Private health care already pays for no & low income people. No hospital can and many simply will not turn away the needy based on law and humanitarian reasons. Hospitals charge insurance companies of paying patients higher than they would to cover these costs. Right or wrong, this is a reason to support a form of socialized medicine. Do you have any suggestions to rectify this problem?
--------------------
There is an appalling lack of understanding of what is "socialized" medicine, and what is in fact a "single payer" system. "Socialized" medicine, by definition, is government owned and controlled health care facilities, run by doctors and health care providers who are paid directly by the government. This is not what Obama is proposing, and exists in countries like Cuba and China, but rarely in Western democracies. What is being proposed is a "single payer" system, which is an alternative insurance policy that is administered by the government and subsidized by the taxpayer. This already exists in the U.S. via Medicare, Medicaid and the federal plan already offered to U.S. federal employees. There are A LOT of proposals out there on both sides. The best solution comes by not injecting hyperbolic language into the discussion. Currently, what is being hashed out in Congress is expanding Medicare/federal health insurance, and/or having non-profit insurance, and/or co-op insurance, in tandem with some serious cost reduction proposals (tort reform, improving health IT, etc). But SOCIALIZED MEDICINE is not, by definition, being proposed or on the table.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment