Affordable Health Care Law under review by SCOTUS

[In the Corn]

Hyperbolic much?

It's not great, but is it the worst ever?

Well the sculpture does have more of a Jimmy Carter smile than Obama...

[Hodor]

Well the sculpture does have more of a Jimmy Carter smile than Obama...

Yeah, it's not flattering whatsoever

[baldgriff]

20 years is lengthy?

I dont know you tell me?

20 years of owning the only patent on a singular product that can save lives and allowing you to charge whatever you want? The owner of the Epipen patent appear to have that protection until 2025.

Again, if you make something and it works - great! Put it on the market. If another company finds a better more cost efficient method that competes with what you made - well you may have to drop your price or make improvements to your device to compete with theirs. Allowing some lifesaving device to have patent protection for 20 years??

Seems way to long to me.

[baldgriff]

What you see as Govt's failing I see as Corporate overreach. Maybe they're now one in the same. Maybe we're blaming the same people.

Bottomline, making money off people's health needs to stop.

I think we ARE ultimately blaming the same problem - and see different causes to the problem. Corporations are "for profit" organizations that will do whatever necessary to provide their investors with great dividends and ROI. They may not have a line item called bribes or pay the govt off, but what in the hell do their lobbyists do? Wine and Dine the policy makers in order to get a more beneficial policy for the Corporation. Government and its representatives are supposed to be there for their constituency (the people portion of "We the People") - as such I hold them to a higher standard that they should not be accepting expensive gifts/dinners/bribes in trade for their vote.

We are at its core a capitalistic society. When you say making money off people's health needs to stop. Be careful what you wish for - if there is no economic benefit for someone becoming a doctor, nurse, phlebotomist, anesthetist or other job in the medical world - then those jobs will go away and at some point you will not have anyone to do them.

Now we are back to the stick and carrot thing.

[TranaGreg]

We are at its core a capitalistic society. When you say making money off people's health needs to stop. Be careful what you wish for - if there is no economic benefit for someone becoming a doctor, nurse, phlebotomist, anesthetist or other job in the medical world - then those jobs will go away and at some point you will not have anyone to do them.

This isn't an issue. Again, look to what is happening around the world ... other countries don't have any problem compensating doctors. There is a wide range of types of state-sponsored health care systems out here, and we all have competent professionals taking care of us.

[cardboardbox]

If I were a republican strategist I'd tell them to realize they lost the battle, 2012 was the last chance to repeal obamacare and even then it wasnt a sure thing if they had won. Regardless of their free market principles, there's no going back, entitlements dont go away, they only grow. Once republicans understand this they can then focus on creating the best health care entitlement they can think of that doesnt cause people to lose insurance or pay more for it.

[GwynnInTheHall]

I think we ARE ultimately blaming the same problem - and see different causes to the problem. Corporations are "for profit" organizations that will do whatever necessary to provide their investors with great dividends and ROI. They may not have a line item called bribes or pay the govt off, but what in the hell do their lobbyists do? Wine and Dine the policy makers in order to get a more beneficial policy for the Corporation. Government and its representatives are supposed to be there for their constituency (the people portion of "We the People") - as such I hold them to a higher standard that they should not be accepting expensive gifts/dinners/bribes in trade for their vote.

We are at its core a capitalistic society. When you say making money off people's health needs to stop. Be careful what you wish for - if there is no economic benefit for someone becoming a doctor, nurse, phlebotomist, anesthetist or other job in the medical world - then those jobs will go away and at some point you will not have anyone to do them.

Now we are back to the stick and carrot thing.

And again I'll reiterate, the profession was not meant to be a profit make it was to HEAL people. That capitalists and other greedy fucks distorted the purpose is immaterial.

Doctors heal people.


BTW we are seeing the beginning of the end of this capitalist model. It may take a few decades, but this country will be more socialist by 2050 than you'd probably like. If not this country will have endured another civil war.

[GwynnInTheHall]

I dont know you tell me?

20 years of owning the only patent on a singular product that can save lives and allowing you to charge whatever you want? The owner of the Epipen patent appear to have that protection until 2025.

Again, if you make something and it works - great! Put it on the market. If another company finds a better more cost efficient method that competes with what you made - well you may have to drop your price or make improvements to your device to compete with theirs. Allowing some lifesaving device to have patent protection for 20 years??

Seems way to long to me.

You want an open market for healthcare, but complain when a patent law , which protects the businessperson who worked hard to create the drug, makes your medicine cost too much?

You either want for profit medicine or you do not.

Can't keep trying to have it both ways brother.

[gcstomp]

There will be plenty of incentive for doctors to still be paid well in single payer system. You can pull up chart of average doctor pay in other countries and they all make decent living. In US though its on a different level. Look up average salary doctor in canada, you will see its maybe 150k for a cardiologist or other specialist, while in US its over 300k, 400k for specialists in some fields. Same as PhD professors in this country, or other countries make a decent living, over 100k a year, its not trying to break the system type compensation. There will be plenty carrot and stick, but it should not be a hit the lotto mindset, but about doing good, helping people, and you will still make a comfortable living to reward your long years of study. Just not break the bank numbers that strangle patients.

The system is broken, healthcare is a basic need of people, but we have entire buildings set up for billing/coding trying to extract max dollars, rather than emphasis on helping people.

[Fresno Bob]

BG, why is it that every other industrial nation is able to offer single-payer yet we can't? Is it the government's fault? Really? Or maybe it's the lobbies that represent the various corporations that run our health care system that have bought off enough officials to ensure they get to continue making millions on the suffering of others. Mostly Republicans in case that isn't obvious.

Bingo.....it's not like there aren't examples all over the world

[Fresno Bob]

Really, that was a telling response from BG. "I don't want out of the social contract, I just want to participate when it works for me."

page 12 of "Atlas Shrugged", right?

[nots]

Bingo.....it's not like there aren't examples all over the world

Dont most involve some iteration of a VAT tax?

[DMT]

page 12 of "Atlas Shrugged", right?

Don't know, didn't make it that far.

[The Feral Slasher]

Wait?? You think if you provide better service at lower prices, that your competition may have to do the same in order to compete?

Is this why we see multiple auto mobile insurance commercials everyday - telling us that they are better and cheaper and provide better services? In fact isnt there one company that gets you quotes for multiple places as the same time to help get the best price you can. I think their name is Progressive - if I recall correctly. That is ironic in some way, isnt it.

Real life just reminded me of this thread. A guy at work said he would be in late because he had to fight with the health insurance company about re-imbursement. Anyway said he budgeted 30 minutes and it took 3 hours. How do they get away with this ? Why haven't they been put out of business by a company with better customer service ?

[Pogues]

Real life just reminded me of this thread. A guy at work said he would be in late because he had to fight with the health insurance company about re-imbursement. Anyway said he budgeted 30 minutes and it took 3 hours. How do they get away with this ? Why haven't they been put out of business by a company with better customer service ?

I spent 8 months...MONTHS...trying to get a screw up that Maryland Health Connection (part of the ACA) made to our insurance, and it could never get fixed correctly. It left us without insurance from June until the end of the year.

3 hours? Not that bad.