Obama’s Unhealthy Reform

We have national health care, the VA sytem, expand it or use it as a blueprint for a new one, though we would have to bypass Wall Street.

After reading Mr. Paulsons article I am ashamed that I didn't see how easy it is to solve this problem. No one - not anyone gets health insurance. People quit going to the Doctors, medical expenses plummet along with prices, people die younger reducing the pressure on Social Security. Us old codgers croak reducing the stress on Medicare - what the heck we don't contribute to the leaders of capitalism. And as a bonus the mortuary industry gets a sudden boon. It is perfect - no wait - the insurance industry which cares deeply for the well being of the American public would be put out of business - Sorry Sam the underlying philosophy of your argument is close but you can't stiff your pals at Blue Cross Blue Shield like that.

I love the argument of "well we know this isn't the way to do it but lets do it cause you're not giving us an alternative" BS, we've given plenty of alternatives. A) DO NOT nationalize healthcare, reign in the cost. B) Limit malpractice, does anyone really need 40 million to spend? Especially at the cost of stability of our country?! C) No subsidized healthcare if you're not a citizen PERIOD. etc etc etc. BS we're not giving alternatives its just not the liberal BS you want to hear.

I love the argument of "well we know this isn't the way to do it but lets do it cause you're not giving us an alternative" BS, we've given plenty of alternatives. A) DO NOT nationalize healthcare, reign in the cost. B) Limit malpractice, does anyone really need 40 million to spend? Especially at the cost of stability of our country?! C) No subsidized healthcare if you're not a citizen PERIOD. etc etc etc. BS we're not giving alternatives its just not the liberal BS you want to hear.

This article is long on broad-brush, blinding glimpses of the obvious criticisms, but fairly devoid of any specific recommendations for improvement, beyond the staple "cutting costs." See my blog post on the topic, now nearing completion at bgladd.blogspot.com

Solutions? I'd love to hear some good concrete suggestions vs. just finger pointing.

I get really tired of you people that point up the problems without offering any alternative. Yes, the current proposals are far from a solution; what we need is a single party payer system like the rest of the industrialized world. You think we are going to get that through in one step? Stories like this will be bandied about by the minority republicans as a reason to maintain the current debacle until we bankrupt the country. I'd like to see a little responsibility in reporting, but that's not any more likely than a real fix for our healthcare, is it?

The "obvious" points Samuelson makes are patently false.

If a marketplace is flawed, the first place to look for cuts is in unnecessary transaction costs: In healthcare, the 30% for bloated insurance bureaucracy should be the first place to get hacked. Insurance companies' unethical actions don't need to be subsidized.

Second, taking inflation costs back to 1975 is clearly done to misrepresent actual costs, since the rate of increase is dramatically lower over the most recent five years.

In a country that can afford to spend $2 Trillion on a useless, unethical war, where our 97 million taxpayers spend more on the military than the other 6.6 Billion people in the world combined, where we spend $60 Billion a year on chewing gum --- surely we can afford quality healthcare.

THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE IS OBVIOUSLY WORKING GOR THE INSURANCE AND IS OPPOSING ANY CHANGES TO HELP ALL AMERICANS. THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT BELONG IN NEWSWEEK

Wait What!
A critical Obama article in Newsweek and no where does it blame Bush! You better watch you job Samualson all that honesty can't be good for the egos of Newsweeks dedicated readers.

What we really need is single payer health care, but because the insurance companies, th pharmaceutical companies, the hospitals and the doctors are all raking in money hand over fist with the current system, don't expect that to ever happen.

You wrote htis prematurely, as Obama did address the issues which you say need be tackled for reform to work. I have faith this will be an improvement.

As much as I'm not an Obama fan, he is "right on" on this one. We had two oupatient routine surgeries in our family, we got over 60 statements from different places, and the costs so far are almost $100,000. , if 100,000,000 patients only had one medical condition treated, and recieved only one comprehensive bill for each medical treatment it would save over $5 billion dollars in postage alone. If people have more than one routine treatment it would be billions, probably trillions more in savings.. Postage alone. Plus two routine surgeries really can't cost $100,000 - demand cost accounting details when you get bills. Give the man a chance, and LISTEN. Healthcare cost could be reduced, and treatment could be improved, and insurance more affordable WITHOUT MORE EXPENSE,TAX DOLLARS, or GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS if we all get involved. Help him, don't fight him.

dodgerjoe: "This change in the structure of taxation would cause those now covered by employer plans to choose less generous packages and therefore make more efficient choices about health care." Are you crazy? How "generous" is your plan?

(continued)

A new government insurance program for the uninsured just makes things worse. In addition, this program will undoubtedly cost far more than initial estimates, as has occurred with Medicare and Medicaid.

One way to reduce health insurance subsidies is to eliminate the tax-exemption for employer-paid health insurance premiums, while simultaneously lowering other taxes to hold revenue constant. This change in the structure of taxation would cause those now covered by employer plans to choose less generous packages and therefore make more efficient choices about health care.

Obama is an experienced manager. He is totally clueless. He could drive everyone out of the medical profession and wouldn't know it. Why can't Washington work like a business. You come up with a detailed plan (DETAILED); you get expert reviewers to review it; You change it based on the feedback; You review again; You iterate until you see it being good enough; Then you do it. These morons in DC create a law or whatever with little detailed thought and end up with crap. Are these people DUMB! or STUPID? It is time to remove the old guard from DC. They don't know how to accomplish a significant task!

No wonder the (Newsweek)print version bombed.Time stuck to it's guns
and didn't fall into the "tell idiots what they want to hear"
pit of irrelevancy.