Romney says he would keep parts of Obamacare

[Sensia]

Originally Posted by TheDaliLama

Actually if you are willing to spend the money you can get coverage with a pre existing condition.

Only if you have money honey.. only for the rich and well off.

The average median income is $30,000 per year last I checked. Guess that leaves a huge amount of the population without insurance, those who simply do not have the income to purchase it.

[Little Stevie]

Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Sensia, you're a nice person, but think about it. If a person could wait until they had a heart attack to buy health insurance, how is that different from waiting until you have an accident to buy auto insurance? Why would a company agree to that? And how much would the premium have to be?

You need to understand the concept of shared risk. If the damage is there, there is no risk. It's happened, and the costs are determinable.

What a condescending piece of crap for a post. Like you are an actuary. ANY other country in the free world offers the coverage you say Sensia doesn't understand. You are 20 years behind the times if you believe insurers "share the risk". The reasons our premiums continue to go up and we get canceled is because insurers want to AVOID all risk and it gets worse every day.

Now they are even allowed by their bought and paid for legislators and regulators to charge more on auto insurance if you have a credit blemish. So you could have a serious illness in the family through no fault of your own and have to declare bankruptcy or simply not be able to pay the debt and your car insurer can UP your premium amount to one that is higher than mine.

COF, you offer nothing but fecal matter for people here to read.

[CuteOldGuy]

And it will still be very expensive, even under Obamacare. I don't know what the best answer is, but it isn't Obamacare.

While I would like to see a market oriented approach, many people will still be left out, or face very high premiums if they try to enter the market after discovering they have a pre-existing condition.

This is probably where I depart from my Libertarian friends. I would favor a single payer system on two conditions. 1. That there is a Constitutional amendment approving such a system, and 2. Medical decisions are made by medical professionals, not government bureaucrats.

If we are to continue to have the most innovative medical system, we can't take the profit motive out of medicine. Profit drives innovation, and that is simply a fact. But then we have Big Pharma, where the profit motive drives them to make more expensive drugs, for the sole purpose of making good generic drugs obsolete. And they are assisted by a corrupt FDA which allows faulty drugs on the market, just to appease them. And the FDA clamps down on medical alternatives, to protect the turf of Big Pharma.

It breaks my heart to hear about a child who needs a life saving operation, but can't afford it, and then an elderly man (like Dick Cheney) is somehow able to obtain a heart transplant. That should not be happening.

So a single payer system, run by medical professionals, from both traditional and alternative systems, with a mandate to make sure that practitioners and innovators are paid well enough to keep them interested in the system would be ideal, in my opinion. We would also need a FDA run to protect citizens, not Big Pharma.

If there were a market centered approach that would take care of these issues, I'd be thrilled, but I don't see one.

But I think Obamacare, in that it requires the purchase of insurance by people who may not be able to afford it, and run by the IRS, will be an unmitigated disaster. Obamacare is payoff to the insurance companies, and will not improve health care for many people who need it. Frankly, Obamacare is so tied to Big Business, I'm surprised the Republicans didn't vote overwhelmingly in favor of it.

I obviously wrote this before reading Stevie's usual caffeine-induced tirade. But the answer was directed to Sensia.

[Laz]

The only way to bring down costs and encourage innovation is by using the free market. Reducing the use of insurance to cover only major expenses will lower the cost of health care and increase the natural market forces. That will not help the people that fall through the cracks but local governments can step in to develop solutions that provide for them.

[CJ7]

use the FREE market eh?

wonder exactly what was we've been using before obamacare?

oh yeah, the FREE market.

carry on

[CuteOldGuy]

No, we weren't using the free market, CBJ7. We were, and will be, using a government controlled market. There is, and was, nothing free market in the health insurance industry.

[CJ7]

thank you .... this so called system is supposedly free market, and yes there is substantial government control ... the right wing mantra against obamacare is keep government out and leave the present healthcare alone ..

brilliant

[Whirlaway]

CB doesn't understand the concept of free markets.

Just letting people buy across state lines would lower the costs almost immediately.

[LovingKayla]

I thought coming together is what you all wanted?

[CuteOldGuy]

The right wing wants to support their industries, and call it "free market."

[CJ7]

Originally Posted by Whirlaway

CB doesn't understand the concept of free markets.

Just letting people buy across state lines would lower the costs almost immediately.

where is the State Farm corporate headquarters? How many agents do they have spread all over the US?

and thats not buying across state lines?

gee, who knew?

[CuteOldGuy]

Each state approves the policies that can be offered in their state. They aren't the same policies from state to state. Learn something before you post, CBJ7. You will sound less stupid.

[CJ7]

Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Each state approves the policies that can be offered in their state. They aren't the same policies from state to state. Learn something before you post, CBJ7. You will sound less stupid.

fuck you cof and thank you cof

thats exactly my point

why would I want to buy insurance in Idaho and live in Alabama? maybe whirlie can answer that eh whirlie?

[CJ7]

and for all of you FREE market proponents that want to buy insurance like its a loaf of bread heres a blast from the past ..

COF should really like this ...


http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/82/2/PHCBP.pdf

[Laz]

Insurance is simply a contract that covers specified incidents. What difference does it make which state you live in. If the coverage applies and claim is incurred it should pay. Allowing a more competitive market place will increase competition and lower prices.