported by ambulance between hospitals to cover teh liability issue.

[Greg Chamberlain]

Simple. The constitution does not permit the federal government to establish a universal health care system. So any attempt to do so must start with an amendment giving the federal government that power. Anybody who wants to short-cut around the constitution will not get a vote from me.

[riversbend again]

I don't think universal health care is the answer. One of my friends in Canada had a problem with his heart stopping and he would pass out. He needed a pacemaker. He had to be referred to a specialist, then wait for that appointment. It took 9 months for him to get in to the specialist. If he had died in the meantime, it would have been "oh well".  So it is far from a perfect system.

I don't have the answers, I just think the cost of health care is the problem. I have a bill here for $55,895.00 for a 7 day hospital stay, one of many that has come due to one problem.  I am so incredibly  thankful my husband has some coverage. It does concern me though, that if it had been me that got a bump on the head that lead to this, we would be responsible for the entire bill.
I don't want a handout, I am not looking for anything for free,  but I also don't want to lose everything we have worked our enitre lives to have.

[marilyn.monroe]

Non-profit insurance companies (i.e. Blue Cross) performed better than for-profit insurance companies, and helped keep prices lower through competition, but both have taken a downturn with the economy.
If insurance companies focused on the service they are legally permitted to offer instead of acting like investment companies with only their interest in mind, we might be able to make private coverage work!
Health care isn't about PROFIT!
It is about getting the job done! Too bad for the greedy people who want to make millions and billions. They will have to settle for earning a good living like the rest of us. If they don't like that, let them go work for an investment bank or Hedge fund and leave the health care business for those that are qualified to get the job done and actually care about people!
If you want less government regulation, then call on businesses to quit forcing the people to have to step in! It is sickening the amount of money overcharged and defrauded by companies! Call on them to be honest and ethical! They should be held criminally liable for that.
And what's up with companies whose owners are profiting, but not offering insurance to their employees or not offering affordable coverage?

[Greg Chamberlain]

Wow, marilyn is really naive to think she can motivate people to go to medical school or nursing school or tech school and not earn a profit.

[Pleasantville]

All of my professors in nursing school think Universal health care is the answer.... I'd definitely believe them before I'd take any politician or ARMCHAIR politicians take on it for sure. And I don't have a Prof who has been a nurse less that 20 years.

[Greg Chamberlain]

All of my professors in nursing school think Universal health care is the answer.

Yeah, just like I'm sure construction workers would support universal home ownership program, farmers would support universal cellular access, and the power companies support universal energy access.

That is, as long as they're still getting paid.

Maybe you should ask those nursing professors how much of a pay cut nurses should be willing to take to ensure that universal health care is sustainable.