Solution to Health Care in the US...What do you think?

Here is my solution to health care and people who can't afford it:
All elderly or disabled get everything paid for and not paying for things out of their little SS checks.

All people 18-62 or 65 would fill out out their W-4 with a special insert that they checkmark if they feel that they can't afford or don't have a job with health insurance offered.
Then if they don't use the service at all, no one (like taxpayers) are paying for coverage on people who don't use the benefit. And the people who don't need any healthcare during the year get their complete tax refund.
So then, the people that do end up using the healthcare benefits would get this taken out of their tax return before they get any money refunded. If they had spent more than their refund, they could arrange a repayment plan, or roll it over into the next year (rollover can only be 2 consequetive yrs.)

People who claim they have a low income and can't afford healthcare do not deserve to be getting free health care PLUS getting huge tax refunds. People that actually have a low income or don't have access to any insurance coverage still have a way to pay back what they use.
People that don't go to the doctor a lot do not really need insurance coverage, only coverage if they need it. If they don't use it, the government should not be paying for coverage.

How about we just let the insurance companies cover the catastrophic stuff, and for the small things, let the doctor or hospital bill people and maybe even get their money up front. This would end the cost crisis. Think about it. We don't expect our auto insurance to cover oil changes, brake pads, tires, or mufflers. If it did, these things would cost astronomically higher than they do now.

Well, to those who thumbs downed me, let me explain how it USED to work. About 25 years ago, long before this crisis, and long before these laws were passed saying the doctor HAD to treat you regardless of you ability to pay, I was fresh out of high school, living in a one room apartment with a bathroom I had to share with 4 neighbors. I worked at a convenience store at night, went to college during the day. My diet consisted of generic mac and cheese and generic turkey pot pies on alternating nights. One day I came down with strep throat. I walked over to the doctor's office across the street from my boarding house. I had no insurance. He charged me $35, and I didn't get back into the examination room until it was paid. He examined me, wrote me up for some penicillin and sent me out the door. Now days if i go to the doctor the co-pay is $30, and my insurance company gets a bill for hundreds, unless I haven't met the deductible, then mail it down for me to pay. Like I said, it didn't used to work this way.

The average tax refund would not even begin to cover a years worth of health care

It's practical.

we need to focus on preventative healthcare which would require the minimum of annual health exams.. giving people an incentive not to go to the doctors would only create problems in the future!!!

it is a good idea though!! however, i know that if i had the chance to get my entire refund back and skip my yearly doctors apointments for 10 years i would opt for the refund... since i don't have that option i take advantage of my health care and thus am preventing a $20,000 dental bill in ten years when i need all my teeth redone!

it's just placing too much personal responsibility on a society that cannot except such personal responsibility

Joe Camel, who has cancer, just signed up for program...his medical expenses for 5 years are 1 million dollars. He pays 10,000 in taxes for those 5 years and dies. WHO IS GOING TO PAY THE REST??? Yep, the rest of us tax payers who did not sign up for the "plan."

what about surgeries?

what's the average costs of those?

and how does this work in your plan?

do you expect people to pay for $500,000 surgeries on a payment plan, when they earn $30,000 a year and have many expenses?

or even if they earn $60,000 a year... paying for that kind of surgery just isn't very feasible... and it's not that uncommon on serious surgeries...

EDIT: I think more than 1or 2 people out of 10 have big surgeries in ther life... at least out of people I know...

and even if it was 10 or 20 percent of the population... the costs would still be stagering for that 10 or 20 percentand I don't see where you're making it up? the vast majority will never have the money to even pay it off...

How about we make it easier>>
we kill the socialized medicine system known as medicaid, and place everyone on a group health insurance policy, that is provided by private insurance companies.
The premiums will be based on income, policies portable, and you still have the option of buying better insurance.
This way, it still promotes competition between insurers, the medicaid recipients can now go to regular doctor visits which will cost the tax payer 10X less for a hang nail, than going to the emergency room. Those of us who can afford our own insurance benefit by reducing our rate of contact with untreated communicable diseases.

Your plan leaves out the most basic idea behind the whole plan, to lower the amount of bankruptcies causes by medical bills, and health care related costs, which causes everyone else to have to pay the bills of everyone who can't, by the health care providers passing the losses on to us in higher expenses.

Solution to Health Care:

No more insurance companies. Patents are closed until the drug(s) is(are) proven safe and effective.

Generally the costs will go down since nobody wants a drug nobody can afford. Drug companies overcharge since nobody else can sell it until the patent runs out and generic forms can be produced.

In the 90's there was a push for the availability of "life-saving drugs" to be on the market with less testing. What that did was create an imbalance...patents on drugs usually expired 2 to 3 years after a drug completed testing- now they expire approx 10 - 12 years later.

True, this may not truly solve our Health care, but it's less absurd than what everyone else seems to want to propose.

Because Joe Camel smokes and gets Cancer he does not deserve to get the same medical treatment? If something like this were to happen we could not discriminate on who is treated for what.

No I am not a smoker either

Sorry, bad idea.

The best way to bring down health costs is to make people pay for their own care.

If you're a reactionary republican there's only one possible health plan to consider. Everyone pays for their own health insurance policy at the price that the private insurance companies choose to charge. If you can't afford it, hard cheese for you. Likewise, according to the reactionaries, nobody is entitled to employer based insurance either. The employer pays you so much a week and you get to spend it anyway you want. If you want health insurance...buy it! If an insurance company doesn't want to insure you....tough....they're in business to make money, not attend to your 'needs'. If you have a pre-existing condition, that's on you. Medicare and medicade? According to the reactionaries these 'social programs' should be abolished. Everyone should fend for themselves no matter how old or 'poor' or cripple up they may be. In other words, medical care is only for winners, not losers. Can't afford a polio shot for your kid....who's fault is that? Get a job 'ya bum! According to the GOP 'conservatives' anything short of the above is 'socalism' and if Oliver Twist asks for 'more', the little bastard should be taught a lesson.....this country needs all it's tax dollars to 'fight terrorism'....disease is a personal problem! No true American would want it anyother way!

Do you have any idea how much it costs to get health care in this country ? My tax return wouldn't even cover the cost of my doctor visits. I pay $100 a visit to see my doctor for 3 - 5 minutes. A night in a hospital can cost you 3 to 5 THOUSAND dollars a day. An operation costs even more. Most of the people I work with earn less than 12000 dollars a year. After they pay for rent and food there is nothing left for insurance. Why do you think 1 out of 6 are uninsured , and 2out of 6 are under insured. The answer is not paying after the fact it's insuring everyone equally so they don't have to worry about paying for health care while they are sick. they won't have to worry about there wages being garnished or bill collectors hounding them. The answer is national health insurance.

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