What can we do to bring affordable healthcare to more Americans?

Question

What can we do to bring affordable healthcare to more Americans?

Answer 1

Most Seniors spend much of their social security on meds.

Social Security needs to be replaced with Socialized Medicine, Doctors will still make a fortune on optional treatments (cosmetic surgery). But they should be paid based on performance instead of fixed salary, suddenly the system will get much better.

Answer 2

control the profits of the health care industry

Answer 3

*sigh* The whole issue of affordable health care is too complex to answer in one setting. If it weren't, we'd already have it.

Answer 4

As noted, a universal healthcare system.  

I live in the UK and work in the NHS (our universal health care system).  It has problems, but not as many as the US healthcare system has.  Despite spending much more per head of population than other developed countries, the US has worse health outcomes.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care...  Life expectancy and infant mortality figures in the US are worse than in other developed countries, despite more money being spent (and wasted) in the USA.

In the UK there are waiting lists for routine problems.  Problems that can not wait are treated as emergencies.  Also, in the UK, people can also have private health care.

I can understand Americans being proud of living in the richest and most powerful country in the world.  What I can not understand is why Amercians settle for an expensive healthcare system where babies die that would have a better chance of life if born in another developed country.  

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2...

Answer 5

The most practicle thing that could be done is to come up with a national set of standards for coverage.  Currently every state regulates what things must be covered and thats adds extra costs for policyholders.  The creation of a national risk pool would also help and a streamlining of health information, use of generic medications and reductions in high-risk beahviors such as smoking and obesity would all help cost.  Lastly, mandating that preventitive care visits be free or providing monetary incentives for people to see doctors annually would help to reduce cost.

Answer 6

I'm not for Socialized (single payer) Medicine at all but if you're serious about freeing up tax dollars to pay for yet another unnecessary program then the following fix will make BILLIONS of tax dollars available.

  1. Stop the flow of illegals into this country and deport ALL those here that are currently illegals, this will free up over 10 billion dollars.

2. Reduce or eliminate Medicare fraud. 3. Reduce or eliminate Social Security fraud.

4. Eliminate "ear  marks" and all pork barrel spending from both parties at the federal level.  

Do these things and not only would there be money to provide  every legal American citizen with health insurance there would also be a large enough surplus to reduce the tax burden on those of us that already pay to much in taxes.

Answer 7

set our system up just like canadians.

Answer 8

Stop voting for politicians who are paid by the insurance lobby... that would be a good start.

Too bad that means the Republicans and the Democrats are out...

Answer 9

Get the doctors out of the pharmacutical`s pockets.

They are being paid to prescribe their meds. Get the hmos

out of the scene and let the doctors treat their patients  instead of the hmo who has no medical experience.

A doctor must treat x amount of patients a day or they do not get paid from the hmo. Patients are not getting the treatment

they need and doctors are afraid to schedule them for tests that may find out what is wrong with them because the hmo

doesn`t want to pay for the test. Wonder why the doc gets sued and needs more malpractice insurance?

Answer 10

Q:  "What can we do to bring affordable healthcare to more Americans?"

A:  1]  Stop the government from paying for fat people to get free motorized "fatmobilies".  They should walk and jog to lose weight.

2]  Charge smokers a premium for health insurance.

3]  Charge drunks a premium for health insurance.

4] Stop giving welfare $ to illegal aliens so they go back to their native country.

5]  Stop the malpractice fraud and frivolous law suits against medical providers.

There are a few for starters.  We know this list could number into the hundreds.

Answer 11

Get government out of medicine. Ever since they got involved health care prices have risen. Back before the governmnet had ANY involvement you could actually get doctors to make house calls.

Answer 12

Stop being sick!

Answer 13

Start looking at natural ways to heal yourself through proper diet and nutrition, through herbs and raw foods you can buy yourself at the grocery store. Not many people know this, but raw peppermint leaves and raw parsley have healing qualities..so do things like celery and cinnamon. If you look up health benefits of any one you'll find websites that list them.  It's really interesting. And it isn't new. These all natural cures were used during the war and are still used in European countries and nations where they can't rely on their healthcare system. North America seems to be too focused on selling drugs and not enough research has gone into these natural substances..probably because they wouldn't bring in enough profit for the drug companies.

Answer 14

Elect Obama.

Answer 15

Rock star you are an absolute idiot, socialized health care is a horrible idea that will end with the usual high taxes, bad service, lack of competent doctors, and the very long waiting lists on implants and such. Rock star.. you disappoint me.

Aaron B --> idiot --> The Canadian system is socialized health care, i just explained it and Jack B explains the flaws in it's idea.

Jack B --> Hilarious and very true.

Homeless in Phoenix --> Also very true and right.

Answer 16

Stop cureing people with cancer, and all the other diseases that kill so we can bring the population down. Then we can afford health care.

Answer 17

first, get illegals out and off the system.  Then citizens illegally or fraudulently working the system.  Then boot politicians who pander to the special interests instead of taking care of the citizens.

Answer 18

Are you planning to run with .....Hillary

Answer 19

The short answer is: Get government and Insurance companies out of it.

I have read all the answers and I am struck by the total ignorance of the issue by most of the people who answered.

The guy who said we should stop healing cancer, has obviously not lost anyone to this awful disease.  The pain and anguish associated with a cancer diagnosis is totally devestating to everyone who loves the patient.  To add to that pain by telling them and their families that they should "just go home and die" would be much less humane than what we do for dogs.

When I was a kid, anyone could go to the doctor and get treated for whatever was wrong with them in a humane way, with compassion and sympathy.  People thought of their doctor as a family resource and possibly friend.  If they needed surgery, they might have to pay for it for a few months, but they could get it, and they wouldn't have to worry about losing their house.

The doctors and nurses looked at the whole patient, not just the partwhich was afflicted, and they treated the whole patient, and we had the best health care in the world.  For the most part, doctors held an elevated position in our society, because they were selfless in their devotion to their craft.

In the 60's all of that began to change.

The government got involved.

Insurance companies saw a chance to make a buck.

Lawyers saw a vast untapped pile of money.

All of these things led to medicine which was practiced defensivly.

Unchecked prices, because people no longer had to pay for it themselves.

Government intervention at all levels of the parctice of medicine.

Now we have this run-away bus of increasing cost and decreasing value, to the point where it has become very difficult to get anything approaching the care that was the standard in the 50's.  We now have medicine by assembly line, where the providers look on the practice of medicine as "just a job", and one that has few rewards and many liabilities, but it pays fairly well.  Some of them actually go into it because they are idealistic about it, but that quickly gets killed, and they become more interested in protecting themselves than they are in the patient.

If we want health care to be affordable again, and if we want value for the money we spend, then we have to get the big money interests out of it.

That will require that the system we have now, implodes on itself and we start over, because none of these big money interests are going to willingly let go of this huge "cash cow" that they have going for themselves, at our expense.

One of our presidential candidates made millions exploiting this cash cow.

The government wants to control it. Thereby grabbing even more power over our lives.

Insurance companies want to continue doing what they do best, capitalizing on the percieved, future, misfortions of others, while not paying the claims of these unfortionates.  They would like the absolute control over our health care, what we get and what we don't, thereby maximizing their profits.

Isn't it amazing that these people who have the ultimate control over medicine, are many things, but none of them are either doctors or patients?

Answer 20

Yeah, go socialism! Next, the government should give everybody free cars and houses, whether or not they deserve them, even to the laziest people on Earth! All we have do is make the decent, hard-working people give up their extra money. They don't need it, as pretty soon we will all be living in identical dormitories! Yay! Cheap healthcare all around!

Answer 21

SOCIALIZED MEDECINE