Forgot to mention that a single payer representing 300 million people has powerful negotiating strength.

As a pharmacist I know what kind of skulduggery both the drug companies and PBM's are involved in ....... the corruption is beyond belief.

A rational formulary applied to the whole nation could save at least 50% on our drug costs.

The single payer could yearly negotiate with providers for the price to be paid for diagnostic tests, procedures, etc.

Japan does this ...... an MRI there cost $99.00 .... here the same MRI cost from $2000.00 to $2500.00 dollars.

Japan has no difficulty filling its Medical Colleges with students ...... the physicians are quite satisfied with the status and prestige that accompanies the profession.

And no, they do have to wait to get MRI's ...... in fact they have more MRI machines per 100,000 people than the USA which is 2nd.

Combining these cost reductions with those of the single payer non-profit administration, we could cut health care costs by 50% which would be more than enough to insure everyone.

Quote :

"I am not offering any thoughts on the morality of how much a physician, teacher or police officer should be paid, but simply stating that as soon as the government begins acting as an intermediary between consumer and provider (and taking a substantial 'fee' for doing so) all sorts of bad things begin to happen, with, generally, only the government being the true beneficiary."

We already have 3rd parties in the health care system ...... they called insurance companies .......

Theoretically, patients would have more control over a govt administered program than one administered by private insurance companies.

I could write for an hour about the immoral crap the insurance companies engage in everyday.

If the medical care system had been a "cash only" business for the last 30 years, prices for goods and services rendered would not be at the absurd levels that they are now ..... the average person would not have been able to pay such prices out of pocket and the cost of the goods and services would have remained lower or not have been provided.

Insurance companies, thru spreading risk thru pools, were able to pay for the escalating costs of new procedures and drugs.

The relationship between the insurance companies and medical providers was a symbiotic one ....... both profited from the arrangement.

Until "managed care", most insurance companies payed "usual and customary charges", ie., whatever they were billed by the provider or a percentage thereof.

Now, they set the prices of what they will pay ...... some health care providers, particularly dentists and some anesthesia practices accept only cash but will bill your insurance company for you in response to what they consider "robbery" by the insurance companies.

The upward symbiotic spiral between providers and insurance companies, like all such spirals, has reached a point where it can no longer continue ...... people can no longer afford the service or the insurance.

Two days in the hospital now, with the costs of surgical procedures being what they are and the costs of ICU's can easily produce a $100,000 dollar bill.

This of course is absurd because you cannot deliver that much service in only two days ...... but it is a fact.

A family can lose everything they have worked for for 40 or 50 years in two days !!!

This is just wrong in a country that boasts it is the greatest in the world.

Every american needs some form of catastrophic health care coverage.

The biggest cause of bankruptcy claims in this country in people over 45 years of age is medical bills.

Again, this is just wrong.

The US is the only industrialized country in the world that does not have some form of nationalized health care.

No one in any of these countries has to go bankrupt because of medical bills.

The US spends more per capita on health care than any country in the world and has some of the worst outcomes.

The World Health Organization lists the US healthcare system as 34th in the world (putting us down among the 3rd world countries)....... primarily due to lack of access.

40% of americans have no health insurance. Many full time workers can't afford it.

What good is a healthcare system if half the people can't use it ?

The system is broken and must be rebuilt from the ground up.

I heard some talking head on tv say that it was embarassing

that so much security was required at the inauguration because

Obama was "black" and there was fear of assasination.

No, that is not an embarrassment. Every country has its share of racists.

What is embarrassing is that 40% of people have no health care insurance in this country and that millions live in fear that they may get sick and lose everything they have.

What is embarrassing is that we have an educational system that produces students who know nothing about the constitution, our system of govt or how to thing.

The present system is a system meant to socialize and prepare students to be a compliant, non-thinking cogs in the machine and to be consumers.

What is embarrassing is that our country is a corporatocracy whose govt's interests is in funneling money from taxpayers into the pocket of the corporate elite .....into the military-industrial complex, wars, etc. rather than providing for the interests of their citizens.

What is embarassing is that the american people, knowing this, tolerate it rather than throwing these parasites to the wolves.

By the time a child is in the second grade, he/she should be able to quote the mantra "Never trust the government".

I agree with your analysis.

After the loss of manufacturing, our economy moved to the level of "producing" credit rather than goods .....

My disgust is simply in the way the money is being spent ...