government checking accounts

[Indy]

Excuse me you think doing Medicare/Medicaid privately would cost 3-4x less? How's that?

I get so tired of hearing that nirvana awaits if only we privatized everything.

How'd that work out in 2008? Where you had the result of a "free market" where all the meaningful gov't regulations were stripped away.

[IndependentProfessor]

[IndependentProfessor]

[Indy]

I've heard that argument too, that Medicare needs to go because of say, fraud and abuse.

Is that really what needs to happen? Because the answer is standing right in front of us.

[exploited]

That is such an absurdly ridiculous argument, Prof.

If you cut healthcare costs by 50%, as can be reasonably expected from a universal healthcare system, but then lose 15-20% of those savings to administrative waste or fraud, you are still saving 30-35%.

[IndependentProfessor]

[Indy]

Prof, the other thing I think about is we have the highest per-capita health costs around.

Medicare Part D is written so that the gov't must buy drugs from pharmas with no negotiating power. Obviously that law came from the industry itself--i.e., they probably wrote it.

So I'm unclear how, without regulation, an industry that has gouged us for years would simply not do the same.

BTW the answer I was looking for regarding fraud and abuse was to hire a boatload of investigators to manage that, and to make penalties draconian. But we do neither. Why is that?

[spacemonkey]

[IndependentProfessor]

[IndependentProfessor]

You know, I've read a lot of things on here over the years, advocating "government provided" things. Here's a quick rundown just of what I remember:

- housing for lower 40% of income population
- all healthcare
- banking
- internet
- education
- expansion of public transportation

I know I'm missing things. But, consider that my highest monthly expenses are:
- mortgage
- education
- health insurance
- auto (payments and insurance)

It would seem that I should be in favor of this, right? I mean, it would get rid of something like 60% of all my expenses for the month.

However, where is that money going to come from? Well, the quick answer is "me". Instead of paying directly to those companies, I'll pay to the government. So, I'm still paying.