The Health Care Reform Address Thread

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by djnemo65

Well given that health care costs are expected to balloon to as high as 25 percent of total GDP in the next 15 years, creating a massive competitive disadvantage for American companies vis a vis other industrialized nations, I think said some people are starting with the premise that the current system is economically unsustainable. This is of course a completely different argument than the moral question of guaranteeing insurance. Anyway, if you accept as true the idea that significant measures to control costs are needed, it is reasonable to demand more than criticism right? That doesn't mean you can't challenge any of the current plans without a detailed alternative I suppose, but leaving things as they are doesn't seem like a serious choice.

Not sure if you saw the last Presidents address but if you remember that when he mentioned that the rep. have not helped several help up their plans they have proposed but ignored. From what I have read the dems have also rejected all or most of any of the rep. amendments to the proposed bills. Where did you get the number that health care could hit 25% of total GDP in 15 years?

[djnemo65]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Not sure if you saw the last Presidents address but if you remember that when he mentioned that the rep. have not helped several help up their plans they have proposed but ignored. From what I have read the dems have also rejected all or most of any of the rep. amendments to the proposed bills. Where did you get the number that health care could hit 25% of total GDP in 15 years?

The Long-Term Outlook for Health Care Spending

Did you try google? It's a widely reported figure.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by djnemo65

The Long-Term Outlook for Health Care Spending

Did you try google? It's a widely reported figure.

So that report also shows that federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid will also jump just like private ins. So if the goverment cannot control spending on Medicare and Medicaid why would we now assume that they are going to be able to control cost in the future? Why not use the current Medicare and Medicaid program as a test program and reform them and lest see what kind of results they can achieve? If they can then show the ability to control cost with good regulation whiel providing good coverage then I'm sure more Americans would/might be willing to listen to what they are proposing instead of them trying to crame some thrown together plan on us. I have also read that Medicare and Medicaid have 50 to 75 billion in waist and fraud now, so once again why not fix that today? Everyday they wait is just more tax money going to waist and fraud and that spending would pay for itself by just the money saved and then some.

Well today they are voting on amendments to one of the bills and the dems still do not want the public to see the bill. A rep. had an amendment stating that before any votes on the bill it must be post on the internet 72 hours in advance. The amendment was rejected along party lines. Go figure.