What does our nation need on health care? Or rather, what should we force other people to pay for? That is what we are talking about when we talk about health care plans and presidential candidate.
Columnist Roger Simon went to listen to the Democratic candidates talk about it. Here is what John Edwards promised.
I would cover all Americans. There would be shared responsibilities: Employers must cover their employees or pay into a fund. The government would create health care markets, and you could choose your health care provider. Some would be private and some would be Medicare-plus -- kind of single-payer (i.e., government-run) plan. Everyone in America will be required by law to be covered by a health care plan.
It would cost, he said, “$90 billion to $120 billion per year in government costs.”
Hillary Clinton, she of HillaryCare fame, was more circumspect.
A lot of people like what they have now. We don’t want people feeling that government will come in and tell me what to do and what doctor I want to go to. We will give people a choice. We have to look at that as a framework.
So although she was all in favor of a universal system she put its implementation out into the future.
I want universal health care coverage by the end of my second term
On another planet is Robert J. Cihak, retired physician.
Look for “disruptive innovation” in your health-care future, he advises.
About a year after his diabetes diagnosis, he started using his own handheld blood glucose meter. He used it to observe how his blood sugar responded to... food... exercise... and other life activities... He then knew much more about his body’s response to his diabetes than his doctors ever could.
But of course, he’s not allowed to get his own “HbA1c test (glycosylated hemoglobin)” test. For that he has to go into hospital for a three-hour procedure. And then the results are reported to his doctor, not to him, the expert.
But then a new company offered a $16 do-it-yourself test kit. He "put two drops of blood on a strip, mailed it back to them, and three days later, they sent me my HbA1c score."
Do you get the feeling that the Democrats will have their universal health care just about put in place by the time that medical advances make it completely obsolete?
Kinda like their government pension scheme, and their government education scheme?
Let’s see now. Let’s get the current government spending numbers on all that, before we get universal health care.
United States Federal, State,
and Local Government Spending
Fiscal Year 2007
Amounts in billions of dollars
Pensions: $872.7
Health Care: $844.4
Education: $744.8
source: usgovernmentspending.com
Hey. What’s another $100 billion on top of that?
No comments:
Post a Comment