Larry Kudlow, “Obama’s ‘Public’ Health Plan Will Bankrupt the Nation.” Kudlow argues that Obamacare would bankrupt the nation because adding 50million people will definitely further the debt that America is already in. It's strange though because he uses so many statistics but he doesn't tell you where they came from...a lot of things are vague. Like when he says "Does anybody really believe that adding 50 million people to the public health-care rolls will not cost the government more money?" You are left wondering who are the 50million people that would be added? Do they have access to medical care? Do they have money to pay for their medical bills? He also throws big statistics at you like "Let’s not forget that the existing Medicare system is roughly $80 trillion in the hole." Which is turning this into a fact to the reader who doesn't actually think about where this statistic came from or the reader who doesn't know that Americas National Debt is around 13trillion dollars...but If you do know that, it makes that totally uncredible, because how can a Americas national debt be 13trillion and an agency within america is 80trillion in debt? It doesn't add up.
George F. Will, "Dr. Leavitt's Scary Diagnosis." Dr. Leavitt was a secretary of the department of health and he talks about how health care can be a "nation ruining issue." In the first paragraph he tells us that over the next two years the amount of taxes paid that go towards Medicare and Medicaid "will go from 23 percent to 41 percent of average household income." This is crazy! it almost doubles, and thats only for the average household. Now I'm wondering what is the average household defined as...He goes on to give some history about Medicare and how things are different now as the three major operations done in hospitals for elderly are knee, hip, and cardiovascular surgeries, which were not common in 1965 when health care was created. I learned that 43 years ago it was decided that Medicare would be paid for by those who were still currently working., but as the # of seniors has grown the # of workers has declined- thus creating a very bad problem for medicare. Now I know why Medicare is underfunded, well part of the reason anyways. "Leavitt says that until health-care recipients of common procedures can get, upfront, prices they can understand and compare, there will be little accountability or discipline in the system." This basically tells me that the current health care system is totally unrealiable and wild and you never know what your bill will be so thats why its an unstable system.
Health Care is Not Too Expensive
Joel A. Harrison, “Paying More, Getting Less.” When I read this article on tuesday night I didn't really understand everything clearly except for the fact in Ameriacs Health care plan, something has gone wrong, but it is possible to have a health care system that works. "In 2006, U.S. health care spending exceeded 16% of the nation’s GDP. To put U.S. spending into perspective: the United States spent 15.3% of GDP on health care in 2004, while Canada spent 9.9%, France 10.7%, Germany 10.9%, Sweden 9.1%, and the United Kingdom 8.7%. Or consider per capita spending: the United States spent $6,037 per person in 2004, compared to Canada at $3,161, France at $3,191, Germany at $3,169, and the U.K. at $2,560." Right in the begining of the article that writer introduces all of the statistics of the wealthiest countries and what they spend on health care, comparitive and contrastive. Overall you can come to the conclusion that America pays about double the amount per capita that Canada, France, Germany, and the UK spend. There is obviously something wrong with that because those countries are smaller therefore create smaller revenues compared to America. So America should have a lower overall cost since there is so much more revenue in the US than in the other countries. The article reveals to some people that health care is already paid by everyone sort of secretly by taxes. There is just so many little fragments of your taxes that go off to separate government health care agencies...so that makes you ask how are we in a health care crisis if we are already unknowingly paying health care through our taxes? Thats when you find out that the agencies use the money for things like paying their employees and other things, but not actual clinical related things. The money is used for nonclinical objects. That part probably makes a lot of people mad.
Randall Hoven, “A Conservative Case for Universal Health Coverage.” "We now have the worst of both worlds: we are paying for universal health coverage, but not getting it. In fact, we pay more for health care in taxes than countries that provide universal coverage. Then we pay more than that amount again in private coverage. Additionally, what we have now in the U.S. is nowhere near a free market in health care. Defending the status quo is not defending a free market. And if socialized medicine is your fear, we already have it." This quote was in the begining of that article and it s hows what this person is going to talk about in that article. I'm confused because they don't explain what socialized medicine is but they don't like it. He goes on to talk about how America spends so much more than other countries on health care using statistics.
"So let's review. The government provides Medicare for the old, Medicaid for the poor, veterans' hospitals for veterans, medical research funding and whatever else adds up to 6.6% of GDP. The federal government forces hospitals to provide emergency treatment to all comers. State governments mandate over 1,900 types of coverage on health insurance. Health care regulations cost the average household over $1,500.We already have socialized medicine and we are already paying for it -- twice: once in taxes and once privately. What we are not getting is universal coverage." This quote kinda recaps everything that I have read, even in other articles. So he can connect with the author of the article before this one about Leavitty, because he states we are paying for universal health care, yet we aren't recieving it. That seems to be a reoccuring idea.
If we are to be consistent libertarians, then the government should stop meddling in health care and health insurance altogether. End Medicare. End Medicaid. Close down veterans' hospitals. Stop funding medical research. Stop funding pharmaceutical research. Stop mandating vaccines. Stop mandating emergency room treatment. Stop mandating health insurance policies. Stop doing those things that cost us 6.6% of our GDP when we have to kick in another 7% or more of our own.If our government stopped all those things, then I would a happy libertarian.
There is his basic ideal opinion.
MY OPINION?
Reading all of these articles has introduced a boat load of new info to me....I think I really agree that we are paying for universal health care but we aren't recieving it and that its kind of ridiculous how they sneakily use our tax money to pay government health care agencies and then the government health care agencies don't even use the money on actual clinically related issues. I agree with the first, that Health Care is TOO exspensive. But I also believe that it can be changed if they changed the system. So maybe instead of just sneaking those wierd fragments into your taxes they could outright just say THIS IS FOR HEALTH CARE TAXES:$__________. Then people would understand where there money is going but that won't exactly cure the whole crisis. I remember reading an article where Regina ____ said that in Switzerland? I think that everyone pays the same amount no matter your social class and that works in her country so why wouldn't it work here. I think maybe America should start to stop trying to be a loner and do things like they know whats best for their citizens beacuse they obviously don't or else there wouldn't be this huge crisis. They should get their head out of the clouds and just like see what actually works in other countries and debate whether it would work here in America. It's just an Idea.
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