Displaying 211 To 240 Of 1,008 Comments Is Appealing To The White Working Class Identity Politics? What I say to people like you is park your arrogance at the door. That is true. You do often say that. I guess I am arrogant like AdLib because you have told me that a few times. Here is the deal Jake. You have opinions as all of us do. If you challenge my opinion or I challenge yours, it is not arrogance. It is a discussion. We discuss. We debate. We learn. If I did not believe what I say is correct, I wouldn’t say it. SOMETIMES in a discussion with others, I discover that the information I based my opinion on is not totally accurate. When this happens I want to be openminded enough to adjust my opinion. I don’t HAVE TO adjust my opinion when I learn new facts. I could hold on to my original opinion and ignore or reject the new facts, but that does not help me to grow and it serves no useful purpose in an honest discussion. » Posted By TOCB On July 29, 2019 @ 7:54 am “Despite calls to start over, US health system covers 90%” You reference this stat fairly often. It is good that 90% of Americans have some type of health insurance coverage. However, even that 90% often have inadequate coverage. Generally, people who are employed by large corporations and state and federal governments employees have the best coverage. And even with that, most of the 90% are one catastrophic illness from bankruptcy. Additionally, what happens if an employee loses their job? My last employer paid 85% of the premium for my health insurance. Without the employer contribution most people could not afford private healthcare insurance. The “premium” is a misnomer because most large corporations are self insured and only use private health insurance companies to administer their plans, sort of like Medicare does with Medicare Advantage. So there is a space of private health insurance companies in a single payer system, as administrators. » Posted By TOCB On July 29, 2019 @ 7:44 am I am not sure what kind of “bee” you are talking about, but I admit that when I believe something, I don’t just change my opinion because someone else has a different opinion, although I want to be able to recognize valid points and even change my opinion when or if I see those valid points are better. As I stated before, I am an imperfect being. Most people I know are. » Posted By TOCB On July 27, 2019 @ 4:51 am Since most advanced countries have universal healthcare that is NOT a Single Payer System as Bernie proposes, This is much like your claim that most healthcare plans are non-profit (which you admitted is incorrect) and it is a false statement. The largest component of EVERY universal healthcare system is the single payer component. It is virtually impossible for the for-profit healthcare industry to cover all basic healthcare needs, including pre-existing conditions. » Posted By TOCB On July 27, 2019 @ 4:47 am Time out, Jake. You posted in response to one of my posts that you are a health insurance lobbyist. Are you saying that you were kidding about that? You also accused me of not accepting your apology when you admitted that it is not factual that most healthcare insurance plans are non-profit. The above post is the first time I saw that admission, and I have not posted on this thread since you posted that. By adopting a single payer healthcare funding system does not put the government in control of healthcare delivery. Medicare is funded by the government while allowing people to use the private healthcare delivery networks. One does not have to go to the VA to be in Medicare plans. I agree that some government run programs are poorly run, but that is not true of every government run program. Again, not that anyone I know of is proposing the government should run our healthcare delivery system. Bernie is not proposing that, nor is anyone else. Although I am not a big fan of Bernie’s for president, I appreciate the work he has done in Congress. I think the way he ran his 2016 campaign was harmful to the Democratic Party and ultimately to the country, as it helped to elect trump. Bernie’s campaign lied about Hillary Clinton on many occasions that from my perspective went over the line as far as hardnose politics is concerned. In reality, so did the Obama campaign in 2008, as Obama’s campaign was the first to promote the lie that Hillary voted for the war in Iraq. I know that Obama, Sanders and everyone else who say that know that the Resolution To Use Force Against Iraq was NOT a vote for war with Iraq IF Iraq complied with the terms of UN sanctions, which they did and Bush 43 and republicans illegally invaded Iraq anyway. Additionally, I am not anti-Biden. I just think his time has come and gone and that his worldview is from a time that has passed. Also, I don’t apologize for not supporting ANY white male until a female has been elected president. To me it is shameful that we have not had a female president in the over 240 years of our existence as a nation. » Posted By TOCB On July 27, 2019 @ 4:24 am You keep using this phrase, “This is not Single Payer as Bernie and friends propose.” I am not a big fan of Bernie’s, but what he and others are putting forth is an effort aimed at providing healthcare coverage for all Americans, which you CLAIM to support. Does the fact that Bernie self-identifies as a Democratic Socialist persuade you to not support his particular plan, although I don’t believe Bernie has actually