Quote Originally Posted by stephen
i understand what you're saying, but you have to take the good with the bad. i just don't think mccain's plan is going to benefit us at all. i can't see mccain's plan having the slightest chance at working, i mean it's basically like what bush has already implemented with the HSA deal. giving us more money to spend on healthcare works if the prices don't inflate and if jobs continue to offer it (which they won't if it becomes more expensive for them). he offers more deregulation, which is the number one problem to begin with. obama's plan has the potential to not work out in the long-run, but given our current cost of living and a host of other economy related issues, it seems more beneficial to us RIGHT NOW.

Deregulation is not the main reason for rising healthcare costs.

1. Indigent care is draining resources from hospitals, thus driving up costs to paying patients, or ,more times than not, insurance pays a large majority of that added cost. To curb their losses, insurance companies have to raise their premiums and their copays.

2. Mass tort law and huge settlements. I'm the first to agree that if a company knowingly does wrong they should be severly punished. The problem I see is that pharmacudicals, and to a smaller degree doctors, are being slammed with huge punitive damages suits even if they had done everything in their power to prove a particular medication is safe. I wont agrue with compensatory damages though.


If those 2 areas are reigned in I can see the costs of health care coming down dramaticly. As I said, neither Obama's nor McCain's plan addresses the reasons for rising healthcare. They only address the end results.

Now as far as fraud in the current system goes, the govt could add 10x the number of investigators to curb the fraud and save $30B a year on the low side. I also believe it should be MUCH harder to receive medicare certification. Especially now, when jobs are getting harder to find, adding 50K new well paying jobs, while still saving taxpayer money would be a great idea.