Public option, Mandate or legislative solution?

[VinnieKulick]

Which of the three do you prefer?
A public option, funded by the federal government.

A Mandate that all individuals must purchase health insurance.

Laws that outlaw the current practices of the insurance companies and provides incentives to insurance companies to cover the poor?

[Crazy Levi]

Public option.

It is the only way to break the stranglehold the insurance companies have on our health care system.

[lerxstcat]

I agree with the public option. It is eminently constitutional and the most effecient way to do it as well.

Expand the scope of Medicare and use the VA system as a model as well. And rein in the energy industry for the public weal while we're at it, and the larger insurance industry, not just the medical insurance section.

Time to bring government and our economy into the 21st century. We don't fight wars with muskets anymore, we can't conduct our government and economy like it was the 17th century either.

[bane]

My knee jerk answer would be option three, but I don't think it's possible without one of the other two in place.

[lerxstcat]

Option 3 is unworkable. You pass laws and the industry will fight them. And you are never going to find realistic incentives for insurance companies to cover the poor.

That's why the government public option has to cover the poor, and with a base safety net for all who need, then the health insurance industry will have to tighten up and get more competitive for the dollars of those who can afford other options - because even those people will ALSO have the public option available to them if the private insurance industry can't make a palatable alternative offering.

So instead of the gravy train they now have, the insurance industry would actualy have to figure a reasonable profgit margin, like grocery stores and gas stations do now.

Really, unless you work for the insurance industry and are at the gravy trough yourself, I don't see why anybody else should have a problem with this, if you just think it through.

[Ugmo]

Public option and a mandate.

[JakeYonkel]

You can't have a public option without a mandate.

I say if there IS going to be a public option, those of us who choose to remain with private coverage get our rates slashed or subsidized by the government. I would rather have private insurance than government, but I'm paying through the roof.

And I do think private insurance carriers should hold some sort of preference over public option users as far as treatment goes. No one is denied treatment but if you're not even paying for it yourself you get bumped down the list, unless it's life or death.

[MasterOfMeatPuppets]

Public option all the way.

[tylamonroe]

I've been wondering why we can't treat health care as follows;

1) No one can be denied
2) No one can be kicked out for getting sick
3) The States can act as a buying block to buy insurance in bulk for those who aren't employed by a large corp or union

In order to pay for this you have a 20 year graduated plan. 1st year you have a co pay and insurance picks up 10% of the total... you pay the rest.

Every year forward you have a lower copay and insurance picks up more of the total.

At the 15 year mark your paying almost nothing and you will have spent a good amount of time contributing.

This way no one is denied, but lazy cocksuckers cant game the system and not pay anything until they are hella sick.

Treat the debt for the ones that can't pay like student loans, no BK no way out. They garnish your check, take your tax returns etc until its paid.

Problem solved. Can we all get back to creating some fucking jobs now?

[bane]

What happens if you get cancer or have to have a major surgery during the first year?

[SeminiferousButtNoid]

A public option, funded by the federal government.

Violation of the "Necessary and Proper Clause" of the constitution. The legislative branch does not have the authority to create powers not enumerated in the constitution whenever and however it deems necessary. This was understood until the Great Depression and Roosevelt and his administration made the case that the country would implode if these powers were not instituted. They were passed by Congress under duress because of the Great Depression and politicians wanting to keep their jobs. It took a few years, in 1935 when the National Recovery Act and Frazier-Lemke act were struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. The same will happen if a public option is passed by the Democratic congress. With each successive century, we have moved further away from the democratic ideals set forth by our founding fathers. We have increased government and increased government control with each successive century.

A Mandate that all individuals must purchase health insurance.

Unconstitutional. Violates the General Welfare, Interstate Commerce, and Necessary and Proper Clauses of the constitution. The government cannot force its citizens to buy anything. The Democrats are trying to get around this by listing this as a tax. Unfortunately, taxation has to be uniform throughout all states. The Health Care plan is obviously not uniform.

Laws that outlaw the current practices of the insurance companies and provides incentives to insurance companies to cover the poor?

[/quote]


The third option is the only that is constitutional. Everyone is in agreement that the Health Care Industry is a threat to the General Welfare of the United States. That is why stricter government regulations need to be passed in order to reign in insurance companies. You can do this without violating the constitution.

With that being said, The Republicans wish all of this would go away including government regulations because they have historically been against corporations being checked by the government and protecting it's citizens on the individual level. This is a question of balance. The Democrats want government control and the Republicans want corporate control. The solution is what the government did with Anti-Trust Law at the beginning of the 20th century. Regulate, do not take control.

"If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision of the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress.... Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America."

[tylamonroe]

What happens if you get cancer or have to have a major surgery during the first year?

Your fucked, but if you go straight from your parents insurance to your own at 18 or after school than you would roll that over. Big incentive to start early.

[bane]

What happens if you get cancer or have to have a major surgery during the first year?

Your fucked, but if you go straight from your parents insurance to your own at 18 or after school than you would roll that over. Big incentive to start early.

Hmm. I have a feeling they'll have a tough time selling that one.

[tylamonroe]

What happens if you get cancer or have to have a major surgery during the first year?

Your fucked, but if you go straight from your parents insurance to your own at 18 or after school than you would roll that over. Big incentive to start early.

Hmm. I have a feeling they'll have a tough time selling that one.

I dunno. if you walk in with a giant cancer on your forehead without insurance today they would turn you away. This way you sign up that day, get treated, and get 10% off. Better deal and you are talking about the absolute worst case scenario.

[Ugmo]

Being stuck with 90 percent of the cost of treatment that would wipe you out financially isn't much of a better deal than 100 percent.

[lerxstcat]

Being stuck with 90 percent of the cost of treatment that would wipe you out financially isn't much of a better deal than 100 percent.

Especially if you eliminate bankruptcy as an option for those people.

[LadyJaneGrey]

What I would like to see happen is the elimination of a waiting period for insurance covering pre-existing conditions.