offered any specific plan, but merely the broad idea of single payer. Although you said you have never voted for a republican, you sound like the typical small government conservative, who dislikes programs that are collectively funded through a tax. Do you also dislike our military, public education, roads and bridges, Social Security, Medicare, police departments, fire departments? I have supported the Democratic Party since 1960, which as you know was before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and when most southern white people supported the Democratic Party. I have voted for a few republicans in my life, but not since 2000. I like to believe that I am open-minded enough to support a good policy regardless of who proposes it. However, I am not in the camp that promotes that government funded programs can’t work and don’t work. Any program CAN work if the people who are in charge of it operate with integrity and transparency and with the best interest of the people at heart. You may disagree. » Posted By TOCB On July 26, 2019 @ 5:04 am Jake, you are free to choose to support any political party you wish. You are also free to be an Independent. You are free to like socialism and socialist programs or not. You are also free to misrepresent things, as you seem to have a knack for doing. In a response of one of my post, you enumerated many of your accomplishments, which are very impressive. I am sure there are probably many more that you didn’t list. At the end of each of your impressive accomplishments, you asked, “and you?” I have not done anywhere close to the impressive things you have done. I am merely an ordinary person, who have done the best I could do. I am imperfect. I have made some mistakes in my life and I have done at least one or two things I am not proud of. In spite of the differences in our accomplishments, each of us have one vote for POTUS and the candidates of our choice for other public offices. There is no requirement related to accomplishments in order to vote or have an opinion. Although it is interesting to learn about your opinions about socialism and other topics, your opinions do not dictate or even influence my opinions. Granted, your opinions and preferences could influence the opinions of some people who read your posts. As I recall when we were on Yabberz, we agreed on some issues and we disagreed on others. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me. For some unknown reason, you have continuously lied about healthcare systems in the USA and other nations. For example, in response to one of Kalima’s post related to health insurance in Japan, where she lives and you don’t, you insist that Japan does not have a single payer system. I have never been to Japan, but I can read, and as you so eloquently stated before, Google is our friend. According to this website which I found by usiing a Google search, EVERYONE MUST join the public insurance program in Japan. Under the Japanese system, everyone must join a public insurance program through their employer or municipal government and pay a monthly premium that is determined by income. In exchange, they receive access to government-approved medical procedures and prescription drugs, for which they pay 30 percent of the cost or less. Maybe you have a different definition of “single payer”, but in most cases it is described as a system of financing healthcare cost where the government pays for basic healthcare from funds collected from the public through a tax. A single payer system for basic care does not necessarily prevent private health insurance companies from operating. However, I suspect for those who can’t afford private health insurance, they would not be marketing targets for the private health insurance industry. PLEASE feel free to support and vote for Joe Biden or anyone else whose ideas are more aligned with your values and opinions, and I assure you I will do the same. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/single-payer-healthcare-pluses-minuses-means-201606279835 What is a single payer healthcare system? In a single payer healthcare system, rather than multiple competing health insurance companies, a single public or quasi-public agency takes responsibility for financing healthcare for all residents. That is, everyone has health insurance under a one health insurance plan, and has access to necessary services — including doctors, hospitals, long-term care, prescription drugs, dentists and vision care. However, individuals may still choose where they receive care. It’s a lot like Medicare, hence the U.S. single payer nickname “Medicare-for-all.” » Posted By TOCB On July 26, 2019 @ 4:47 am I am afraid you lack credibility on this subject Jake. And everything you said in your last post is completely false. It is hard for me to believe you actually believe that. » Posted By TOCB On July 25, 2019 @ 8:07 am I am funny for repeating something YOU said? You have a very strange sense of humor. Universal healthcare does not work without single payer. I know that AND YOU know that. Why you refuse to admit that is your business. » Posted By TOCB On July 25, 2019 @ 7:28 am You have to admit Jake, that revealing that you are a lobbyist for the insurance industry kinda gives the impression that you are conflicted related to single payer. I grant you that you are entitled to your opinion. Also, since the Democratic Party is a big tent party, we make room