[schu]

Isn’t it about time we have an adult conversation about this topic?

I am not in favor of an individual mandate or other mechanism to compel people to pay for health insurance. This idea is antithesis to individual freedom.

At the same time, as long as we insist the medical delivery system provide service to anyone in need, regardless of the ability or willingness to pay, then we have a conundrum.

A reasonable, empathetic society needs to decide, either pay for those who are unwilling/unable to pay for health care or refuse to provide service unless you can prove ability to pay, insurance or otherwise. You cannot have it both ways. Where we are now, with lots of people using but not paying (or under paying) into the system, leads to bankruptcy of the system. Our medical delivery system is close to insolvency now, the cost of insurance and medical care is near unaffordable for many.

Obamacare is not a good approach, difficult decisions must be made … and soon.

schu

[americanophile]

I don't disagree with you, but I think we have to go with a free market approach, so there's no one correct answer. Let the service providers themselves decide what they will require in order to provide medical services to their individual consumers, allow medical insurance companies to compete across state lines to introduce competition into monopoly markets, adopt and enforce clear differentials between emergency care and the use of emergency centers for non-emergency health care, reform Medicare and Medicaid so that the artificially high pricing resulting from government subsidies will find market equilibrium, enact tort reform, fast track FDA approval, and provide R&D incentives for drug companies so that it's cheaper for companies to develop and bring product to market, allow individuals to save money in tax-free medical savings accounts, allow low-income people to pool their resources in medical co-ops, and encourage insurers, providers and charities to provide a quantum of low-cost or free care through tax incentives, etc. The problem comes, in my opinion, with attempting to create a uniform system, all of which is regulated by the government. We can deliver better care to more people, for cheaper, if we practice some free market tough love.

[SW6906]

Different thread, different subject, different day. This is not about solving the health care issue, this is about the Constitutionality of Obamacare........

[ilgipper]

A reasonable, empathetic society needs to decide, either pay for those who are unwilling/unable to pay for health care or refuse to provide service unless you can prove ability to pay, insurance or otherwise. You cannot have it both ways. Where we are now, with lots of people using but not paying (or under paying) into the system, leads to bankruptcy of the system. Our medical delivery system is close to insolvency now, the cost of insurance and medical care is near unaffordable for many.

This is the symptom of a problem already created by previous government intervention. There are any number of solutions to help address these problems. The solutions are reforming medicaid and medicare so they are not driving the costs up, and changing the culture of high cost all inclusive programs and moving to lower cost catastrophic products at a lower cost, bundled with better use of health saving accounts and the like. If there is one single thing that makes sense as a tax deduction, it is health care and medical expenses, as it will lower the personal costs to all people, and lower much of the need for government funded health expenses (the biggest ticket item in our government budget, and growing exponentially).