Comments on: To care for all — or just some … http://www.unitedprofessionals.org/blog/2007/03/22/to-care-for-all-or-just-some-%e2%80%a6/ Issues that matter and resources for white collar workers of any profession or employment status. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:27:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Giovanna Lepore http://www.unitedprofessionals.org/blog/2007/03/22/to-care-for-all-or-just-some-%e2%80%a6/#comment-12394 Giovanna Lepore Tue, 24 Apr 2007 03:29:46 +0000 http://www.unitedprofessionals.org/blog/2007/03/22/to-care-for-all-or-just-some-%e2%80%a6/#comment-12394 If you got to www.healthcare-now.org you will discover that right now there is a bill before congress to cover everyone comprehensively with Single-Payer National Universal Health Care, that is, H.R. 676 please contact them and support this effort! If you got to http://www.healthcare-now.org you will discover that right now there is a bill before congress to cover everyone comprehensively with Single-Payer National Universal Health Care, that is, H.R. 676 please contact them and support this effort!

]]> By: Alvin http://www.unitedprofessionals.org/blog/2007/03/22/to-care-for-all-or-just-some-%e2%80%a6/#comment-10288 Alvin Sat, 07 Apr 2007 19:58:47 +0000 http://www.unitedprofessionals.org/blog/2007/03/22/to-care-for-all-or-just-some-%e2%80%a6/#comment-10288 I don't think that healthcare is a right like our claimed right to "liberty and happiness". What I would like to see is that we as a country declare that it will be a basic service that will be provided. I'm not an expert on this but I think the US is the only developed nation that doesn't have a form of national healthcare. The big fight to get to a national healthcare system will be to get control of the medical industry. They have been inflating their costs at double digit rates for so long that they think they own healthcare. I have heard that the costs of healthcare in the US for a particular service is in the order of 200% to 300% of what it is in other industrial countries. The level of service here may be higher so it may be difficult to do a true comparison but I believe it is true that healthcare here is more expensive. Another question that will need to be addressed is levels of healthcare. Should a poor person "deserve" the same care as a millionaire? I have heard that countries with a national healthcare system are beginning to make allowances for people that are willing to pay extra for extra service - for example, to get the heart bypass surgery sooner. I heard of the GINI coefficient for the spread between rich and poor (google gini) and the US is getting close to 3rd world countries like Mexico. While I don't want to impede people getting rich, a person can't get rich without getting it from the backs of other people and I believe society has the right to limit this exploitation. We need entrepreneurs who dream up new ways of doing things and come up with industries that create jobs, and so on but we also need to evolve as a society to do a better job at sharing the wealth. I think these will be difficult issues but it shouldn't stop us to push for this. I think it's unacceptable for a nation with such wealth to tolerate 47M people who can't afford even basic healthcare. I don’t think that healthcare is a right like our claimed right to “liberty and happiness”. What I would like to see is that we as a country declare that it will be a basic service that will be provided. I’m not an expert on this but I think the US is the only developed nation that doesn’t have a form of national healthcare.

The big fight to get to a national healthcare system will be to get control of the medical industry. They have been inflating their costs at double digit rates for so long that they think they own healthcare. I have heard that the costs of healthcare in the US for a particular service is in the order of 200% to 300% of what it is in other industrial countries. The level of service here may be higher so it may be difficult to do a true comparison but I believe it is true that healthcare here is more expensive.

Another question that will need to be addressed is levels of healthcare. Should a poor person “deserve” the same care as a millionaire? I have heard that countries with a national healthcare system are beginning to make allowances for people that are willing to pay extra for extra service - for example, to get the heart bypass surgery sooner.

I heard of the GINI coefficient for the spread between rich and poor (google gini) and the US is getting close to 3rd world countries like Mexico. While I don’t want to impede people getting rich, a person can’t get rich without getting it from the backs of other people and I believe society has the right to limit this exploitation. We need entrepreneurs who dream up new ways of doing things and come up with industries that create jobs, and so on but we also need to evolve as a society to do a better job at sharing the wealth.

I think these will be difficult issues but it shouldn’t stop us to push for this. I think it’s unacceptable for a nation with such wealth to tolerate 47M people who can’t afford even basic healthcare.

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