for more conservative people like you. All I ask of anyone, progressive or conservative, republican or Democrat, is integrity and transparency. Employers will always participate in healthcare coverage for their employees, as it is in their best interest to have a healthy workforce. However, the contribution by employers would go to the same single pool as contributions by other participants. My guess is that most employers would welcome a single payer insurance system. As you know, insurance is about FUNDING healthcare and not about PROVIDINIG healthcare. The provider network in the USA does not have to change one iota as a result of a single payer insurance system, except it would be more accessible to more people. THAT is the goal of everyone except the private for-profit health insurance industry. As for getting an quality cost effective system passed in Congress, ALL THAT IS REQUIRED IS THE POLITICAL WILL. As long as republicans run the government, NO cost effective system will be passed. The ONLY reason most Democrats, including myself, supported the republican ACA plan was because given the conservatives in Congress in the Democratic and the republican parties in 2010, that is best we could do. Obama erroneously thought that republicans would work with him if he proposed more conservative plans across the board. He did not realize the error in that until his second term. When we elect a Democratic Congress and a progressive Democratic president, we WILL pass a single payer system. There is absolutely no doubt about that. Democrats need to explain and enlighten the public about the myths of “socialism” as republicans have characterized it. Republicans have a tendency to lie and distort about EVERYTHING. It is prudent for any society to continuously manage the optimum mixture of collective/public funding and private funding for things that people need. Socialist programs DO NOT give control of resources to the government, as communism does. It simply provides for public or collective funding, as opposed to private for-profit funding. Some things can be more effectively funded by the private sector, while others are more effectively funded by the public sector. We really don’t want some people in our society to have better military protection, law enforcement protection, access to education, roads and bridges, and YES HEALTHCARE than others. We want these services to be equally available to ALL people. At least that is what I prefer. Maybe you don’t. » Posted By TOCB On July 25, 2019 @ 6:05 am How can you be an effective lobbyist for the health insurance industry when you can’t even carry on a conversation with a lay person? The problem is you are attempting to defend the indefensible. You probably know as well as I, that no entity other than the federal government can effectively cover over 300 million people, including pre-existing conditions. It simply cannot be done. Obama said the only reason he supported and promoted the ACA, which was originally a republican alternative to Hillarycare, was because the private health insurance industry was already in place and he was trying to preserve it. He said if he was starting from scratch, he would prefer a single payer system, but his new position was to basically protect the private health insurance industry because it was a more moderate position that republicans could get behind.
» Posted By TOCB On July 23, 2019 @ 2:19 pm At least I have a better understanding of your defense of the private health insurance industry. Needless to say, I am not a big fan of your industry. I don’t blame the industry for trying to make profits. That is what for-profits businesses do. I just don’t see what value private for-profit health insurance companies add to the healthcare space. Maybe you can respond to what the industry can do that is better than people self funding through a single payer system. I can see the expertise the industry has developed in administering insurance programs and that process is worth a fee, as it would cost the government to administer a single payer system. However, other than an administrative function, I don’t see the value in the industry. » Posted By TOCB On July 23, 2019 @ 9:07 am You sound like a health insurance lobbyist or something, as you are TOTALLY misrepresenting universal healthcare abroad as well as the private health insurance industry in the USA. First of all, the French says France is as close to a single payer system as you can get without being totally single payer, and even Germany REQUIRES public insurance if you earn less than a threshold. And most private health insurance companies operate for the purpose of making a profit. To deny that is to out and out LIE. Everyone has an opinion, and you can fine a website by doing a Google search to support almost any position you take. Some things though are just plain old horse sense. All a single payer health insurance system is, is one where people collectively fund the cost of their health care. You can call it “socialism” or any “ism” you choose, but all it is, is people helping people. The ideal model of a single payer system is one where EVERYONE is in one pool and people pay according to their ability to pay, while everyone has access to quality health care with ZERO regard to profits. Any deficits are taken care of by the government that administers a healthcare tax, just like deficits are handled in any other government program by a