How will a public option health care program work?
First, you need people to run the program and they need to be paid. They would be the equivalent of those who work for private insurance companies. Just like postal workers are the equivalent of UPS workers. If you don't like postal workers, then it is probably because they were not good enough to get a job with UPS. But I digress ;)
These new government workers need to get paid. The health care providers need to get paid as well. There are several possible places where this money could come from.
- The government workers get paid less than their private sector counter parts.
- The government forces the health care providers to accept less money for the same care given to other patients. Which means that the health care providers will pass this cost along to the other patients not in the government program.
- Tax money could be used to subsidize the public option health care program. Which means that we all get tax more to pay for those on the public option health care program.
- People on the public option health care program get lower quality health care for the same cost as others not on the program.
- The government could just print more money but this will just reduce the value of the dollar and so (for all practical purposes) it is a tax.
Eventually people will realize that they are paying (not only for their health care insurance but also) for the health care of those using the public option. Although their health care insurance may be better than the public option, they may find it cost prohibitive to pay for both and may thus be forced to join the public option.
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I think that before people speculate about what's going to happen, they need to read the most recent bill. Then, they should read the bill that comes out of the senate. Then they need to read the finalized bill. And then we can all work together on how to institute the inevitable legislation instead of ideologically fear mongering... Joe... and instead concentrate on what is happening in the country. We have a saying in my home country: it's not what you think, it's how it goes. 0
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Well obviously providing health insurance to more people will increase demand for resources. But that's only because people who don't have access are currently dying quietly instead of getting treatment. Also, free market principles break down when it comes to healthcare. Side: It Will
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Well..., if they are quietly dying why is anyone making a rocus about them ;) People act as though everyone ought to be saved at all cost. Well guess what, not everyone ought to be saved. Especially if it's cost prohibitive. What does cost prohibitive mean? It means that, if the only way that person is going to get the expensive treatment he needs is if I help foot the bill, then it is cost prohibitive. Look, if anyone out there wants to save anyone, go right ahead. It is their right to do so. However, it is not their right to force me to help them save anyone. Side: It Won't
Wtf? Do you not understand how insurance works? If you get cancer, you will have everybody on your insurance plan footing your bill. And if it happens to somebody else on your plan, you will be footing theirs. The reason insurance exists in the first place is because many life threatening diseases are prohibitively expensive to treat, so we have to pool our money. Obviously we shouldn't save people at all costs. And the bills being debated don't call for anything like that. The plan is to bring more people into the pool by partially covering their insurance payments through subsidies. This will of course increase demand and make things slightly more expensive for everybody. Providing many with minimal health care means that it will be harder for the few to get super-deluxe health care. I guess if you fundamentally believe in death for the weak, we're not going to be able to agree here. I'm just going to have to call you an asshole and leave it at that. Side: It Will
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I think it will work exactly like Hawaii's Universal Child Health Care (it was for the children ;). Side: It Won't
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The Public Option Health Care Program will not work. "One of the most important things to remember about socialism – or coercion of any kind – is it fails eventually because human beings have an innate desire for liberty and a strong need for personal property rights. In fact, the origins of government lie in the need of agricultural communities to protect themselves from violence and theft. So it is particularly ironic that in more recent times, it is government itself that has more frequently played the role of bandit. When you start taxing people at extreme rates to pay for socialist "benefits," when you start telling them which schools their children must attend, when you start giving jobs away to people based on race instead of ability... you quash human freedom, which bogs down productivity... and if continued for long enough, leads to social collapse." http://www.thedailycrux. Side: It Won't
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