A simple, sound fix to the US Health Care problem

[Bob Hubbard]

FACT: The US Population is 317 Million (rounded) http://www.census.gov/popclock/

FACT: The Lifetime Average Per Person Expenditure on Health Care is $316,600 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361028/

FACT: Medicare is one of the largest health insurance programs in the world. http://www.nber.org/digest/apr06/w11609.html

SOLUTION:

Take a 1-time hit out of the federal coffers of $1M per Citizen rounded a little, say $320 Million Dollars. (ok, I fudged this. See Below around post #6)

Invest that money in an interest bearing account.

Extend Medicare to ALL US Citizens, regardless of income.

Remove payroll withholding cap.

Increase withholding 1-5%.

Cover all basic, preventative and emergency care out of this fund with no co pays.

Use the immense buying power of 317 million people to make care low cost and affordable.

Existing insurance companies can reset to offer non-essential coverage.




ok. Blow some holes in this people. Its fracking simple.

 

[Big Don]

Clearly, the rich should pay more, those bastards

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Ah, but see, they will. No more cap on what you contribute.

 

[arnisador]

FACT: The US Population is 317 thousand (rounded) http://www.census.gov/popclock/

Sweet Jesus, how can even you be this stupid? The Buffalo urban area has a population three times that, imbecile. The whole U.S. is about a thousand times that.

SOLUTION:

Take a 1-time hit out of the federal coffers of $1M per Citizen rounded a little, say $320 Million Dollars.

That's about $1 per person--or what the GOP considers fair.

 

[jks9199]

You misplaced your decimal a bit, Bob. That's about 320,000,000.... only about 1000 times your figure. Can we take budget hit of billions instead of millions?

Beyond that -- I question how well it would work, in terms of keeping prices down and maintaining quality. Just inherent distrust of human nature at the moment... but I suspect there's more to it.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Sweet Jesus, how can even you be this stupid? The Buffalo urban area has a population three times that, imbecile. The whole U.S. is about a thousand times that.

Its called a typo you pigeon brained bung fungling Ignoramous.

That's about $1 per person--or what the GOP considers fair.

well, crap. I did fudge the math.

well.....


****.

ROFLMAO!!!!!



On the plus side, Arni talked to me, -and- invoked diety. Double Score! iratelau

 

[Bob Hubbard]

REVISED

FACT: The US Population is 317 Million (rounded) http://www.census.gov/popclock/

FACT: The Lifetime Average Per Person Expenditure on Health Care is $316,600 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361028/

FACT: Medicare is one of the largest health insurance programs in the world. http://www.nber.org/digest/apr06/w11609.html

SOLUTION:

Take a 1-time hit out of the federal coffers of $300,000 per Citizen rounded a little, say $9.6e+13 Dollars.


Hmm.... ok, on second thought....yeah, that won't work.


​

Hey, I spent all day cutting, edging and detailing 3 lawns, scraping, wire brushing, sanding, scrubbing, and prepping a stone porch for pain, and hauling trash. Just be happy I got 3 facts right even if I missed a couple zeros. :roflmao:

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Rereading the link...."At an annual cost of $260 billion, Medicare is one of the largest health insurance programs in the world."

Yeah....I blew the math bad.


Hmm....require everyone put an average of $5/wk into a national medical fund...... only raised $83B

Still not enough.


Ok. I got the math wrong. But I still think there's something usable here. The whole buying in bulk and all quantity discount factor.

 

[K-man]

There is yet another major downside. Assuming it were possible to build a fund into perpetuity, human nature being what it is, some people will always find ingenious ways to transfer the contents of the said fund from the people to their pocket. I think a much smaller fund that controls its costs and keeps leeches under control will be far more efficient.
:asian:

 

[Bob Hubbard]

View attachment $734374_692804527397321_2065933816_n.jpg

A million millions is I believe a trillion.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090925145322AA91i7s

So, we need the government to print up $317T, stick it in an interest bearing bank account, and we're all good.



Since our currency is backed by the 'full faith of the US Government', and nothing else, and it's value is arbitrary anyway, this shouldn't hurt the economy any more than the last decade has.

 

[granfire]

uh.....
My math might be off, but that's a bit over a buck a person.....

 

[Steve]

Expanding Medicare is an idea with merit. There was a bill called the Medicare for All Act that, I guess, seemed too reasonable.

http://www.pnhp.org/publications/united-states-national-health-care-act-hr-676

There is a lot of information on that link, including the text of the proposed bill. The bill is sponsored by Conyers, a democrat from... michigan (I think). I don't know the current status of the bill, and it may be buried in committee or completely DOA.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

uh.....
My math might be off, but that's a bit over a buck a person.....

yup. Which Arni pointed out when I forgot a few zeros. LOL

 

[pgsmith]

ok. Blow some holes in this people.

Wow, that was quick!

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I think there's a nugget of possibility in there though.

If we assume 150M workers, paying $10each per week into a pool which can be invested, that's $78B which can be focused on reinforcing care for the poorer third of the populace. This would have to be tied to funnelling them to certain providers, but hearing that most doctors and a majority of hospitals are either opting out of Obamanationcare or limiting patients to a single insurer, that part seems to be in progress now.

 

[DennisBreene]

Rereading the link...."At an annual cost of $260 billion, Medicare is one of the largest health insurance programs in the world."

Yeah....I blew the math bad.


Hmm....require everyone put an average of $5/wk into a national medical fund...... only raised $83B

Still not enough.


Ok. I got the math wrong. But I still think there's something usable here. The whole buying in bulk and all quantity discount factor.

You have just passed the entrance requirements for the US Senate! When will you announce your candidacy?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

In all seriousness, I'm done running for office in the US. I will however lead an army and cleanse Congress like Skywalker and the 501st cleansed the Jedi Temple. Soon as I get my mitochlorians checked.

 

[DennisBreene]

In all seriousness, I'm done running for office in the US. I will however lead an army and cleanse Congress like Skywalker and the 501st cleansed the Jedi Temple. Soon as I get my mitochlorians checked.

Of course the first indication a politician plans to run for office is the public statement that they don't intend to run for office.