federal government that has an unlimited capacity to fund ANYTHING, i.e., a national debt of over $20 trillion and RAPIDLY growing every second. The nonprofit consumer-run health insurance cooperatives were all new start-ups at the beginning of the Affordable Care Act, competing against the dominant, established insurers that held largely oligopolistic if not monopolistic positions in many states. When the Obama administration collapsed on its plan to provide a “public option” to compete against the likes of Humana, Aetna, United Healthcare, and Cigna, it opted to support a number of health insurance coops that didn’t previously exist in the hope that the alternative products and costs they might offer would become a lower cost, higher quality competitive yardstick. While their offerings did produce changes in product lines, costs, and customer service among the big insurers, the CO-OPs (Consumer Oriented and Operated Plans) were challenged to function and survive as entirely new entities, challenging for-profit and mutual insurers that had decades of operations under their belts. Moreover, the start-up funding and governing rules of the CO-OPs under the ACA limited the flexibility of the CO-OPs in their marketing and products. Kentucky’s CO-OP, despite the structural obstacles, was one of the new nonprofit insurers that looked like it was doing reasonably well. The announcement that it would no longer be offering insurance coverage as of the end of December was unexpected and, for the future of the CO-OPs overall, troubling. » Posted By TOCB On July 23, 2019 @ 2:26 am You keep saying that Google is my friend. Is Google also YOUR friend? For whatever reason, you continue to misrepresent the effectiveness of universal healthcare in other nations. I provided a link that gave a summary of healthcare in UN nations according the OECD, which you refute but you won’t provide a link to support your claims. Here is another link that I found on “our friend” Google that explains healthcare coverage in France. Your statement that 85% of healthcare coverage in supplemented by private insurance in France COULD give the impression that private insurance companies fund 85% of healthcare cost in France. That may or may not be your intent. The fact is 70% of healthcare cost in France is funded by universal healthcare and 30% by private insurance, which is similar to the 20% that is supplemented in USA by private insurance related to Medicare. The important point is that a universal single payer system is the most cost effective healthcare system in the world. Wherever private for-profit healthcare insurance is used, the primary focus by definition is on “profits”, and not healthcare. https://transferwise.com/us/blog/healthcare-system-in-france Is healthcare free in France? France has universal healthcare that is mandatory for all citizens, whether they’re employed or not. Healthcare is managed across the country by the Ministry of Health. The government coverage scheme is administered through the French Social Security office where 70% of services are covered for all typical health care needs, including general practitioners, hospitals, dentists, and pharmacy costs. For seniors who are 65 or older, or individuals with chronic illnesses, the services are fully covered. In Germany the healthcare system seems to be more employer and income based. If you make under a certain income, you are required to be in the public healthcare system, while you can choose to be covered by private insurance companies if your income is higher than the threshold, as well as some other circumstances. https://www.howtogermany.com/pages/healthinsurance.html You have three options for health insurance while living in Germany; the government-regulated public health insurance system (GKV), private health insurance from a German or international insurance company (PKV) or a combination of the two. You can opt for full private health insurance plans if your income is above a certain threshold amount or if you are self-employed. Finding the best service provider for state health insurance or finding the most suitable coverage from a private health insurer while still at a competitive rate is not always easy but is well worth the effort. » Posted By TOCB On July 22, 2019 @ 7:08 am In Germany, Switzerland, France and many others healthcare is with private insurance with the government using tax revenues to fill in the gaps to make it universal. Please provide a link that supports this statement, as it is contrary to what I read at the link I provided to you. The FACT is that most countries that use universal health care systems use public funding to cover the overwhelming majority of it, and they only use about 5% funding from private insurance. Highly regulated, universal, multi-payer health insurance systems are illustrated by countries like Germany and France, which have universal health insurance via non-profit “sickness funds” or “social insurance funds”. They also have a market for supplementary private insurance, or “gap” coverage, but this accounts for less than 5 percent of health expenditures in most nations. In France, the overwhelming majority of the population is in a single non-profit fund, so many observers consider the French system “single payer.” » Posted By TOCB On July 21, 2019 @ 7:56 am According to the OECD most countries with universal plans fund them primarily with government funding and use private