First of all, I’m an asshole. I have busted my ass and spent a lot of money, time, and energy to become a professional in a field with health insurance available (education).
But this doesn’t mean that I am so uncompassionate that the unwashed masses should die in the streets, but why should I pay for health care for them especially when it is the medical profession and insurance companies that have jacked up the prices so that no one can afford an illness WITHOUT insurance.
I propose that all insurance companies be forced to make available subsidized primary care coverage for all families with premiums based on family income. With focus on primary care, the families can remain healthy and there would nationally less reliance on specialists. The subsidies however will NOT be created by new taxes! It must be paid for by trimming existing welfare programs.
Everyone has the same rights: the rich to live in mansions and the poor to sleep under bridges. :rolleyes:
You say that insurance companies should be forced to do something.
You say that they should get a subsidy to do it.
Since only the Government can do this, you are talking about a National Health system.
‘Unwashed masses’? ‘Why should I pay for health care for them?’ ‘It must be paid for by trimming existing welfare programs’.
You’re not a Socialist, are you? :smack:
I freely admit that I don’t have a good grasp on the numbers, but I don’t believe there’s enough slack in the “welfare” budget to make a dent in the health insurance mess. On the other hand, you made me curious enough to look up the numbers.
Here (PDF) is a file with the budgets for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families from 1998-2006. At the peak, it’s 20 million. There are other smaller programs, but it’s not clear which you’re thinking of under the umbrella term. So, for the heck of it, let’s triple it and say we’ve got 60 million. We would rather have healthy poor people than well-fed poor people, so we’ll take it all.
From here (PDF) we learn that there are 45.7 million people without insurance (Figure 6, page 28). I’m not sure what kind of coverage a buck thirty three will get you.
For Winsling, like Boyo Jim noticed that I did not say individual welfare. I may be a Republican, but there is enough fat in individual welfare, corporate welfare, and foreign welfare (also known as “aid”) that the $ could be found.
Okay. Identify it. How much will your plan cost, what budgets are you planning on cutting, and how will this affect achieving the goals of these programs?
I don’t understand why health insurance is any different than anything else. Poor people can’t afford a Maserati Quatroporte and there are not calls for the government to help them pay for one.
Because a used 10 year old sedan would serve the same practical purpose as an expensive sports car, but if you need a triple bypass, an asprin won’t do?
Pretty much. It’s possible to make do without an expensive car (or in some cases, any car). When you need health care, your choices are pay for it, or suffer/die.
Because if you are going to the terrible bother of having “countries” and “government” and “society” you should consider at least trying to look out for each other.