So, you think the current system sucks but you oppose any attempt to fix it? That just confuses me.
I'm aware that the reform is sub-optimal, but at this point it can't be any worse than what we already have and I just want the government to pass the fucking thing so we can get on to other orders of business.
Allow me to clarify then: I hate the current system, and I think the government's reform attempt will be
even worse.
The only reason I wanted a public option was to kill the current health insurrance bussiness and get us to a full govt. run health insurance system. The thing is that the govt. has shown that it can run a health insurance system fairly well see medicare. Yes it has a few issues. Mainly the strain of all the baby boombers and the rising cost of medication.
If you look at the numbers behind things, you will find that Medicare/Medicaid are responsible for roughly 50% of the cost increases in health care over the past 20 years. That doesn't sound like competent management to me.
The issue with the tennesse valley project was an issue the special interest behind the creation of the project. Kind of like what is happing with the health insurance reform bill.
The special interest behind the project was FDR's desire to turn the electric utilities industry into a government run business, disguising his attempt by claiming the power industry wasn't expanding fast enough in the South so the government needed to step in.
The Forgotten Man is an excellent history of the era, covering Hoover's and FDR's blunders during the depression - blunders that are hailed today as successes, and are being repeated before our eyes, with the same disastrous consequences.
I want to make the distinction clear between health care and health insurance. Health care is what you get when you go the doctor. Health insurance pays for this care.
In a single payer system, ultimately, the government will get to call all the shots. It becomes nearly irrelevant that the health care system is private if all costs are paid by the government.
One of the biggest problems in the health care system today is the disconnect between health care costs to consumers and the total cost of care. When on insurance plans, health care costs are smoothed out over time, so the perception is that payment for health care is constant regardless of the care received. Thus consumers have no particular reason to practice preventative medicine, which is a small fraction of the cost of treatment after the fact. Switching to a single payer system will only exacerbate the problem.
If given absolute dictatorial powers today, I would abolish the health insurance industry and introduce health savings plans, with tax incentives to pay into the plans and a promotional campaign to advocate for preventative medicine and health conscious living.