- What can be done to help the tens of millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans?
- Does society have a moral responsibility to provide healthcare?
- What is the government's responsibility? business? individuals?
- Do healthy individuals have a right to "opt out" of healthcare?
- Would you pay more for healthcare (or receive reduced services) in exchange for more people being covered by healthcare?
- What about inefficiencies in the system -- would reforming the procedural end of healthcare lead to a more affordable system?
- How much do lawsuits and court judgements aggravate the problem?
Here is an opportunity to continue the discussion --
A legitimate concern of many that currently have health plans with which they are satisfied, is that expanding coverage to those that don't will impact negatively upon their present situation. Realistically, either more efficient systems with lower costs, or more money from or lesser services to current satisfied people will be needed to pay for universal coverage. Life is about priorities. Some will not tolerate lowering of their personal circumstances to improve the lot of others; others willingly accept this. In all probability, I suspect that this is a choice that we will face. What are our priorities? What kind of people are we?
ReplyDeleteOur health care delivery system is neither effective or efficient. Other countries cover all their citizens at half of what we spend and have comparable or better results. If anyone is interested in the numbers, I will be happy to send them to you.
ReplyDeletePhysicians are over specialized and are not available to their patients 24/7. This drives up the use of 911 and ERS and both are very expensive ways to deliver care.
How many times have you called your MD and gotten a recording that says, "If this is an emergency go to the ER and if you aren't able to get there call 911"? How many times have you had to wait several weeks for an appointment and started to wonder why bother to have a regular MD?