http://www.nashvillescene.com/pitw/archives/2008/10/07/bbc-talks-to-nashvillians-about-universal-health-care Comments On: BBC Talks to Nashvillians About Universal Health Care by Jack Silverman en-us Copyright 2013 Nashville Scene. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Nashville Scene readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Nashville Scene. wil@desert.net (Nashville Scene Webmaster) Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Wed, 22 May 2013 08:45:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss In short, you want to vote yourself a handout of somebody else's money.
And that, in nutshell, is what "entitlement" programs are all about.
Posted by Gilbert Martin]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:37:49 -0500 Nashville Scene It would seem to my pea brain that our society at large has considered it a "benefit" to not watch old people die without healthcare. Or children or pregnant mothers.
Posted by Anonymous]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:58:34 -0500 Nashville Scene Posted by Gilbert Martin]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:09:45 -0500 Nashville Scene What I know is that the boosters of any proposed entitlement program always deliberatly lowball the estimated amount they claim it will cost in order to convince enough people to support getting it passed.
Posted by Gilbert Martin]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:05:04 -0500 Nashville Scene Posted by Pete Kotz]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:03:48 -0500 Nashville Scene And as I said before, it's reimbursement rates do not cover the provider costs so the providers are shifting some of those costs over onto those covered by private insurance. Medicare would look even less "efficient" if it were unable to get away with that.
Posted by Gilbert Martin]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:32:39 -0500 Nashville Scene Posted by Pete Kotz]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:23:44 -0500 Nashville Scene It has absolutely nothing to do with how efficiently the program is operated -- which was Kotz's point.
Posted by BoydBBiggs]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:23:19 -0500 Nashville Scene Uh huh.
Meanwhile back in the real world, Medicare is so "efficient" that the 2008 Medicare trustee report shows it has accumumlated an unfunded liabilty balance of $85.9 trillion dollars.
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba616/
Read it and weep.
And even those numbers don't capture the whole cost of it because Medicare (and Tenncare as well) do not reimburse Medical providers for the full cost of the care provided to the patients covered by those programs. To make up the difference those Medical providers then shift as much of that cost as they can get away with onto - guess who?
People with private insurance and those who pay out of pocket for care - driving up their costs.
Tell us some more fairy tales, Kotz.
Posted by Gilbert Martin]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:28:01 -0500 Nashville Scene Strawman.
When did our bankrupt government earn yours?
Posted by Kevin]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:43:52 -0500 Nashville Scene Posted by Pete Kotz]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:35:05 -0500 Nashville Scene Countries that have national healthcare still sell private insurance and those folks can still see private doctors on their own timetable.
Posted by runsatthepool]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:35:59 -0500 Nashville Scene Like everyhing else, healthcare is a finite resource.
Posted by Gilbert Martin]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:23:31 -0500 Nashville Scene I wonder how everyone who is being responsible and taking care of themselves feels about been told by people like Jack that they should consider themselves obilgated to cough up more money and/or accept more restrictions on their own healthcare plans to bail out other people?
Posted by Gilbert Martin]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:17:11 -0500 Nashville Scene "I wonder how he'll feel if he's one of the tens of thousands of Americans who will likely lose their jobs in the next year, or if he's suddenly struck with a devastating illness."
And it's the government's job to make sure these horrible things don't happen? Perhaps while they are at it, they can put a stop to these pesky hurricanes and tornadoes.
How, may I ask, is a bankrupt government supposed to provide "free" healthcare to 300 million people?
Posted by Kevin]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:59:49 -0500 Nashville Scene Another dimension is that being covered under private insurance doesn't always "cover" you.
Posted by BoydBBiggs]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:32:08 -0500 Nashville Scene Friends from Canada brought their ailing father to Nashville for treatment because he had been put on a waiting list 6 months long for an angioplasty.
Posted by Maggie]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:58:18 -0500 Nashville Scene Posted by Maggie]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:50:02 -0500 Nashville Scene