Home
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Members
Current visitors
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Home
Forums
Brown Cafe Community Center
Current Events
Clinton unveils mandatory health care insurance plan
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="beatupbrown" data-source="post: 252388" data-attributes="member: 4488"><p>I am writing today in response to "Just Say No to Socialized Health Care in America," (CT, Oct. 9). This article was misleading, ignorant, and insulting to a great number of Americans. I would like to counter the author's article by commenting on its key claims. </p><p>Firstly, it is true that while the figure of uninsured Americans is 45 million, 17 million indeed do have households where the family members earn more than $50,000 a year. One may claim that these people simply do not want health care because if they did they would get it. Or perhaps they are lazy and don't think providing adequate coverage for themselves or for their families is worth the time it takes to sign up for a plan.</p><p>In reality, these people do want health care, yet, for a variety of reasons, they are unable to receive it. For many, health care plans deny them if they have certain identified "health risks" at the time of signing up. The health insurance company Excellus in N.Y. denied 16,621 claims primarily due to alleged pre-existing conditions. Additionally, many people simply cannot afford health care even if their companies offer plans. </p><p>While $50,000 may seem like a lot, for many families if the option is between the risk of a medical condition or the risk of dying from lack of food or freezing due to no heat, the family will take the immediate and current risk which in turn eats into their meager savings, leaving nothing for overpriced health care plans. Having $50,000 does not guarantee access to affordable health coverage. Figures from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that premium costs have risen 78 percent in the last six years, to an annual cost of $12,106 per family.</p><p>An additional claim that was made was that millions of the uninsured are illegal immigrants. Over 80 percent of the uninsured are naturalized or native residents in this nation. The claim that college students go without simply because they "decide to take their chances" is as preposterous as it is insulting. I guess that as a college student the author has a poor grasp of medical risks and thus "logically" assumes all college students are the same. The college students I know without insurance have none because they cannot afford it, not because they are eternal optimists. </p><p>Additionally, there are millions of so called "under-insured" Americans who learn too late that their policies (the only ones they could afford) do not include costly, sometimes life saving, surgical procedures. Including the number of uninsured along with the "under-insured" results in millions more Americans without health coverage and the number of 45 million suddenly seems an underestimate. </p><p>Critics who claim the cost of universal health care is too great need only to look to a simple comparison. While the American system, which leaves millions under-insured or uninsured costs 15.3 percent of our GDP, the French system, which provides universal health care costs only 10.7 percent of their GDP. </p><p>Another frequent complaint is that the bureaucratic costs of universal health care are too great. To counter this, I say we should look at Medicare, which has overhead costs of about 1.5 percent while private insurance companies have overheads between 13 percent and 16 percent. While private insurance companies make 40 billion dollars in profit every year, it would only cost 14 billion more to cover the uninsured under a Medicare-type plan for a total cost of 54 billion. This would be relatively easy once we stop pouring money down the drain in Iraq (450 billion dollars and counting).</p><p>The author mocked the long lines and untimely wait that people in universal health care systems have to deal with to get treatment, yet numerous studies including one by the Commonwealth Fund found that "countries that cover everyone, including France, Belgium, Germany and Japan, report no issue with waits at all." Doesn't sound like the DMVs and airports cited as comparison in Tuesday's letter. </p><p>Another claim made by the author was that our health care system was the envy of the world, yet the World Health Organization ranks the United States 37th out of all the nations in our health care system performance although Americans spend more money than any other country to get this coverage. This means that unlike the author's claim, the health care system in America is NOT better than most other developed nations. In fact, a recent report by the New England Journal of Medicine found that many Americans are traveling overseas to nations such as India due to the high costs of medical fees within the United States for routine surgery. </p><p>Indeed, Peter Budetti, M.D., JF and chairman of the Department of Health Administration and Policy at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center stated that "The need for American citizens to go abroad for care — and their willingness to do so — represents a crushing indictment of numerous myths about the U.S. health care system that have gained popular currency in recent years." Budetti also noted that "perhaps the emerging sight of Middle America traveling thousands of miles for medical care will spur new attention to the need for universal coverage with adequate benefits in this country."</p><p>While the author's statement that while working in a hospital in Northern Virginia is true — the uninsured usually receive emergency medical care — as a group, the uninsured are sicker, suffer more from chronic disease and rarely get rehabilitation after an injury or surgery.