Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Seven healthcare questions Obama won't answer.

1. Assuming the figure of 47 million is correct, how can insurance coverage be provided to 15% more people with the same number of doctors, other providers and clinic hours and hospital beds without substantially increasing the cost?

2. If the answer to “1” above is “efficiency” then how will the efficiencies be created without overt rationing in either the underwriting or coverage process, or both?

3. If the answer to “1” above is “efficiency” then why will this federal entitlement be more economically efficient then existing Medicaid, Medicare and the Veteran’s Administration health programs, all of which objectively operate at billions of dollars of losses every year?

4. If the answer to “1” above is competition then how will fair competition work if one competitor-the government plan-makes the rules and has an unlimited ability to operated at a loss?

5. If the government underwriters use more generous underwriting criteria then private insurers currently use then how will extending existing coverages to include previously excluded pre-existing conditions be less expensive than existing coverages that exclude pre-existing conditions?

6. Why will the federal employees who manage the government program, who cannot be sued and are nearly impossible to fire, provide better customer service then private insurers who can be sued and who can fire their employees at will?

7. If the cost to employers to maintain existing health insurance is more than the cost of canceling existing coverages then why will employers not simply force their employees into the government program by canceling existing coverage, thereby negating the ability of the insured to “keep the insurance plan they’ve got”?

10 comments:

RF said...

To borrow from BO, what's your plan, Sporer? Do you not have a problem with the fact that we spend 2x more per capita than any other country on healtcare, but we have 47 million uninsured (or whatever the exact number)? How come all other industrialized nations have figured out a much cheaper way to provide high quality care for all their citizens?

This radical is darn happy we have a president who is trying to fix real problems.

Anonymous said...

RF, why do you think that Obama's plan will fix the costs of healthcare?

Take a crack at answering Uncle Teddy's questions.

RF said...

Sporer's questions are classic straw man questions, based on status quo and fixed assumptions. The simple facts in my statement above debunk them. Many other countries have found ways to insure all their citizens and achieve better collective results, all with less than 50% of our cost per person. Thus, there is surely many ways to improve our system, increase efficiency and reduce costs. And, btw, a commont thread among all those other countries: some sort of strong public option and/or involvement in the health care sector.

Or do you think Americans are too stupid to solve a problem of this magnitude? Seems like the do-nothing R's feel that way.

The Deplorable Old Bulldog said...

Glad to see you back rf.

IF they are, in fact, straw men then you should have no problem answering.

Those countries are small, economically inferior and sources of immigration to the United States, not emigration from the United States.

Merely diagnosing the problem is not the intellectual nor logical corrollary of providing the rememdy.

Your response merely displays the reason liberals always fail in office, they don't solve problems, they just complain.

The Deplorable Old Bulldog said...

Not a one was answered.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Uncle Teddy, why don't you publish more often?

Everyone misses you buddy.

Anonymous said...

THESE QUETIONS ONLY MATTER TO PEOPLE WHOSE EMPLOYERS HAVE NOT ALREADY CANCELLED THEIR INSURANCE DUE TO HIGH COSTS. I AM A COLLEGE EDUCATED PROFESSIONAL WITH NO HEALTH INSURANCE PROVIDED AND DO NOT MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO PURCHASE MY OWN(BUT SLIGHTLY TO MUTCH FOR IA TO COVER MY KIDS). THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS SYSTEM. LET OBAMA OR SOMEBODY DO ANYTHING AND IT WILL BE OK BY ME IF I CAN GET HEALTH INSURANCE ON MY KIDS

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to see how Teddy fairs in the US senior-citizen home when he has lost what's left of his mind, lol!

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Anonymous said...

Is Ted your number 1 client?

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