Posted by garnet71 on February 17, 2009, at 17:13:19
In reply to MD's Support National Health Care, posted by Phillipa on February 16, 2009, at 12:06:41
Yeah, that's being going around the news for quite some time. It's understandable doctors would want to support national health care.
Aside from the merits of a single-payer system; looking at the uninsured alone--It makes NO sense not to provide it, except that people who HAVE good insurance may feel threatened they may not get such good care (long waits to see doctors, for example, when an additional 50 million people suddenly have access to all the doctors).
Even putting the morality aside, from a policy/economic perspective--the costs of the 50 million uninsured are transferred over to society as a whole via both direct and indirect costs (lost work productivity, many intangible social costs, burden on school systems, hospitals-ER rooms, crime, bankruptcies, and personal costs (like being a victim of crime).
The costs of letting people be uninsured, imo, are HIGHER than providing the insurance to them (us-I am now uninsured again).
Just look at one cost bankruptcy (stats show medical costs top reason for bk)--who pays when a person files bankruptcy? Everyone in the country who has a credit card or loan! Actually, even more than those who hold or seek credit. Inlcude all the people who invest or have derivatives in the finance industry...Bankruptcies add to the cost of doing business.
Everyone already pays for the unisured. Power/politics screws up everything.
poster:garnet71
thread:880484
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090213/msgs/880765.html