Affordable Health Care Law under review by SCOTUS

[GwynnInTheHall]

If you move to single payer - the aspirin will likely still cost $5. If you are frustrated with the MASSIVE COLLUSION - then fix that. Who is responsible for allowing the MASSIVE COLLUSION - the good ol US GOVT.

Corporations and the Wealthy, who control Govt right now.

[Hornsby]

If you move to single payer - the aspirin will likely still cost $5. If you are frustrated with the MASSIVE COLLUSION - then fix that. Who is responsible for allowing the MASSIVE COLLUSION - the good ol US GOVT.

Yawn, same old..."nope, can't fix it, it's the GOVERNMENT'S fault"!

So come up with an idea then, answer the other questions put towards you, and the answer isn't competition. There are plenty of different hospitals and insurance companies out there, competition between them is nothing more than an illusion.

[baldgriff]

You just don't get it, you just don't.

I sincerely hope you are never in need and if somehow you find yourself there--you haven;t surrounded yourself with like minded people.

Actually I do get it. You want everyone to have great medical coverage. I think that is laudable. Until such time that our gov't is not owned by big pharma and other companies - we will never have medical coverage that doesnt line the pockets of investors with dividends, stock options and bonuses - at the expense of all of us paying it.

So unless you deal with the causes of why medical insurance is so damned expensive like:
MASSIVE Collusion
Drug Patents and Generics
Hospitals and Medical Centers over billing

you cant get "cheaper" insurance. The whole program is owned by a government that has no actual interest in moving away from what already exists in order to ensure profits continue. Whole sectors of our financial markets are based on health care and insurance, making a large change to an essentially not for profit service will likely affect our economy and your 401k. You want this to happen, I would say you should divest any of your assets in these markets as a protest to the existing policies.

I want to say this again - I am not necessarily against Single Payer - I just dont believe it is some magic pill that fixes everything.

[baldgriff]

Yawn, same old..."nope, can't fix it, it's the GOVERNMENT'S fault"!

So come up with an idea then, answer the other questions put towards you, and the answer isn't competition. There are plenty of different hospitals and insurance companies out there, competition between them is nothing more than an illusion.

I have continuously said you have to fix the problems that exist and allow the competition to actually happen.

[DMT]

You can't pick and choose and you know that, you're just bitching because you don't agree with how it's spent. Again, if I have to tolerate Defense spending, you have to tolerate paying for my grandpa's heart transplant.

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."

[DMT]

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.

[Redbirds Fan]

Posting this for the third time - Ben Shapiro says this really well - maybe this time someone will watch this.

I watched. I didn't comment for a couple of reasons. One is that Ben Shapiro isn't an expert on anything. He got of school, practiced law for about six minutes, and started holding forth on the real word without having participated in it.

The second reason is that he is just wrong on so many counts. X-rays aren't expensive because the government regulates them. X-rays are expensive because of capital costs. Radiology clinics cost less because they have less invested, but the machines are still expensive. Hospitals charge more. The government doesn't tell them what to charge.
And though the specialties he names do make a lot, Orthopedics and Cardiology still top the charts so far as income is concerned. Anesthesiologists depend upon insurance, not cash. As do dermatologists, at least outside of SoCal.

This guy was Editor of Breitbart. That should say enough.

[Hornsby]

I have continuously said you have to fix the problems that exist and allow the competition to actually happen.

So again, what do you propose? What fixes need to be done? How do you get your "competition" to actually occur?

[Redbirds Fan]

The issues with the Pharma market is due to the way patents on drugs are allowed to be maintained for excessive periods of time - which doesnt allow for the implementation of "generics". I take generic Zyrtec basically everyday. Zyrtec was an allergy medicine that was very expensive until their patent expired. Now I get a bottle of 100 Allertec pills - Costco generic - for about 20 dollars. Its the regulations that allow this bullshit to happen. Who sets the regulations? The Govt.

Big Pharma demands lengthy patents, which allow them to keep their drug prices up. Other countries have shorter patent periods, which is why you can get name brand drugs at ridiculously cheap prices there. The argument is that it costs so much to develop the drugs that the companies need to charge so much for so long to get their money back. That is supposedly why a $25 pill becomes a twenty cent pill as a generic. So don't blame the government for that.

[baldgriff]

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."

In the future please quote me correctly!

I stated the following:
"I dont want out of the social contract. I want to be able to participate where I see the need. The govt taking my money for programs - many of which I dislike - makes it less possible for me to apply my funds to places where I see need or have a passion to help with.

Which is fucking shit ton different than 'I just want to participate when it works for me'.

If I want to then support research in medical marijuana more actively I can.
If I want to then support programs that encourage education in the trades I can.
If I want to then support programs that aid in alzheimer's research, or breast cancer, or whatever other health or social concerns I have I can.

[baldgriff]

Big Pharma demands lengthy patents, which allow them to keep their drug prices up. Other countries have shorter patent periods, which is why you can get name brand drugs at ridiculously cheap prices there. The argument is that it costs so much to develop the drugs that the companies need to charge so much for so long to get their money back. That is supposedly why a $25 pill becomes a twenty cent pill as a generic. So don't blame the government for that.

The govt allows the lengthy patents that other countries dont.

[baldgriff]

I watched. I didn't comment for a couple of reasons. One is that Ben Shapiro isn't an expert on anything. He got of school, practiced law for about six minutes, and started holding forth on the real word without having participated in it.

The second reason is that he is just wrong on so many counts. X-rays aren't expensive because the government regulates them. X-rays are expensive because of capital costs. Radiology clinics cost less because they have less invested, but the machines are still expensive. Hospitals charge more. The government doesn't tell them what to charge.
And though the specialties he names do make a lot, Orthopedics and Cardiology still top the charts so far as income is concerned. Anesthesiologists depend upon insurance, not cash. As do dermatologists, at least outside of SoCal.

This guy was Editor of Breitbart. That should say enough.

This guy left Breitbart because of Bannon.

[Redbirds Fan]

As for who gets the heart or the liver, if a person is an alcoholic, or a drug addict, or has a short life expectancy for another reason, they get put at the end of the waiting list, which effectively means they won't get the organ. The boards of experts who make those decisions are the closest thing we have to "death panels", and they aren't government.

[Redbirds Fan]

This guy left Breitbart because of Bannon.

Is that supposed to make him a hero?

[DMT]

The govt allows the lengthy patents that other countries dont.

And you don't think Big Pharma has anything to do with it?