Pros and Cons of Universal Health Care?

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Social Security being bankrupt (which it is not) has nothing to do with the efficiency with which it is run. It has to do with the will of Congress to solve the problem. What they will do is:
  • Raise the Payroll tax (slightly)
  • Increase the retirement age (slightly)
  • Decrease benefits (slightly)
You'll get another 75 years out of the system and by then the baby boomers and their drain on the system will be over. It would help you if you didn't spout political talking points and brought some real information to the table.

Talk about an understatement! I really do not want to this become a Social Security talk but oh well,
First you said there is a problem, yes quite a big problem, in fact. What does it matter if the checks can be delivered the same day that they are printed, if they bounce? Making sure there are funds for what you write is kind of critical to the whole purpose. It is like admiring a used car with a blown head gasket for its shiny paint job. If you really would like to know about the issue read this Federal Reserve testimony, very informative I highly recommend,

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/testimony/2005/20050315/

Besides look at what your saying, a big "successful" government program needs a bailout with new taxes, increasing barriers, and decreased benefits!!!

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Talk about an understatement! I really do not want to this become a Social Security talk but oh well,
First you said there is a problem, yes quite a big problem, in fact. What does it matter if the checks can be delivered the same day that they are printed, if they bounce? Making sure there are funds for what you write is kind of critical to the whole purpose. It is like admiring a used car with a blown head gasket for its shiny paint job. If you really would like to know about the issue read this Federal Reserve testimony, very informative I highly recommend,

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/testimony/2005/20050315/

Besides look at what your saying, a big "successful" government program needs a bailout with new taxes, increasing barriers, and decreased benefits!!!

I don't wan to get into a pissing contest with you, but you are just not comparing apples to apples. The system is run well. The people that run the system are not the same as the one's that finance the system. If more people retire, then you need more money to fund their retirement, especially if there are less workers. That's maths and does not argue for or against the efficiency with which the system is run.

The Federal reserve study is from 2005 and does not take into account raising the retirement age or the payroll tax. Modest adjustments to all of these will avert a problem with Social Security without drastically affecting any of the three segments. This problem would exist with a private system that had an influx of retirees using benefits and a decrease in younger healthier premium paying members with lower utilization. Rates would rise and benefits would fall which is exactly what is happening with private insurance, rising premiums along with higher copays and deductibles.....
 
I don't wan to get into a pissing contest with you, but you are just not comparing apples to apples. The system is run well. The people that run the system are not the same as the one's that finance the system. If more people retire, then you need more money to fund their retirement, especially if there are less workers. That's maths and does not argue for or against the efficiency with which the system is run.

The Federal reserve study is from 2005 and does not take into account raising the retirement age or the payroll tax. Modest adjustments to all of these will avert a problem with Social Security without drastically affecting any of the three segments. This problem would exist with a private system that had an influx of retirees using benefits and a decrease in younger healthier premium paying members with lower utilization. Rates would rise and benefits would fall which is exactly what is happening with private insurance, rising premiums along with higher copays and deductibles.....

Well they by your definiton, was Enron run well? Do you really think that there is a disconnection between how it is run and how it is financed?

If we want to even consider universal health care, we need to understand future needs to exactly understand what we are committing to. You suggest slightly to modest adjustments, as if it easy. If they are slightly/modest adjustments needed, why has nothing been done? Greenspan has been warning since the 90's and yet, NOTHING has been done! I think that fact alone illustrates the problem. You talk about the math, but did not anyone question that this might be a problem later on? I mean the baby boom generation has been known for quite some time, it is not like a big surprise that they will start to retire.

Now back to topic, Medicare is in the same boat but even in a bigger hole.
 
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My post was not laden enough with sarcasm :( ... Universal Healthcare. Monkeys should get health care too. Oh wait, they do.

I fail at teh interweb sarcazms.. ;)

Seriously, I may have jumped fast, but I can't tell how many times I've had to listen to all socialist medicine is bad argument. Such is life growing up in the midwest. ;) O'Reilly and Limbaugh FOR EVAHS!
 
I live in Costa Rica, which has universal health care, and tax-payers aren't overwhelmed...because we don't have any army. :rolleyes:

Too bad the system itself is a universal mess. Sometimes it feels like a third of our population are MDs, and most are magnificently educated. But there are hundreds and hundreds of talented kids with their degree who can't even do the required internship in the local free clinics (called EBAIS), required to practice either state or private medicine, because there just aren't enough EBAIS to go around - and there definitely should be more, because it's a superb idea for healthcare descentralization in rural areas, which abound.

And sure, the consults are always free, but people have to wait three months to get an appointment. For anything. A catscan cannot bump someone's minor mental health issues. So most people, if they can afford it, usually take what freebies they can but go to the numerous private clinics, which are (in comparison to the US) so cheap you'd all probably die laughing or wouldn't believe me. I wouldn't mind at all delivering a baby in one of the state hospitals or getting emergency care (which is wonderful) and paying nothing, but I would be out of my mind - if I could afford not to - to wade through the intensely burocratic state system for free pregnancy check-ups every six months or so :rolleyes: while the staff at my EBAIS battles with the typewriter - they still haven't managed to replace them all with fifteen-year-old PCs, as in other clinics :rolleyes:.

Well, that was a lot of blathering. In short, that's universal healthcare in a tiny, third-world country. Who knows how it would play out
 
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