Do you know Obama's healthcare plan? Please help me, I need to answer a GOPer

[Sarah Ibarruri]

This is what he responded to me. I need to respond back. Please advise what I should respond. There are aspects I don't know.


"I don't know of anyone who is against a safety net for people with chronic conditions, health isssues they were born with, or something catastrophic happening like a car accident. Why can't we do that instead of forcing everyone into the same system? I believe insurance companies & drug companies need to be scrutinized. The pharmaceutical companies... Read More are one of the biggest lobby groups in DC. That's where the reform needs to be. Why do the same drugs from the same manufacturers sold in Mexico & Canada dirt cheap but outrageously expensive in the US? If we have a single payer government system, the drug companies stand to make enormous sums of money. A truly free market will bring prices down. As long as politicians & lawyers & lobbyists are in bed with each other, prices will always be too high."

[ellenfl]

1. there is no plan yet. eom

[liberalpragmatist]

2. Here are a few points:

(1) If you want a free-market in drugs, then you need to eviscerate patents. As long as drug companies hold patents, they can set the price as they wish. So you need a single-buyer with monopsony power. That requires giving the government the ability to negotiate prices (which they do in other countries.)

(2) There is no current free-market in health care. People get insurance that they're offered through work and few places offer a choice of plans.

(3) Leave aside the whole issue of single-payer, the current health care proposals are fairly modest. They do two basic things: (1) mandate coverage, and (2) regulate the insurance companies. If you have insurance through work, nothing will change. If you don't have insurance, you will be able to purchase it through a new "exchange" - a marketplace for individuals. That's pretty much it.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

6. Thanks! nt

[Cant trust em]

3. First off, the democrats are not forcing everyone into the same system.

Hence the public OPTION.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. True. Thanks! nt

[spanone]

4. the plan is being concocted by congress...it's not yet fully concocted

[slipslidingaway]

5. Easy answer - Obama is not in favor of a single payer government system. n/t

[sandnsea]

8. Here is the overview of the two plans out of committee

http://www.obama-mamas.com/health-care.html

Which does exactly what your friend wants - including the free market because a public option would influence the market as well.

Nobody is proposing single payer.

I'd like your friend to answer that, why does he believe liars who tell him someone is proposing single payer?

[Laelth]

9. Nobody is proposing single payer?

Evidently a lot of good progressives in the House are "nobodies." I could have sworn that HR 676 was going to get an up or down vote on the House floor.

Where did I dream that?

:shrug:

:dem:

-Laelth

[sandnsea]

12. Not in the two serious plans, no

All HR676 does at this point is give the right ammunition. That's all the left is ever good for though, so I'm not surprised.

[Laelth]

14. Of course, you're right to say that HR 676 is not seriously under consideration.

I find it striking that you see your left flank as the enemy, however. We like to believe that those of you in the middle are on our side. Your attitude gives us very good reason to doubt that.

Thanks for the warning.

:dem:

-Laelth

[sandnsea]

15. You brought the confusion into the discussion

So who is the "enemy"?

And no one could read David Swanson in The Nation and believe that the left sees the middle as on their side.

[Laelth]

18. I hear you. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Mz Pip]

10. What's the republican plan?

More tax credits so people can add a couple hundred bucks to the several thousand they already have to fork out for private insurance?

I keep hearing about how the republicans have a plan but other than tax credits, I have no clue as to what that is.

[librechik]

17. they plan to throw themselves on the railroad tracks to stop Obama

that is all.

[abumbyanyothername]

11. Point of service pricing does not work for health care

Patients are not going to argue with their physicians about drug alternatives (well they are starting to, but that's another issue).

The only way to get pricing power in health care is to have one, giant system where people either take the price offered or miss out on the market.

People who are sick, perhaps even more so people with sick children or parents, are not going to dicker about price -- and they are not going to comparison shop.

btw -- tell me one player in today's system that has the slightest incentive to make the patient well. With a single payer, or even just a huge public option, the government plan can pay primary care physicians to meet wellness targets.

[sandnsea]

13. I always have, but it doesn't really matter

It's all horrifically expensive anyway. And until the recent $4 prescriptions, there wasn't much worthy arguing about there either.

I'm afraid the same is going to be true no matter what we do with health care. The choice will ultimately come down to whether we continue to support an economy that must allow some to live in poverty and die from lack of health care in order for others to be rich.

[timeforpeace]

16. Bet you wish you didn't ask. You probably thought there was a plan. And you

supported the plan that didn't exist too. Embarassing when you find yourself in a debate about it.