There is no need to go through all the contortions I see on this board today to get to universal

[wasupaloopa]

health care.


As I read the information below, I believe that our health care problem in this country is that the cost is too high. Those who have coverage pay too much and those without coverage cannot afford to pay at all.

The answer to my mind is to lower drug costs, regulate the insurance industry and to provide a means tested public option. The result would be, lower costs and universal health care coverage.

The best part of this idea is that it could be implemented within a year after we win the White House, the Senate and the House.


The following information is from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_coverage_in_the_United_States

During 2016, the U.S. population overall was approximately 325 million

During the year 2016, 91.2% of Americans had health insurance coverage.

53 million people 65 years of age and over, covered by the federal Medicare program.

Approximately 15 million military personnel received coverage through the Veteran's Administration and Military Health System.

people under age 65 either obtained their coverage from employer-based (155 million) or non-employer based (90 million) sources, or were uninsured (27 million).

the US remains the sole industrialized nation in the world without universal health care coverage

Prohibitively high cost is the primary reason Americans give for problems accessing health care.

Multiple surveys indicate the number of uninsured fell between 2013-2016 due to expanded Medicaid eligibility and health insurance exchanges established due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the "ACA" or "Obamacare".

According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2012 there were 45.6 million people in the US (14.8% of the under-65 population) who were without health insurance. Following the implementation of major ACA provisions in 2013, this figure fell by 18.3 million or 40%, to 27.3 million by 2016 or 8.6% of the under-65 population.

The Census Bureau reported that the number of uninsured persons rose from 27.3 million in 2016 to 28.0 million in 2017. The uninsured rate rose from 8.6% in 2016 to 8.7% in 2017.[8] This was the first increase in the number and rate of uninsured since 2010. Further, the Commonwealth Fund estimated in May 2018 that the number of uninsured increased by 4 million from early 2016 to early 2018. The rate of those uninsured increased from 12.7% in 2016 to 15.5% under their methodology.

[elleng]

1. The health care delivery systems is a mess because of Richard Nixon.

While written in 2017, this article is relevant more than ever.

http://healthoverprofit.org/2017/03/19/for-profit-health-care-used-to-be-illegal/

In 1973, Nixon did a personal favor for his friend and campaign financier, Edgar Kaiser, then president and chairman of Kaiser-Permanente. Nixon signed into law, the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973, in which medical insurance agencies, hospitals, clinics and even doctors, could begin functioning as for-profit business entities instead of the service organizations they were intended to be. >>>

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287330901


I see no easy/simple solutions NOW.

[wasupaloopa]

5. Kaiser health care was originally a benefit for Kiaser steel employees. They worked at the Eagle

Mountain Mine or at the foundry in Fontana CA.

[wasupaloopa]

6. I just gave you one! We were on the right track in 2008.

[Thekaspervote]

2. These are all very valid ideas. Some were part of the original ACA

[LonePirate]

3. Unfortunately, a lot of Dems and DUers do not want universal health care.

They are uneducated about what universal health care is or they are in the pocket of some segment of the health care industry or they believe Republican talking points about it. Take your pick.

[empedocles]

4. Or, they distinguish between Dem primary campaigns, and the campaign to get rid of trump

[elleng]

7. IMO, attempting to 'debate' this big issue, as part of campaigns, is a HUGE mistake,

much too complex and fraught.

[Celerity]

16. I so agree with this nt

[LonePirate]

8. That's a bogus talking point. We can run a corpse and defeat 45 next November.

I suspect pretty much everyone who uses that same excuse as you did is against universal health care because it is/will be trotted out as an excuse every election.

[empedocles]

9. It is possible that any Dem may be able to win, but the question then would be,

could 'any Dem' get much done?

Almost any Dem could have won in 2008, but without broad support, getting things done were limited. It is sacrilegious to some here to say that, but Obama achieved much less than possible after 2010, because he did not have broad support.

[wasupaloopa]

14. No it is not. You are left with making up shit in the campaign. Presidential candidates will not be

the ones making real policy. I will be done in a future Congress that isn't even elected yet.

All Warren and Bernie can do is hire staff to make shit up and that is just what is happening.

First Bernie calls his "plan" a bill, then Warren is forced to tell us how she plans to pay for it. Something Bernie refuses to do.

There is not a shred of reality in anything either one of them says about health care other than some people are uninsured and the cost is too high.

[LonePirate]

18. If you don't like the MFA plans, then you must really despise the other health care plans.

Those plans do nothing to help the uninsured. They also do nothing to lower out of pocket expenses like co-pays, deductibles, out of network costs, prescriptions, etc. I cannot even begin to imagine what you think will improve the health system in this country.

