# What are some legitimate questions conservatives should be asking about health reform? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 20, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060 "2009-08-20T12:22:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/61 "2009-08-29T00:34:01Z")
> [@IdahoMauleMan](#): > > P2. Medicare can most certainly say no to clients. Doctors can refuse to accept Medicare patients, and many do. This is a classic example of Unintended Consequences and the government’s involvement destroying the supply-side of the equation, as \*\* foolsguinea \*\* rightly points out above. Hold up. I think government’s involvement is necessary to keep the supply side properly trained. I’d love to find a better system, but for now we need government to do this job (training physicians). ---
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/62 "2009-08-29T11:20:07Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > “Why do you support Nazi policies” is not a legitimate question. But intelligent conservatives do make some good points about Obama’s health plan (like how we’re going to pay for it) that are unfortunately getting drowned out by the insanity of the town hellers. > So what are some legitimate questions conservatives should be asking? How about something really extremist, kooky and radical…like, what’s actually in the bill? Can we see it? [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203946904574301050879872972.html](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203946904574301050879872972.html) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/63 "2009-08-29T11:22:58Z")
About 2 seconds on Google. Do the trogs at the WSJ not know how to use it? ---
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/64 "2009-08-29T14:58:33Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > About 2 seconds on Google. Do the trogs at the WSJ not know how to use it? I suspect they do. Your link is to the House bill. I think the WSJ is referring to the Senate bill, and more specifically, the amendments made by Dodd’s committee. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/65 "2009-08-29T15:50:44Z")
Here is mine: The high care of health cost is due in part to the assumption that the deep pockets of insuance will pay it. With the even deeper pockets of the US government, won’t that tend to increase health care costs? If on the other hand, the US government seeks to control costs, will it result in sustandard care for those covered? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/66 "2009-09-01T04:13:13Z")
Saint Cad, I think that’s one reason for trying to build a system where individuals can choose between public & private options. …which the present bills don’t really do, infuriatingly. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/67 "2009-09-01T04:53:32Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > This organization indicates that if we do nothing, health care premiums will double by 2020. Does that make anyone think nothing should be done? How many companies would cut coverage by then? How many that pay for their own would wind up uncovered.? The republicans cited the same figures in 2000 and 2004 when they were running. Now they want to throw monkey wrenches into a plan we need and they know it. But the oft-repeated Republican talking point isn’t that “nothing should be done”; it’s that allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines would spark premium-lowering contests among fierce competitors. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/68 "2009-09-03T09:24:36Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > But the oft-repeated Republican talking point isn’t that “nothing should be done”; it’s that allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines would spark premium-lowering contests among fierce competitors. Um, are state variations in the law going to disappear in this plan? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/69 "2009-09-03T11:58:15Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Um, are state variations in the law going to disappear in this plan? I guess that’s one of the legitimate questions folks should be asking. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/70 "2009-09-03T14:37:21Z")
Well, it’s an interesting problem. If we get national standards, that’s useful incremental reform, but it will be a “federal takeover.” If we don’t, then I’m not sure there’s any improvement to be made in competition between health insurers by, “allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines would spark premium-lowering contests among fierce competitors.” ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/71 "2009-09-07T04:51:31Z")
The question the Conservatives should ask, is if nothing happens to change health care what will happen to it? The repubs stated it would eat 40 % of the budget in 20 years. That is unsustainable. So we have a chance to fix it. The repubs ran saying they would fix it but felt it was better to cave to the big money people when Bush was in power. He kicked it down field . Now someone actually wants to fix it. You should be ecstatic and should help him. It is not about getting health care for 50 million men, women and children without coverage. It is about almost everyone getting covered in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/72 "2009-09-14T19:16:24Z")
> [@IdahoMauleMan](#): > > What is the problem we are trying to solve? > > I’m dead serious. I still don’t know, from the mismash of multiple 1000-page bills circulating through Congress, as well as Obama’s and everyone else’s town halls. > > 1. Is it to provide insurance to those who cannot afford it? > 2. Is it to provide free, universal healthcare to everyone, like the NHS? > 3. Is it to ensure that everyone (even those who don’t want it) must have insurance? Is it to ‘force’ people who don’t want insurance to buy some? > 4. Is it to reform Medicare to lower the future liability for my children? > > Or something else? I think for a LOT of people who have thought about this issue, the really big problem is “how do we bend the cost curve” Health care is going to break this country and bankrupt our government within my lifetime if we don’t do something about it. ---
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/73 "2009-09-14T19:44:17Z")
> [@col\_10022](#): > > I think for a LOT of people who have thought about this issue, the really big problem is “how do we bend the cost curve” > > Health care is going to break this country and bankrupt our government within my lifetime if we don’t do something about it. It only ‘breaks the country’ and ‘bankrupts the government’ if the government is paying for it. If individuals put their own assets and resources at risk, and make buy/nobuy decisions accordingly, there is no way for it to ‘bankrupt the government’, because the government is not spending any money. The % of GDP $$ spent on consumer electronics (computers, cellphones, plasma TVs) has also skyrocketed over the past few decades, at about the same rate as healthcare expense. Are we concerned that unless we launch a government-run consumer electronics program, it will ‘break our country’ and ‘bankrupt the government’? ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060/74 "2009-09-21T11:40:20Z")
To get fair and workable health care is going to be a very difficult task. I was raised in the depression very few people had health care. The doctor’s took care of many people for just a chicken, veggies or something else. We lacked the medical expertise we now have. People didn’t expect the doctor to be able to cure all, I do not know of any doctor who was sued. Many costs are added to protect the doctor’s and the tests they feel need to be done to prevent being sued because they didn’t make a proper diagnosis. . I had a brother and sister die one at 3 years one at 7 days. There wasn’t antibiotics then. Many families lost children. I didn’t have health insurance until I was married and in my late 20’s. We were lucky that we had no severe illness. Now I have 2 grandchildren who have serious illnesses and lucky for them, their parents had, or they have insurance or medicaid. One needs a supplement insurance even if one has medicare, as one ages the costs would not be covered with out a supplement, and those that do not have one have a rough go of it when they have a serious illness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-legitimate-questions-conservatives-should-be-asking-about-health-reform/507060.md?page=3)