Public option for healthcare

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by TheGame

I'm not argueing with you directly, see the line you quoted? I could have sworn that I said your arguement was "very reasonable". You're telling one side of the story, I'm telling the other. I wouldn't call your arguement reasonable if I disagreed with most of what you had said...

Ok, I think the problem we have here is misassociation. When you quote me and then start talking against 100% private healthcare, the reader makes the association between my argument and 100% privately funded healthcare and they believe you are claiming that is my argument. That understood, I think we can continue.

That said, while you've supposedly agreed that there is no perfect option, you've continued to argue against imperfection, i.e. "Care to give an example of an insurance company that would provide health insurance to anyone regardless of age and medical condition who does not have any concern about profit?" At leats thats close enough to an ideal perfect world argument as we're likely to see.

In that vein, my response will be not to argue for private healthcare, which ihas shown provide excellent but not universal healthcare, but against public that has shown to provide horrible but universal healthcare.

Here are some huge problems with universal public options:

1) If a universal public option is available, why would a smaller business provide a private policy at their expense or why would most people, especially young people, spend their own money on insurance if they could afford it when there is a alternative that a) they are already paying for in their taxes or b) is being paid for by rich people if the current funding solutions are to be believed? What would likely happen is that most company plans would disappear and the industry would react and your moderate healthcare plans would disappear, and what would remain are gold plated/luxury options for those who can afford it and high profile corporations who can use those plans as recruitment tools for the best and brightest. So you end up with great healthcare for the wealthy few and then an overcrowded, undermanned ghetto options for "everybody else". This only continues my general theory that progressive social engineering does more to divide the classes than bring them together.

2) Equity. Everyone pays, but what if one person is a marathon runner and eats only organic brocolli, and someone else loves vodka, smokes and twinkies? Is that "fair"? Will healthy eating and weightloss be made legal mandates or a fineable offense? If so, who makes those determinations and what exactly will they be? Will regular checkups become an obligation that is enforceable? Will sin taxes be added to items that are deemed a detriment to our health? This is the problem whe people make the mistake of mixing the "right" of healthare with public funding.

3) Precedent. If we look towards Canadian and European examples for what to expect from universal healthcare, we would ask 70% of our populace to receive care that is vastly inferior to what they are receiving now, so that the 30% (15% of which qualify for public options now) can get care. Why are we abandoning the majority who have what works to accomodate the minority who have nothing, many of whom choose to have nothing? Why can;t we keep what works and then improve what doesn't instead of abandoning everything for a system that we know FAILS.

4) Recourse. Right now if someone wants to sue a doctor for malpractice, they have no issues and if they win they'll receive damages. If healthcare is made public, you would literally have to sue the government. Did you know you can only sue the government if they say you can? In fact, supposedly part of the current bill bans companies from suing the federal government, and prevents the judicial system from hearing cases on the constitutionality the ban. Ooops! They removed the wrong breast! Too bad cancer-lady!

Here is an interesting article about the current Healthcare bill in question, with a link to the source document. I will state ahead of time, I have not fact checked this article, but I'm at work and leaving so I'll research it better later this weekend.

http://www.examiner.com/x-17412-Maco...alth-care-bill