Showing 12 comments for
Improving Health Care

Well said!

AMEN! And one of the biggest problems that we face - what we have is not insurance, it is cost management and dispersal. Real insurance would cover the unaffordable things that you cannot budget for, and would not touch the "well visits" and monthly allergy and contraceptive medicine. Real insurance would allow you to compare costs for elective surgeries and care and make a decision based on all the factors, because you are going to pay out of pocket, so you darn sure are going to challenge the doctor when he/she asks for 15 tests for CYA. Which brings up our other biggest problem - lawyers and a lack of personal responsibility...

TORT REFORM!!! Get rid of the lawsuits and malpractice claims and costs would plumet. But then the lawyers make the laws, and they need the lawsuits to survive. Time to start electing citizens who understand business, not lawyers who legislate their business.

I was US military assigned to Canada on exchange. One night I awoke with severe chest pains. Normally healthy, it took quite a few minutes to decide to call about this. I was informed that yes it should be checked out, and I should take a taxi--because if I was having a heart attack I might die while driving myself (I lived alone) to the emergency room. Once there I waited for about a half hour, then was ushered into the back to be checked. Fortunately it wasn't a heart attack. Then it took a several month wait to get further tests, like a stress test, to see if they could figure out what was going on. Lucky for me it wasn't serious. Canada’s health care system would be unacceptable for most people here in the US—long waits and many tests and procedures not generally available. Yes, they have cheaper drug prices, but less choice as well. And their cheap drug prices are subsidized by American consumers, who pay the cost of the development of new drugs—unlike the rest of the developed world. As for our longevity, quality health care has nothing to do with it as the liberals propose; it has to do with healthy lifestyles, risky behavior (like driving), and how you compile the statistics.

This makes so much sense that we can all rest assured that it will never, ever be accepted by the political class.

Well done, John. I like your straight forward and practical writing style.

As was found in the novel "Atlas Shrugged", when you remove incentives, you remove motivation. That is why Canada has less doctors - too much risk (frivolous malpractice) offset by too little reward.

The next thing once other options fail is that government will try to force people to work in health care "for the greater good". That's called slavery.

I am simply amazed at anyone stupid enough (yes, stupid) to believe in a government run economy or segment of it.

COS911 in Colorado - I'm a disabled veteran, and like you I awoke with chest pains. When I called the VA I was advised to call 911 and go to the nearest hospital for evaluation and further transportation to the VA. The particular hospital I went to at that time was considered one of the worst of the lousy VA medical system, and a precursor of what obamacare will do to every American. Even at that I was seen within two hours, and cleared within 14. They had me in for stress tests in only a bit over 4 months.

If obamacare is what the people of America want, they are more than welcome to it. They have nobody to blame but themselves.

John, when you say "...consumers should spend their own money on health care, limiting insurance to catastrophic expenses. Americans don't want to hear it. But that's the truth." actually, that's not a bad thing. The only kicker is that we the people must get to keep the money that normally would go to redistributive programs (taxes). With more money in our pockets (thanks to much lower taxes) we could afford the level of health care that we would choose to pay for. The best antidote for the mess we are in is more liberty!

Why we are speaking about the Constitutionality of BarryCare, what about the FDA? I can't seem to find any authorization for it in the Constitution. Can anyone else find it?

I do not understand how this and many other MANDATES imposed by law escape the prohibition of "taking" prohibited by the Fifth Amendment. ("... nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." It seems clear to me that forcing anyone, including insurance companies, to provide something for someone else for which they will not be paid is TAKING WITHOUT JUST COMPENSATION. Have there ever been lawsuits resisting such obvious looting?

Health Savings Accounts are the free market solution, combined with highdeductible plans sold nationwide. This is the solution that Republicans have been trying to advance but are completely ignored by the media and outlawed by Obamacare.

Any doctor worth your time is willing to compete on the basis of quality, price, access, vailability and service in order to get your business. HSA's with cash paying patients will be welcomed by doctors- and with tax incentives to set up an HSA, the folks get to keep thier hard earned money to spend as they want.

There is no free market competition in medicine today. Medicare sets the prices and we are all just pawns in the game. Re-imbursement to surgeons and othe physicians have decreased almost 50% over the last 15 years and yet you hear about the rising cost of healthcare. That is because of administrative and "third party" middle men and regulators, reviewers and government wonks. Everthing bad about healthcare is because of federal governmnet intervention between you and your doctor.

I can't even use my own personal microscope in my office ( the same one I used through college and med school) without paying for a CLIA waiver that is required of Medical laboratories that do up to 33,000 tests per year. I am not a laboratory - I am one doctor in an office - but I am prohibited from doing the things that I am trained to do -- by the government -- the same folks that pay me $19 for mid-level office visit on a medicare patient.

Hopefully we are near the end of this disaster and there is a ray of hope for some free market competition in the future. But if Americans want free healthcare then we are in for dark days ahead. Competition, personal responsibilty and choice, and a safety net for the needy is our only solution.