I am so tired of all of this argument about Obamacare.. the young are upset that they are going to pay more… and not signing up.. which is going to cause the system to financially collapse.. and then the Feds are going to have to bail out the insurance industry.
The question has to be asked.. why are we creating another health insurance system.. when we already have two systems in place ( Medicare & Medicaid).
We would not have to have hired thousands of IRS agents to enforce the new “tax”
We would not have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for a website that has yet to properly work.
Why not pattern the funding much like Medicare Part B… the premiums are based on expenses/person the previous year.
Create a Federal sales tax… the tax will go up or down.. depending on per capita expenditures from previous year.
Deductible for Part B will be 1500.00 which equals the premiums + deductible now for Medicare part B
Deductible for Part D would be around 500-600… which equals the premiums + deductible now for Part D
Deductible for Part A .. would be the current 1200-1300…
People will be allowed to purchase a medicare supplement .. just like Medicare.. or those eligible for Medicaid will get the same financial assistance that they now get.
There would be no need to sign up…
You show up at a healthcare provider, with your SSN and a picture ID.. prove that you are a citizen – and you have documentation that you have insurance coverage.
The more you make, the more you spend.. the more you pay to support the healthcare system..
Of course, the bureaucrats would not like this.. because there is no huge bureaucracy attached to this system.
Filed under: General Problems
Thanks for your response. I always enjoy your insights here and on Jim’s blog. In three years we will see what happens. I do not believe the U.S. will go to a single payer model. I do believe there will more regional mergers of large health systems, and that insurance prices will become inversely proportional to provider choices. I could even envision large insurers setting up their own health system much like Kaiser Permanente has in California.
Of course, the bureaucrats would not like this.. because there is no huge bureaucracy attached to this system.
Steve, you seem to be advocating a Medicare/Medicaid for all. This system was proposed but defeated even for those in 55-65 age bracket. Why? You seem to be asking, and blaming it on lack of formation for a new huge bureaucracy for the “government” to administer while at the same time espousing the benefits of the same bureaucratic Medicaid/Medicare programs.
We don’t have the system you describe not because it was not wanted by many American people, but because it was not supported by another large “non-government” bureaucratic industry, the private, commercial, largely for profit health insurance industrial complex. The ACA is an insurance industry plan, and that industry was in no way going to let a low profit system as you described replace its hugely profitable business model.
Rahm Emanuel’s (Obama’s first chief of staff )infamous statement keeps coming to mind “.. never let a crisis pass that you can take advantage of to get things done.. that you could not otherwise get done ..”
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Is the “crisis” that we are now having with the implementation of Obamacare out of incompetence or a manufactured crisis. Before he was President, Obama make public statements that he was in favor of a single payor system.
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The insurance industry is involved in Medicare/Medicaid.. from processing Medicare/Medicaid billing… to being at financial risk for Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D and Medicare supplements.
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We are going to have a single payor system.. whether it is because they can’t get the system to work or the costs to individuals is a budget buster.
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The Obama administration has got 3 yrs till the next election to get it done… and it will all be based on a promise to cut costs to individuals.. like the 2500 saving that was promised under Obamacare. Which may only apply to those families that now qualify for Medicaid with subsidized premiums.
November 2014 everyone who detests whays happening get out and VOTE!!!! We need a congress and senate with some balls to defund (which is only way to ditch this thing if can’t get super majority ro overide veto) this wholething is a.ponzi scheme piled on the backs od the young. There aren’t enough to suport the baby boomers with the health problems who are probably the actual ones signing up. Sebilius’ nose gets longer and longer as does thr POTUS ans his entire administration
Remind of that when in 2014, my husbands employer based plan premimum goes thru the roof and well as our deductible. I have collegues with employer based Insurance that are already seeing their insurance become worse than last year. the goal of ACA is to cancel,all private and employer based insurance to one payer system. If that’s such a super deal how come so many come from other countries come here for healthcare cause they realize one payer is worthless In their own.
Not going to be able to go single payer until we get the money out of politics. But that would be the best solution that the rest of the advance world uses.
Some of your ideas are interesting. But just to be clear, the ACA is not a new system. It’s laws about insurance and it provided the exchanges and subsidies to help access personal insurance, a commodity that has been obscured by association with employer-provided plans.
Everyone still has private insurance.
I say we go single payer, personally.