Easy Universal Healthcare -

[BigJon3475]

Ok, stop right there! Let's look at the post office. What's wrong with it?

Does it not offer a parcel service nor comparable to UPS/Fedex? It sure does.
Does it not offer small letter service comparable to UPS/Fedex? It beats them by a long shot.
Does the quality of service suck? Not according to independent satisfaction surveys.
Does it run a deficit or use tax dollars? Nope! It turns a small profit that is limited by law.

August 6, 2009

USPS’s financial condition and outlook continue to deteriorate with a
worsening outlook for mail volume and revenue. USPS now projects mail
volume to decline to 175 billion pieces in fiscal year 2009, a 13.7 percent
decrease from fiscal year 2008. As a result, USPS projects for fiscal year 2009:
• a net loss of $7 billion, even if it achieves record savings of more than $6
billion;
• an increase in outstanding debt to a total of $10.2 billion; and,
• despite this borrowing, an unprecedented $1 billion cash shortfall.

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09958t.pdf

Quite the contrary...

[BigJon3475]

No, you can't lose. And that's the whole point. Someone still will pay for people that get sick but refuse to pay bills or buy insurance. Nobody is going to kick them to the curb. They will still get care.

If universal care is paid from federal taxes, everyone will pay into it. You don't want to mess with IRS! Even though someone above brought it up as an inefficient government agency. It is not. Very few get away with not paying the IRS. It is feared throughout the world. Ask Switzerland.

You obviously have not seen the massive waste and fraud in the medicare program. The GAO can provide you with plenty of examples...

[BigJon3475]

Seeing that we are not currently able to fund the existing Medicare plan with the current amount of subscribers, how do you intend to fund it for everyone???? I vote free market.

Provide real competition. That will drive down the salaries that were complained about earlier in this thread and it will also make them accountable.

[bornriding]

I believe that the time time for universal healthcare has arrived.

Good, I'm glad to hear it...now you & all who feel as you do can PAY for everyones elses lack.... just leave my paycheck alone

Does anyone really believe that an insurance company, any insurance company has your or my best interests in mind. It is a necessary evil we all have to live with or rather can't live without.

so, you think that our government has our BEST INTEREST in heart??????? How old are you ??? '2'

On the other hand I do believe that all the healthcare proffessionals are really trying there best to heal the sick and injured. All the while like the rest of us trying to make a decent living.

Yea, I like the way that they warranty their work, HUH

Yes of course we have the lawyers, f**king lawyers, trying much like the insurance executives to make a living while producing little. They truly deserve each other.

Tar & feather all lawyers, judges, etc.

Make it all a federal program that maybe I can get some use out of.

Why don't you buy your own insurance or pay in cash, ,like I did for 15 years....

Something that I will be using and paying for not like some pork barrel program for spotted monkey bugs or some such Bull.

You & everyone else that WON'T work to make their own living...just want to live off of ME

yea yea, it will be rough at first probably 5 years before the bugs get worked out. Most likely some shortages of services and providers but in the end supply and demand will win over. The cracks and gaps will be filled in and everone will wonder what took us so long.

Yep, after 5 years or before our taxes will get raised AGAIN to cover the cracks & gaps that was overlooked (?) initially, like coverage for illegals

We are the only civilized country in the world without universal health care, now we have done a lot of things that other countries have copied and or took and used. We ought to be at least smart enough to steal a good idea when we see one.

WE have been smart enough to steal a GOOD IDEA, thats why we DON'T have universal heathcare.....

No one that I know of ever turned down a health care program that was offered. Anyone you know turning down thier Medicare or Medicaid or any other socialized medicine. If you have enough money you will be able to pay for enhanced medical care.

Lets see, medicare....AH, the last time I looked at my paycheck or paid my payroll taxes, I am paying into medicare. How is that socialized medicine??? Oh yea, except for the numbers of people getting it that NEVER have paid into it....thats the part thats solcialized....also the part that caused it to go into the RED.... If only the people that had paid into it were getting it back, medicare would probably be solvent.

Crimmeny, the good old days and the status quo is not getting the job done, those who stand still will be on the sidelines soon enough. Change will come to all things healthcare included.

The change I am looking for is the change WHERE ALL PEOPLE WORK & provide for themselves without bankrupting the country & everyone in it ( with exception to the top 1%, of course ).

