Quote :

"If our politicians were truly serious about reforming the system, they would be proposing ideas that change the system, not ideas that add the government in the middle of the current system."

I know you're referring to plans that go extremely to the Right, but also keep in mind that the politicians are also not willing to to extremely to the Left with a Single-Payer plan.

7/26/2009 2:34:34 PM

The problem with a single-payer plan is that it does nothing to counteract rising health-care expenditures. Depending on the structure, it most likely will increase expenditures given it further insulates consumers from prices and thus creates no incentives for consumers or producers to factor value into the equation.

7/26/2009 3:13:40 PM

Giving the govt more control over healthcare is like giving ENRON control of the national grid. Why are people ignoring the track record of the govt in healthcare. Just look at medicare/medicaid. They are just like SS, unsustainable and underfunded. shocking

7/26/2009 3:35:29 PM

Quote :

"Last Friday, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) joined radical conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (!) on his radio talk show for an interview. Jones has made a name for himself propagating conspiracies ranging from the claim that Bill Clinton planned the Oklahoma City bombings to the idea that the attacks on 9/11 were orchestrated by a cabal of American and Israeli government officials. During the 30-minute interview about “nation ending stuff,” Gohmert used his opportunity on the Jones show to showcase his own odd anti-Obama conspiracy theories: GOHMERT: We’ve been battling this socialist health care, the nationalization of health care, that is going to absolutely kill senior citizens. They’ll put them on lists and force them to die early because they won’t get the treatment as early as they need. [...] I would rather stop this socialization of health care because once the government pays for your health care, they have every right to tell you what you eat, what you drink, how you exercise, where you live. [...] But if we’re going to pay 700 million dollars like we voted last Friday to put condoms on wild horses, and I know it just says an un-permanent enhanced contraception whatever the heck that is. I guess it follows that they’re eventually get around to doing it to us."

Later:

Quote :

" JONES: Did you hear about the WH science czar calling for putting stuff in the water to sterilize us? GOHMET: No, I had not heard that. [...] GOHMERT: People are always willing to give up their liberty to get economic stability. JONES: Look at Hitler. GOHMERT: Absolutely. Boy that’s the best example, maybe the best example. […] JONES: As the Time magazine headline said, we’ve almost got national health care. They’ve almost got eugenics control grid over us. Can you speak to your website, how we help you. In closing, the youth brigades, national service compulsory in a group outside the military under the Democratic party control in the city year in the red and black uniforms? [...] In closing, and we’re going to let you go sir, the youth brigades, national compulsory service, the Democrats have introduced those bills. Your take on that? GOHMERT: Well you just referred to that point in history where this stuff has been done before. It was done in the 1930s and its not the only place its been done. It has been done throughout history. JONES: Mao did it. GOHMERT: Well that’s exactly what I was thinking of. This is the kind of the thing we got to stop. We got to get back to the roots, the basics. "

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/27/gohmert-conspiracies-alexjones/

7/27/2009 6:26:41 PM

sweet, when do we get our red and black uniforms?!

7/27/2009 6:34:28 PM

Do you really want to title this thread "GOP using dirty healthcare data" when the whole premise of "47 million uninsured Americans" is based on "dirty data" like illegal immigrants and people who are ON MEDICARE? come on...

Quote :

"There is pretty much no socialized system in the other industrialized countries that is worse than ours."

I know, right? It's so terrible that all of these people from other countries are FLOCKING TO THE US to receive our health care. Lol, what a dumbass statement.

Quote :

"Wrong. People are not interested in hearing any plan which does not allow every American to afford decent health care."

If that were the case, then people would not be supporting this bloated bill which will only make the problem worse.

Quote :

"If the US system is so wonderful why do severely ill people go to India for live saving treatment."

You've got that backwards, buddy.

Quote :

"I know you're referring to plans that go extremely to the Right, but also keep in mind that the politicians are also not willing to to extremely to the Left with a Single-Payer plan."

Are you sure of that? Might it be an "in-steps" plan?

7/31/2009 8:05:58 PM

People do travel out of the country for some experimental treatments or drugs, but it's usually because the FDA won't allow the drug or procedure to happen in the US, not because India or Brazil have superior medical facilities.

8/1/2009 2:34:35 AM

it's also often because it's far cheaper in places like india than here and the quality (if you go to a good hospital) is as good as an american hospital.

8/1/2009 3:24:25 AM

^ so, what you are saying is that the gov't is getting in the way, kinda like ^^ is saying. Or that the price is high, which we kind of already know.

I would go so far as to say that we might need some anti-trust action on the drug companies for selling pills here that cost a third as much in Canada for the same damned drug. But, that's just me.

8/1/2009 6:11:59 PM

Americans go to India for major operations like heart surgery because it is so much cheaper, and the quality (only at certain clinics, obviously) is about the same.

8/1/2009 6:18:45 PM