The Coming Of Zerocare

The American Thinker ^ | May 06, 2009 | John Donaldson

[Scanian]

It would be naïve to think that we are not going to see Obama and his Democratic majorities impose a form of National Health Care (NHC) as early in this term as he can. We will most likely see this just prior to the 2010 Congressional elections in an effort to keep his majorities by "buying" the votes of non-tax-paying citizens but before the system collapses under the price tag of whichever format he chooses.

Current Government Participation

To understand fully the implications of the information to follow, one has to appreciate the role the federal and state governments currently play in the delivery of healthcare to Americans. It can be summed up with an analogy: Government is the organized crime of healthcare.

Some will consider that statement unfair, but it is easily supported with financial data throughout the country. Medicare is a massive program that was begun by Lyndon Johnson in the mid 1960's, but which succeeding administrations, Republican and Democratic alike, have expanded to broaden coverage from hospital and physician coverage entitlements to even include pharmaceutical needs. Currently, Medicare represents approximately 17% of all federal spending.

The program is funded by a payroll and self-employment tax of 2.9% withheld from all employed Americans under FICA. Medicare has additional premiums for eligibility which are stratified from $100 per month up to $310 per month for high earners. Additional deductibles are imposed for various forms of care.

[nyconse]

This has little to do with female doctors and much to do with how expensive medical school is. There used to be programs to help doctors in medical school, but these have mostly gone away...like much of our focus-it’s cheaper to import doctors.

[nyconse]

Please, that could be fixed and quickly by providing scholarships as was once common in this country...supporting our own people rather than importing foreigners.

[nyconse]

I don’t think you are correct about this. There is a reason this bill will not be filibustered. It has the support of many Americans...as for tax credits. This does not deal with the unemployed or people with pre-existing conditions. As for insurance companies, maybe they would have had more luck if they had acted honorably instead of rationing health care themselves and denying people with treatable conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure policies. How many people do you know like their HMO...how many have already been turned down for various treatments. There is a family in my town raising money for treatment of one of their kid’s cancer-a fairly common treatment these days, but it has been denied by the insurance company. My point is all the fear of government insurance is gone after the way many insurers have behaved...some people believe it could not be worse...now I don’t think national health is a good idea and believe we should have encouraged our employee based insurance with tax credits and such; We should have kept the jobs here which would eliminate the need for government insurance.

[happygrl]

“This has little to do with female doctors and much to do with how expensive medical school is. “

Here’s a thread on FR from last year that addresses this with comments by FR physicians:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028070/posts?q=1&;page=51

[grey_whiskers]

What did free traders think would happen if millions of good paying jobs with benefits went away?

They didn't care, as long as they got theirs; and the Socialists / Leninists in Congress, the Soros types, and Chinese *did*, and behind the scenes, and not so covertly (MoveOn.Org), did all they could to encourage it.

This is the attempted culmination of a good 60-70 years of effort by the Communists.

Truman was NOT wrong in nuking Japan in 1945. He WAS wrong in not nuking Moscow in 1946.

NO cheers, unfortunately.

[nyconse]

I agree with you completely...they didn’t care.

[nyconse]

Right, rather than develop programs to train our talented young people, following the good old global model, we import doctors from other countries...such a shame.