insurance to fill in the gaps for elective care and such. I don’t often agree with the Roberts court, but I agree that per the Commerce Clause, the ACA’s individual mandate in unconstitutional, so unless Congress makes subsidies to help those who can’t afford private insurance in the form of a tax, there is no fix for the ACA. » Posted By TOCB On July 20, 2019 @ 9:01 pm There is documented evidence that Russia infiltrated the voting systems in at least 23 states and at the very least purged some voter rolls. There is also documented evidence that in Texas ballots were changed. The fact that the reports say that votes for trump were changed to votes for Hillary is immaterial in Texas in the sense that Hillary was not going to win Texas anyway in 2016. Texas was probably just a test. IF votes could be changed in Texas, they could also be changed in WI, MI and PA. There is a VERY HIGH likelihood that trump did not actually win the electoral vote, so any analysis of why or how Hillary lost is mute. » Posted By TOCB On July 20, 2019 @ 4:39 pm Your statement that single payer is “far from” what most advanced countries have is misleading at best and to be more accurate it is false. The universal plans most advanced countries have are actually very close to a single payer system. Private insurance in only used to fill in the gaps and is not used for primary care. You may or may not know that the ACA was originally a republican alternative to Hillarycare, which was closer to a single payer system. In fact, Obama initially supported a single payer system in his first campaign for POTUS. The ACA protects the for-profit private insurance industry. The only reason most Democrats supported it when it was originally passed was because it was better than what we had before the ACA. It was a means to an end. With a republican Congress and/or a republican president, the ACA was the best we could get. That is not the case if we have a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president, unless of course the president is Biden or some other person who panders to the republican fear of “socialism”, like Social Security and Medicare. Additionally, the court ruled in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, that the ACA was unconstitutional because the government does not have the power to mandate or require people to purchase goods and services under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Roberts allowed the law to stand, but essentially gave a signal to Congress to change it so that it would be funded by a tax, as that is the only way Congress can fund programs. The court essentially said that the penalty was constitutional because it was administered by the IRS, which made it look like a tax. The problem with that ruling is that it is difficult to give the IRS the power to penalize an individual for something that the court said is unconstitutional, i.e., the individual mandate. With the current make-up of the court, it is highly likely that in the upcoming case that challenges the constitutionality of the ACA, at least a 5-4 decision will make it unconstitutional. In fact it could be a unanimous decision, and neither Joe Biden or anyone else who opposes single payer has a Plan B if the court rules the ACA is unconstitutional. » Posted By TOCB On July 20, 2019 @ 4:27 pm Google will also tell you that of ALL industrialized nations in THE WORLD, the USA spends more per capita for health care and more people do not have access to quality affordable health care. Although not all industrialized nations have a single payer system, they ALL have some form of universal health care system that covers ALL of their citizens. Btw, I have personal experience with the Canadian system. I was injured when I visited Canada once, and they patched me up without EVER asking me for money OR asking me for any insurance information. I recall reading some years ago that when Singapore was examining models for their universal health care system, the country that they DID NOT want to model was the USA. The idea is to cover all citizens without regard to their ability to pay. No nation provides health care coverage for free. Health care is funded in a manner to provide the maximum benefit to citizens WITHOUT considering profits for private insurance companies that fill in the gaps. The USA does not have to copy any existing model. We can create our own unique model. The current system is woefully inadequate, simply because the primary motivation of the system is profits for insurance companies. There is no getting around that in a for-profit environment. Some Americans, including myself, feel that a person’s life should not be subject to the profits of an insurance company. Pre-existing conditions? There is no way that the private health insurance market can cover pre-existing conditions EVEN IF THEY WANTED to. The ONLY way to cover pre-existing conditions is to have a single pool AND a way to still cover deficits, and NO private industry can do that. Thanks to Google, here is the closest thing to the truth about how various nations provide better health care than the USA, in spite of the fact that the USA probably has the best health care delivery system in the world. Health care systems in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries primarily reflect three types of programs: » Posted By TOCB On July 20, 2019 @ 6:39 am Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Friedman