</p><p>As actual facts given by nonpartisan medical organizations and government agencies have shown, universal health care is not only affordable, it very likely will improve everyone's standard of health care compared to the misleading statements used in Tuesday's article. Additionally, while I have no statistics to support this, for me health care is a moral imperative and my Christian upbringing has taught me to judge society based on how we treat the least among us and our respect for the universal concept of human dignity. </p><p><a href="http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/2007/10/10/column__socialized_health_care_is_necessary_for_america" target="_blank">http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/2007/10/10/column__socialized_health_care_is_necessary_for_america</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="beatupbrown, post: 252388, member: 4488"] I am writing today in response to "Just Say No to Socialized Health Care in America," (CT, Oct. 9). This article was misleading, ignorant, and insulting to a great number of Americans. I would like to counter the author's article by commenting on its key claims. Firstly, it is true that while the figure of uninsured Americans is 45 million, 17 million indeed do have households where the family members earn more than $50,000 a year. One may claim that these people simply do not want health care because if they did they would get it. Or perhaps they are lazy and don't think providing adequate coverage for themselves or for their families is worth the time it takes to sign up for a plan. In reality, these people do want health care, yet, for a variety of reasons, they are unable to receive it. For many, health care plans deny them if they have certain identified "health risks" at the time of signing up. The health insurance company Excellus in N.Y. denied 16,621 claims primarily due to alleged pre-existing conditions. Additionally, many people simply cannot afford health care even if their companies offer plans. While $50,000 may seem like a lot, for many families if the option is between the risk of a medical condition or the risk of dying from lack of food or freezing due to no heat, the family will take the immediate and current risk which in turn eats into their meager savings, leaving nothing for overpriced health care plans. Having $50,000 does not guarantee access to affordable health coverage. Figures from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that premium costs have risen 78 percent in the last six years, to an annual cost of $12,106 per family. An additional claim that was made was that millions of the uninsured are illegal immigrants. Over 80 percent of the uninsured are naturalized or native residents in this nation. The claim that college students go without simply because they "decide to take their chances" is as preposterous as it is insulting. I guess that as a college student the author has a poor grasp of medical risks and thus "logically" assumes all college students are the same. The college students I know without insurance have none because they cannot afford it, not because they are eternal optimists. Additionally, there are millions of so called "under-insured" Americans who learn too late that their policies (the only ones they could afford) do not include costly, sometimes life saving, surgical procedures. Including the number of uninsured along with the "under-insured" results in millions more Americans without health coverage and the number of 45 million suddenly seems an underestimate. Critics who claim the cost of universal health care is too great need only to look to a simple comparison. While the American system, which leaves millions under-insured or uninsured costs 15.3 percent of our GDP, the French system, which provides universal health care costs only 10.7 percent of their GDP. Another frequent complaint is that the bureaucratic costs of universal health care are too great. To counter this, I say we should look at Medicare, which has overhead costs of about 1.5 percent while private insurance companies have overheads between 13 percent and 16 percent. While private insurance companies make 40 billion dollars in profit every year, it would only cost 14 billion more to cover the uninsured under a Medicare-type plan for a total cost of 54 billion. This would be relatively easy once we stop pouring money down the drain in Iraq (450 billion dollars and counting). The author mocked the long lines and untimely wait that people in universal health care systems have to deal with to get treatment, yet numerous studies including one by the Commonwealth Fund found that "countries that cover everyone, including France, Belgium, Germany and Japan, report no issue with waits at all." Doesn't sound like the DMVs and airports cited as comparison in Tuesday's letter. Another claim made by the author was that our health care system was the envy of the world, yet the World Health Organization ranks the United States 37th out of all the nations in our health care system performance although Americans spend more money than any other country to get this coverage. This means that unlike the author's claim, the health care system in America is NOT better than most other developed nations. In fact, a recent report by the New England Journal of Medicine found that many Americans are traveling overseas to nations such as India due to the high costs of medical fees within the United States for routine surgery. Indeed, Peter Budetti, M.D., JF and chairman of the Department of Health Administration and Policy at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center stated that "The need for American citizens to go abroad for care — and their willingness to do so — represents a crushing indictment of numerous myths about the U.S. health care system that have gained popular currency in recent years." Budetti also noted that "perhaps the emerging sight of Middle America traveling thousands of miles for medical care will spur new attention to the need for universal coverage with adequate benefits in this country." While the author's statement that while working in a hospital in Northern Virginia is true — the uninsured usually receive emergency medical care — as a group, the uninsured are sicker, suffer more from chronic disease and rarely get rehabilitation after an injury or surgery. As actual facts given by nonpartisan medical organizations and government agencies have shown, universal health care is not only affordable, it very likely will improve everyone's standard of health care compared to the misleading statements used in Tuesday's article. Additionally, while I have no statistics to support this, for me health care is a moral imperative and my Christian upbringing has taught me to judge society based on how we treat the least among us and our respect for the universal concept of human dignity. [URL]http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/2007/10/10/column__socialized_health_care_is_necessary_for_america[/URL] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Home
Forums
Brown Cafe Community Center
Current Events
Clinton unveils mandatory health care insurance plan
Top