Medicare For All?
Good, fast and cheap….you cannot have all three. So goes the famous saying but is it really true? Well, they basically asked this same question to the general population of this country and here is what they said:
Americans like the idea of “Medicare-for-all,” but support flips to disapproval if it would result in higher taxes or longer waits for care.
That’s a key insight from a national poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
The poll found that Americans initially support “Medicare-for-all,” 56 percent to 42 percent.
However, those numbers shifted dramatically when people were asked about the potential impact, pro and con.
Support increased when people were told “Medicare-for-all” would guarantee health insurance as a right (71 percent) and eliminate premiums and reduce out-of-pocket costs (67 percent).
But if they were told that a government-run system could lead to delays in getting care or higher taxes, support plunged to 26 percent and 37 percent, respectively. Support fell to 32 percent if it would threaten the current Medicare program.
You cannot make everyone happy. Good, fast and cheap…pick two. Now let’s just watch who distorts these results to push their agenda.
I think the following issue sums up the expectations. KHOUTV, channel 11 in Houston, ran a help piece. A woman is on Texas Healthsprings, a Cigna Medicare Advantage Product. She was found to have a melanoma. I am not clear if she did not like the doctors or could not get a treating doctor in net work. She wanted to go to MD Anderson here in Houston. This is one of the nation’s premier cancer hospitals but they do not accept any managed care. She and her daughter demanded she be seen at MDA but it took insurance about 5 months to approve it. Both are angry at the delay as she now has an abnormal chest xray. They are now complaining about paying out of network fees.
In short, we demand all care immediately at no charge and without restrictions. I recognize that she needs care, but she chose the less cost one and with the delays. I know she did not anticipate the problems. As Monty Python said, “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition. “
Medical care is either rationed in terms of provision based on ability to pay (US capitalist system), or based on need (socialized medicine). Which one a society prefers or is the one that prevails. I am against rationing based on ability to pay and find this financially and morally repugnant. There are scores of systems out there doing it better than us, and they have better outcomes to prove it, and for far less cost. Why is this knowledge not front and center in the debate? The reasons are greed and corruption. For a reference on how things could be, look at Australia’s medical system. 100% of the people have medical coverage. It is not first class, it is coach, and adequate. However, 75% have private supplemental insurance.how does that work? Well, it’s cheap, and those of financial means can the pay more of they desire and get first class treatment for elective procedures, more frills at private hospitals, shorter waits. All good, and the haves get to enjoy the rewards of their wealths while the have-nots are still cared for. By every metric they are having better out comes and for 50% of the cost of what we pay per persons when pinned to percentage GDP. There is no reason we can’t cripple the insurance bloat and allow for reasonable, supplemental coverage while converting the current tax structure over to covering everyone medically and crushing the inflationary prices that have been result of the current capitalist system. This is hard not because it hasn’t be tried and proven. It is hard because companies will lose money and they own the govt. it’s hard because people believe they will lose their privilege to have better medical care once they become an earner I’m this society. However, your current medical care privilege comes at a cost of more than money when your fellow citizens are tied to abusive jobs in order to maintain crappy insurance and cannot maintain health or wealth, and bankruptcy becomes an only option for so many. Pre-existing conditions are called health history in the rest of the world. It is a term used to deny care in a market based medical system and it is morally corrupt.
So how do you convince people to accept rationing?
Thanks Mike. The problem is that there are many systems that can work, and none that can work in America. We have lost the ability to govern ourselves effectively, and we can expect a healthcare system no better than Turkey or Thailand’s, although still the most costly in the world. All of the worst habits of American organizations- regulatory paralysis, legal wrangling and factory-floor medicine – means conservative to liberal, nothing can be done until the collapse.
It may be a moot point once this hits the Supreme Court. Privacy… Has anyone asked M4A advocates what process will be used to audit physician reimbursements and EHR quality metrics? Will they use the current CMS process?
Also, America’s understanding of how comprehensive primary care can be is at an all time low. No wonder with 8 minutes and out the door care. Even NHS GPs in England are now complaining about lack of patient time at 10.5 minutes.
Almost anyone under 50 has no cultural connection either. No “Marcus Welby, MD” effect. Today, great “care” is portrayed in a hospital setting.
The good news is we do not need a moonshot to fix the mess we have.
Frankly the whole Democrat agenda scares the hell out of me.
What frightening is that the entire democrats party is now pushing the good/fast/cheap lie.