said the other day that he does not support a single payer health insurance system, or providing health care to undocumented immigrants (before we provide health care to all Americans), or decriminalizing immigrants entering the USA to seek asylum. These things are too far left for Friedman. Friedman is not alone in his sentiment. I wholeheartedly disagree with them. The myth that most Americans like private heath insurance neglects to say WHY they like it. They like it because that is all they have. If they are under 65 years old or not disabled or poor, they either get private for-profit health insurance or they use ER for primary health care. Most Americans LIKE a CEO of a for-profit company deciding what treatment they can get? Does any American doubt for one second that if that CEO determines that it is unprofitable for his company to allow a treatment that your doctor says you need in order to live, that that CEO would deny the treatment without even a second thought? I doubt very seriously if most Americans LIKE that. » Posted By TOCB On July 18, 2019 @ 5:17 am Mr. Trump This is What the 4th is REALLY About Brilliantly done Murph. Although we still struggle to live up to our creed as put forth in The Declaration of Independence and The United States Constitution, until January 2017 we have made steady progress in our efforts to do so. Until 1964 our government sanctioned separate by equal, which in essence means our government supported segregation, racism and racial inequality. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not and have not changed the hearts and minds of a large segment of European Americans, the majority of Americans embrace and indeed celebrate diversity and equality. Trump and his supporters promote division and liberty and justice for SOME. THAT is NOT what the USA stands for. We are better than Trump and his supporters. » Posted By TOCB On July 5, 2019 @ 6:06 am I am unable to grasp the premise/logic of your question. What does one’s sexual preference have to do with wanting children or raising children? Further, I am not gay but I suspect a romantic relationship between same sex couples involves a lot more than sex, as does a romantic relationship between heterosexual couples. Does that make sense to you? » Posted By TOCB On July 7, 2019 @ 11:10 am Their Only Crime Was Wanting To Live Trump represents today’s GOP. Today, the GOP is Trump. The GOP policy related to immigrants south of the border is one of cruelty. What is being done to immigrants at the concentration camps is a crime against humanity, and Trump, the GOP and Trump’s supporters must be held accountable for the atrocities. They say it is Obama’s fault or the fault of congressional Democrats. They accuse AOC of hypocrisy for voting against the funding bill that was recently passed, when the bill does little to nothing to address the problem in the northern of Central America or the concentration camps in the USA. Trump represents today’s GOP. Today, as the USA celebrates America’s independence, the GOP celebrates Trump, with a military parade in Washington D.C., and asylum seekers in concentration camps. » Posted By TOCB On July 4, 2019 @ 5:14 am Whether it is Conway, Sarah Sanders, Giuliani, Trump or any of his supporters, “truth isn’t truth.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CljsZ7lgbtw Republicans have made their party synonymous with lies. But even Democrats are truth challenged and often say things they think will sell better with their audience or their agenda than what they know is the truth. Republicans don’t care about truth and Democrats are afraid of truth. Take the Second Amendment for example. No intelligent person can read the Second Amendment and glean from it that it protects a right for individuals who are not part of a well regulated militia (in today’s terms, the military) to keep and bear arms. Republicans completely distort the Second Amendment to say it addresses a non-military right to keep and bear arms. Democrats go along to get along, because although they don’t believe the Second Amendment extends to non-military purposes, they will say in a heartbeat that they support a Second Amendment right to own guns. They are afraid to say there is no Second Amendment right for non-military individuals to own a gun. This is a textbook example of how Republicans and Democrats treat “truth”. » Posted By TOCB On June 27, 2019 @ 6:37 am Can you read? Do you have a brain? » Posted By TOCB On June 19, 2019 @ 4:54 am Clinton ran one of the best campaigns in history. In fact, all of the things that Warren and others are doing now, Clinton did in 2016. What other candidate has received 3 million more votes than the supposed winner, in spite of the handicaps of contending with an FBI investigation while the investigation of her opponent was kept a secret, while her opponent was actively working with the Russian government to spread the lies that republicans and the press had spread about her for over two decades? Anyone who actually voted for Trump over Clinton because of some stupid perceived “binary choice”, just made a bad choice. Hillary Clinton cannot be blamed for the stupidity of voters and non-voters, at least not credibly blamed. » Posted By TOCB On June 19, 2019 @ 4:50 am Poor judgement was not voting to send weapons inspectors back to Iraq and allowing them to complete the job of giving an accounting of WMD. Poor judgement is not