Comment by upright left — January 23, 2008 @ 4:52 pm

and unfortunately, all to true, after the disasters the repigs have put in that chair, including pedophile Hastert.

OT, but dang that was funny! ;)

Goony, I sincerely hope that YOUR child never has to suffer or die for a corporation’s profit and a CEO’s bonus check.

Great point, only the doctors and hospitals can rip off the medicare and medicaid systems since billing can’t be done by individuals. GG acts like all doctors are perfect in their medical practices and that none of them defrauds the government.

“Experts agree that our health care system is riddled with inefficiencies, excessive administrative expenses, inflated prices, poor management, and inappropriate care, waste and fraud…”
– Which experts? And which health care system? Are you talking about our current system of health care delivery in this country? For most of us, that would be a for-profit insurance provider driven by corporate greed. This is probably a bigger factor in driving up health care costs than anything else in your list (except for “inflated prices”).

“…especially when it comes to Medicare and Medicade fraud.”
– Oh, you’re not talking about the for-profit greedheads, you’re talking about government programs? And you are claiming they are riddled with fraud? Insurance fraud is a problem for BOTH government programs and private programs, and they both do their best to fight it in order to keep costs down.

“These problems significantly increase the cost of medical care and health insurance.”
– Agreed that inefficiency and fraud increase the cost of ANYTHING, including medical care. However, the cost of medical care is soaring because of for-profit providers and Big Pharma. Television advertising, CEO salaries, the bottom line to keep the stock price up — it’s all gotta be paid for somehow.

“These, together with the tort explosion brought to you courtesy of the trial lawyers, are the problems that need to be addressed.”
– There you go with your “trial lawyers are the bane of our existence” song and dance again. Medical malpractice lawsuits are but a tiny fraction of total health care costs. Check this out: http://www.centerjd.org/private/mythbuster/MB_medical_malpractice.htm

“These problems are not properly addressed by putting the government in charge when history has proven that government supervision and beurocratic red-tape increases inefficiencies, increases administrative expenses, inflates prices, and results in inappropriate care, waste and fraud.”
– “History has proven”??? This is an example of repeating a lie often enough and people will accept it as the truth. Do you have some proof of Medicare waste and inefficiency, or are you just repeating an oft-cited myth? My googling showed estimates of Medicare overhead to be between 1% (lowest figure I found) to 5% (highest figure I found). Private insurers ranged from 10% to 30%. Would you to explain how government health care programs waste more money than private health insurers do?

I truly don’t understand why you cling so tenaciously to the current health care delivery system in this country, when costs are rising past the cost of living and when more and more people are priced out of the system. Are you truly afraid that under a universal health care system that you will pay thousands of additional dollars in taxes only to never be able to see a doctor again? Or do you work for a for-profit health insurance corporation or pharmaceutical company?

Comment by good_golly

And since those in the medical profession also are “heroes” of a sort, it’s only fair to ask them to drop their rates as well. They also can still make a very good living. All they have to do is quit being incompetent…

Comment by good_golly — January 23, 2008 @ 2:55 pm

Your firm? And what health insurance company administers the benefits?