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Re: 2016 Presidential Election Thread
The private sector at least in terms of insurance companies aren't driving up anything. I don't know how many times I have to say it...until they get the costs under control, nothing will work. Not single payer. Not anything. It can't cost $800 for an IV and hundreds of dollars for bandages. Prescriptions are over priced. Everything is over priced. Nothing else matters.
Not true, the insurance itself is a big part of the problem. There is a disconnect between the cost, the consumer, and the information needed to make economic decisions: http://www.zanebenefits.com/blog/seven- … care-costs
Re: 2016 Presidential Election Thread
Bush said tort reform was needed before any of this stuff was dealt with. Everyone laughed at him.
Anyone still laughing?
Dubbya had a lot of great ideas, he could have saved social security in his first term if the Democrats hadn't sabotaged him.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: 2016 Presidential Election Thread
Bush had some good ideas. He had some good qualities. Clearly Iraq is all he will be remembered for.
Re: 2016 Presidential Election Thread
buzzsaw wrote:The private sector at least in terms of insurance companies aren't driving up anything. I don't know how many times I have to say it...until they get the costs under control, nothing will work. Not single payer. Not anything. It can't cost $800 for an IV and hundreds of dollars for bandages. Prescriptions are over priced. Everything is over priced. Nothing else matters.
Not true, the insurance itself is a big part of the problem. There is a disconnect between the cost, the consumer, and the information needed to make economic decisions: http://www.zanebenefits.com/blog/seven- … care-costs
No. Not even close. Even if there was 100% transparency that most people won't understand anyway, the cost issue is not coming from insurance companies. The part they play is negotiating discounts with providers. Then providers just raise prices to get their money anyway. Lots to learn about insurance companies and how they work.
Re: 2016 Presidential Election Thread
James Lofton wrote:Bush said tort reform was needed before any of this stuff was dealt with. Everyone laughed at him.
Anyone still laughing?
Dubbya had a lot of great ideas, he could have saved social security in his first term if the Democrats hadn't sabotaged him.
He wanted to privatize social security, and we would have lost that money in the market crash. The people who live on their ss would have lost everything. He was a fucking idiot who nearly ruined the country. Social security is okay, and it can be saved in the future with a few tweaks.
Re: 2016 Presidential Election Thread
RaZor wrote:buzzsaw wrote:The private sector at least in terms of insurance companies aren't driving up anything. I don't know how many times I have to say it...until they get the costs under control, nothing will work. Not single payer. Not anything. It can't cost $800 for an IV and hundreds of dollars for bandages. Prescriptions are over priced. Everything is over priced. Nothing else matters.
Not true, the insurance itself is a big part of the problem. There is a disconnect between the cost, the consumer, and the information needed to make economic decisions: http://www.zanebenefits.com/blog/seven- … care-costs
No. Not even close. Even if there was 100% transparency that most people won't understand anyway, the cost issue is not coming from insurance companies. The part they play is negotiating discounts with providers. Then providers just raise prices to get their money anyway. Lots to learn about insurance companies and how they work.
I know how insurance companies work buzz, I used to work for one. I also know how economics work, I have a degree in economics.
The market system works to drive down prices because consumers act in their own best interest, when they have the information they need to make informed decisions. Insurance separates the payer from the consumer, and reduces transparency. It actually works against the market.
The article I posted explains it pretty well, have you read it?
Update: Buzz, you're wrong when you say that insurance companies don't contribute to the increasing cost; but they are not the only force contributing to the increasing costs, and you make a lot of good points otherwise. Even without the insurance companies, prices would still be going up for a lot of the reasons you've been pointing out, that's why I said that healthcare is a failed market. It's a case in which market forces actually increase the price of a good instead of driving it down. Generally, the only way to correct a failed market is through government intervention.
Re: 2016 Presidential Election Thread
RaZor wrote:James Lofton wrote:Bush said tort reform was needed before any of this stuff was dealt with. Everyone laughed at him.
Anyone still laughing?
Dubbya had a lot of great ideas, he could have saved social security in his first term if the Democrats hadn't sabotaged him.
He wanted to privatized social security, and we would have lost that money in the market crash. The people who live on their ss would have lost everything. He was a fucking idiot who nearly ruined the country. Social security is okay, and it can be saved in the future with a few tweaks.
Bush neither wanted to privatize social security nor invest it in the stock market. And benefits would have stayed exactly the same for those already retired or close to being retired.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: 2016 Presidential Election Thread
Some much revisionist history in this thread, I too am probably guilty of it.
Re: 2016 Presidential Election Thread
misterID wrote:RaZor wrote:Dubbya had a lot of great ideas, he could have saved social security in his first term if the Democrats hadn't sabotaged him.
He wanted to privatized social security, and we would have lost that money in the market crash. The people who live on their ss would have lost everything. He was a fucking idiot who nearly ruined the country. Social security is okay, and it can be saved in the future with a few tweaks.
Bush neither wanted to privatize social security nor invest it in the stock market. And benefits would have stayed exactly the same for those already retired or close to being retired.
Bush wanted to take the first step towards privatization. At the end of the day it's what the conservatives want, disband SS entirely along with Medicare. Given the paltry average sum most Americans have in retirement, the outcome will be disastrous if they ever get their way.