Richard

[quickcat46]

The change I am looking for is the change WHERE ALL PEOPLE WORK & provide for themselves without bankrupting the country & everyone in it ( with exception to the top 1%, of course ).

Hey Richard if you are complaining about having to pay too much in taxes get in the back of a long line. One of my favorite stories is how I get to pay for a brand new 4 wheel drive 1 ton Dually, Leather interior, loaded with all the options. Pay the note every month and get to pay for full coverage insurance too, and I never get to drive it. Some congressman gets to instead.
So I feel frustrated by the pork barrel politics of both sides. The special interests that seem to always be at the front of every line while us, the people who get up every day, rain or shine, sick or not and pull the flippin wagon get nothing.
So if they take a little more in taxes, as if they are gonna ever take less, And I get something out of it, so be it.

[Fuji]

Quite the contrary...

Go look up say the last 40 years of USPS operations, and if they were operating at a loss or profit. Looking at a few months of data during what is called the biggest recession since the 1930s is hardly an argument for establishing a trend. Looking at the last 40 years IS a trend, and I'll give you a hint, their profit was a positive number.

[Dowadudda]

the fujimeister got some skills bra!

[timebuilder]

Historically, the government does a pretty poor job of running things. For that reason alone, we don't want to turn over 1/6 of the economy to them.

The actual solution is for NO ONE to have insurance. That's right, nada. That way, everything that a doctor, hospital, or pharmaceutical company charges MUST be within the reach of their customers.

Now, I didn't come up with this idea. It was a leading economist that told me this.

In fact, when I was a boy, we always paid the doctor in cash. We didn't have a lot of money, either. What changed? Lawsuits. Yep. It costs Cessna about 60 thousand to build a new C172 with a nice profit. So, why does a new one cost $120K? It's because that even after Congress passed the law that revived general aviation manufacturing in the US, it still costs a TON of money in liability premiums for every aircraft made.

So, if we get rid of the concept of insurance except for catastrophic costs, and we restrain the lawsuit lottery, we could have the same affordable medical care that we had in this country before lawyers started advertising and doctors started paying half their gross to insurance premiums.

[timebuilder]

Go look up say the last 40 years of USPS operations, and if they were operating at a loss or profit. Looking at a few months of data during what is called the biggest recession since the 1930s is hardly an argument for establishing a trend. Looking at the last 40 years IS a trend, and I'll give you a hint, their profit was a positive number.

Their profit was thanks to the ever-spiraling costs of postage. That profit started to nose over thanks to email, and now, the OMB is saying that the postal service is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Here is an an example of the current state of the postal service:

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=30071

[kls-ccc]

The biggest problem with health care is the cost which is high because of legal issues. Law suits cause insurance to go up and medical cost to rise. That being the case why don't the politicians want to talk about tort reform?

[timebuilder]

The biggest problem with health care is the cost which is high because of legal issues. Law suits cause insurance to go up and medical cost to rise. That being the case why don't the politicians want to talk about tort reform?

Easy answer:

The Democrat party is mainly supported by the trial lawyers, who want no limits on their income. If tort reform was passed, the lawyers might have to make good with only two homes, instead of four.

[BigJon3475]

Go look up say the last 40 years of USPS operations, and if they were operating at a loss or profit. Looking at a few months of data during what is called the biggest recession since the 1930s is hardly an argument for establishing a trend. Looking at the last 40 years IS a trend, and I'll give you a hint, their profit was a positive number.

Now think about what you just said. How long was the internet in use during that 40 years? There was a time and place for hand delivered mail. You can rest assured that the green movement and the internet are making that time something for the history books... They'll never be profitable again in it's current form. They'll need to come into a role something more similar to UPS or Fedex if they ever want to become useful again. That doesn't mean I don't like my mailman. It just means times change...

[billygoat22]

few weeks ago heard a complaint that insurance cos could drop people for making claims. Don't forget, you can drop them if they don't give what you're after.

If you don't like socialized healthcare, don't have that option. And there's no reason for them to deliver a decent product since they have a captive consumer base...unlike the present setup.

And there's a bit of gov restriction on the availabilty of what we can purchase on the open market, or limited market. And what about all that gov bs insur cos have to wade through? that's a cost of business as well.