making sure that Saddam did not sell or otherwise pass WMD to terrorists. Poor judgement is hijacking a peace resolution and using it to start an unnecessary war. YES, it is absolutely about gender. Hillary Clinton was more prepared than Obama to be POTUS in 2008, and she was more prepared than Trump to be POTUS in 2016. (btw, I am a black male). TRUTH is no respecter of ethnicity or gender. » Posted By TOCB On June 19, 2019 @ 4:41 am Black voters will not actually vote for Biden just because he was Obama’s “clean” VP. Elizabeth Warren appears to be the choice of black voters, when you REALLY talk to them/us. Your “numbers” may not support this, but that is what I am gleaning. » Posted By TOCB On June 19, 2019 @ 4:33 am EXCUSE ME! The election is not today, and both Bernie and Uncle Joe are old white men, whose times have come and gone as it relates to being POTUS. God bless their hearts. I may not be up on new math, but the last time I checked 74% is higher than 33%. Why would 74% give in to 33%? » Posted By TOCB On June 19, 2019 @ 4:27 am Thank you for your faux concern Carlysue, but we will pass on your advice. Trump will be impeached. We don’t care if Senate republicans refuse to convict an obvious criminal. They will have to defend that in the 2020 election. Although they have a lot of practice in defending the indefensible, I don’t think not convicting Trump will pass the smell test. But good luck with that BS about being concerned about Democrats harming themselves by impeaching this POS. » Posted By TOCB On June 19, 2019 @ 4:24 amComments Posted By TOCB
The United States government can fund ANYTHING its citizens need. All that is required is the will to do it. As Dick Cheney famously or infamously once said, “Deficits don’t matter”. Further, as I have stated countless times with no one even attempting to challenge me, there is absolutely no way that the private health insurance industry can cover pre-existing conditions and make a profit, and there is no way they will even attempt to do it if they cannot make a profit. DO YOU DISPUTE THIS???
To pay for additional services like chiropractors or long-term care at private hospitals, or to cover the remaining 30% of the basic care, individuals can purchase private insurance. They can either pay for it out-of-pocket, or in some cases an employer will cover the extra amount.
Sickness or social insurance funds do not operate like insurance companies in the U.S.; they don’t market, cherry pick, set premiums or rates paid to providers, determine benefits, earn profits or have investors, etc.
As for the cost of a single payer system being $2 trillion a year, I suspect it would be more than that initially, although the cost curve should bend downward after we establish a healthier population by making primary care available to everyone. We currently spend over $3.4 trillion a year on health care. Universal single payer is not a matter of ideological purity, rather it is a matter of having the political will to do the most prudent and cost effective thing related to providing health care to all Americans. Spreading lies about “socialism” and protecting the private health insurance industry keeps the USA at the absolute bottom as far as providing health care for our people. You and Biden sound like freaking republicans.
1. In a single-payer national health insurance system, as demonstrated by Canada, Denmark, Norway, Australia, Taiwan and Sweden (1), health insurance is publicly administered and most physicians are in private practice. U.S. Medicare would be a single payer insurance system if it applied to everyone in the U.S.
2. Great Britain and Spain are among the OECD countries with national health services, in which salaried physicians predominate and hospitals are publicly owned and operated. The Veteran’s Administration would be a U.S. single payer national health service system if it applied to everyone in the U.S.
3. Highly regulated, universal, multi-payer health insurance systems are illustrated by countries like Germany and France, which have universal health insurance via non-profit “sickness funds” or “social insurance funds”. They also have a market for supplementary private insurance, or “gap” coverage, but this accounts for less than 5 percent of health expenditures in most nations.
Sickness or social insurance funds do not operate like insurance companies in the U.S.; they don’t market, cherry pick, set premiums or rates paid to providers, determine benefits, earn profits or have investors, etc. In most countries, sickness funds pay physicians and hospitals uniform rates that are negotiated annually (also known as an “all-payer” system). Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt calls Switzerland’s “sickness funds” quasi-governmental agencies(2). In France, the overwhelming majority of the population is in a single non-profit fund, so many observers consider the French system “single payer.”
There is no model similar to sickness funds operating in the U.S. (3), although they are often confused with the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP), which is simply a group of for-profit private insurance plans with varying benefits, rules, regulations, providers, etc. The 1993 Clinton health plan was an attempt to regulate private insurance companies in the U.S. to behave more like sickness funds, but the insurance industry defeated it.
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