[Hoyt]

10. If you cut drug prices in half and got rid of insurance companies, you'd save

10%, maybe a bit more, at best. Your premiums would go from $1000 to $900. A help, but not a lot.

I do agree increased subsidies are needed to insure more people and reduce out-of-pocket costs, but there is so much more that will need to be done.

[Turin_C3PO]

11. Somehow,

we need to get 100% of people covered and make it affordable. Other countries do it and we’re far richer than them.

[Hoyt]

12. Agree with that, although I'm not sure providers, staff, or even patients are ready for the

changes that need to be made to pull it off. Others making money off the healthcare system aren't going to give it up easily. We should have done this in the 50s and 60s when providers were glad to get chickens or potatoes for payment.

[wasupaloopa]

13. Show me proof of what you posted.

[Hoyt]

17. Well, drug costs in USA are roughly 10% -- so half is 5%. Large insurers are limited to medical loss

ratio of 15% of premiums, a little less than 6% is profit. If we get rid of Insurers, much of that cost will continue, not to mention large investment to create a claims adjudication system.

Do the math -- we'd save maybe 10 - 12%.

Then, add in a big increase in utilization, some loss of innovation in drugs -- which reduce hospital and other healthcare costs. Then, providers will try to game the system to make up for the hit they will take a dropping exclusively to Medicare rates, and a few more unanticipated outcomes.

You'd be lucky to net 10% savings, before picking up 40 million un/under-insured, dental, etc. While all those things are desirable, it ain't going to reduce total healthcare expenditures by much. It's a pipe-dream and the middle class will end up paying a chunk.

[BootinUp]

19. No matter how accurate those figures are,

you raise an important point. There is more to the story, for example: income inequality. Imho.

[highplainsdem]

15. Biden's plan:

https://joebiden.com/healthcare/

[Celerity]

20. that is not universal, it still leaves around 10 million uninsured (and I am sure that is a best

case scenario.)

I do want to say I am NOT advocating for MFA. It will never pass. Hell, I am one who thinks the odds of even the Public Option passing are very poor (as I have laid out in some detail multiple times in the past.)

I am only dealing directly with the issue of universal coverage with this reply.



Castro correctly says Biden's health care plan leaves 10 million uncovered

https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/democratic-debate-september-2019/h_e3f48e92c2ba193345aeba501f64f03f

Former Secy. Julián Castro attacked former Vice President Joe Biden’s health care plan, saying “the problem with your plan is that it leaves 10 million uncovered.”

Facts first: Castro is right.

It’s not the first time a Democratic contender has criticized Biden’s plan. Sen. Kamala Harris made an issue of it on the debate stage in Detroit. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/democratic-debate-july-31-2019/h_15d6c3c87a7150d7d7e2c9db01f64e83

Biden’s proposal -- which builds on the Affordable Care Act by creating a government-backed health insurance option and increasing Obamacare’s federal subsidies – would insure more than an estimated 97% of Americans, according to his plan. https://joebiden.com/healthcare/

That means out of the population of 327 million in the country, roughly 10 million would be left without any health insurance.

However, it’s unclear exactly who would be uninsured. But under Biden’s plan, families buying coverage on the Obamacare exchanges would spend no more than 8.5% of their income on health insurance – a sum that might be too pricey for some Americans.




Fact check: Kamala Harris on Biden's health care plan leaving out 10 million Americans

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/democratic-debate-july-31-2019/h_15d6c3c87a7150d7d7e2c9db01f64e83

Sen. Kamala Harris attacked former Vice President Joe Biden’s health care plan, saying it “leaves out almost 10 million Americans.”

Facts first: Harris is right.

Biden’s plan -- which builds on the Affordable Care Act by creating a government-backed health insurance option and increasing Obamacare’s federal subsidies – would insure more than an estimated 97% of Americans, according to his plan.

That means out of the population of 327 million in the country, roughly 10 million would be left without any health insurance.

However, it’s unclear exactly who would be uninsured. But under Biden’s plan, families buying coverage on the Obamacare exchanges would spend no more than 8.5% of their income on health insurance – a sum that might be too pricey for some Americans.

https://joebiden.com/healthcare/





Also, the population now is almost 330 million atm, not 327 (to correct the articles above)



by 2023 (around the earliest a major plan like Biden's would kick in) it will be pushing 340 million or so

[wasupaloopa]

22. Biden said that those 10 million will be automatically

covered by the public option. It is universal coverage.

Biden has a viable plan. It was supposed to be part of the ACA. His is the only plan with real facts and real numbers.

[Celerity]

23. no he did not, you are mistaken, sorry

IF it did, it would say it right on his campaign website.

It leaves around 10 million uninsured. I have already given you the links that prove I am right, and it also says it right on his own site.

You simply cannot make up things and present them as facts.

[Joe941]

21. Thank you.