Comprehensive proposal offers alternative to Medicare for All.
Two Republican congressmen introduced proposals Tuesday designed to fix America’s health care system through a variety of market-oriented reforms.
Despite recent efforts to the contrary—most prominently through the Affordable Care Act—the American health care system continues to suffer intractable issues of coverage and cost. Even after the implementation of Obamacare, 29 million Americans remain uninsured. Personal expenditures on health care have also continued to rise, with costs reaching 18 percent of GDP in 2017.
Many prominent Democrats, including 2020 contenders, have publicly embraced Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I., Vt.) proposal to expand Medicare to cover all Americans. Such a single-payer system would, at least on paper, provide universal coverage. However, critics argue that the proposal would be prohibitively expensive and would represent an unwarranted and unprecedented expansion of state power into the marketplace.
Republicans have been slow to propose a comprehensive alternative, which may have hurt their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare under undivided government. The proposals released Tuesday, from Reps. Bruce Westerman (R., Ark.) and Jim Banks (R., Ind.), represent one attempt at filling that gap. more here
” which may have hurt their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare under undivided government”
…Did you SEE John McCain? Jeff Flake? Susan Collins? Paul Ryan? A score of OTHER RINO traitors?
…Undivided Government MY ASS…
There will be no movement on healthcare the next 2 years. For Dems it will be government-only or nothing. They will not permit anything that would make the case for capitalism stronger.
No one ever seems to talk about realistic costs of their proposals.
Realistic, not imaginary projections that sound good to give them appeal.
I guess the cost is going to be one of those “have to pass it to see” sort of things.
Here is Government health care from England:
An Aunt in England fell and broke her hip. 86 years old.
They sent her home to wait six weeks for surgery. Six weeks!
In pain, with only her 89 year old husband to care for her.
Fuck socialism and the little Hitler’s pushing it.
People in this country don’t believe in free markets.
What BS! Why didn’t they push this when they had the majority? More stupid GOP tricks. “We tried to pass a bill but the mean Dems wouldn’t let us!”
Socialists will not miss Free market capitalism until it’s gone and too late to recover. Hell bent on destroying anything that’s good in this world. Starting with the most innocent of lives, new born babies!! of all things! And reject care for botched abortions. I have a hard time believing this country isn’t run by rule of some sick twisted joke.
@Lazlo – I was in a car accident a few years ago, went to the ER but fortunately only bruised ribs (side impact) and a couple of broken bones in one hand, nothing sticking out. They splinted the hand, I went in 3 days later and the only reason they didn’t do surgery that day was that I had a bowl of cereal in the morning. That was a Friday, had the surgery on Monday. Healthcare may be expensive here (although it doesn’t need to be) but it can be pretty efficient.
As long as you have Insurance companies involved in it, it will be or eventually will be single payer health care….Take a look at what the CEO’s of health insurers make. Then consider the costs of the Administrators of health insurance. Then the costs of all the people that merely push paper around the health care industry…
It’s like trying to find a difference between the bids of electricians, HVAC providers, plumbers, etc. They all protect their bottom line by price fixing. Then go try to find much of a difference between car, boat, motorcycle, property and casualty insurers. You probably won’t find a difference of $500 dollars between them.
When Geico and Progressive get into health insurance we’re all fucked because you’ll then know it’s a very profitable business model…
29 million people uninsured! And costs still rising! That’s unpossible! Obamacare fixed all that! He promised. What happened to bendy cost curves?
Free market reforms are long overdue, but will not happen because the curtain will be pulled away from the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. I have a relative who needed surgery; he negotiated directly with the hospital he wanted to go to and the doctor he wanted to perform the surgery, and paid about 20% of what his health insurer would have paid. He also paid less than his deductible and co-pay would have been. But in addition to eliminating private insurance, our political masters also want to eliminate this self-pay option as well.
At least two types of medical procedures are not covered by any insurance; Lasik and cosmetic surgery. Both have actually seen prices decrease over time. That should tell us something.
Get the know nothing, inefficient, well meaning but clueless government out of health care period. THEY are responsible for most problems, unreasonable costs. Then do something about tort reform.
Nowhere at any time in history has an insurance company diagnosed, operated on, or cured even one patient.
Why TF are they even being mentioned at all???
I’m a healthcare provider. I support free-market reform. It would immediately lower costs to provide treatment which would get passed on to the consumer.
If you want to return to free market, you have to gut Medicare, Medicade, ACA, AND that federal law that demands emergency rooms treat everyone who walks in the door without caring about ability to pay. All of those things force cost shifting from non-payers onto the backs of people who have real insurance and drive up everyone’s costs. Government only interferes with the free market.
Case in Point:
Just today, my PCP prescribed an ultrasound test .
I have UPMC health Insurance..
Out of pocket on my end through them $1300.
I called an independent provider, test then read and reporting provided to my PCP…$150
That’s Bullshit, and 100%, Truth