How would you create a plan for universal healthcare in America? Is it possible?

Answer 1

I wouldn't.

Name one thing the government hasn't mis-managed. As soon as we make it universal, we cut the pay of the medical professionals. When that happens we have fewer of them, unless you want the government to force people to become medical professionals.
Another consideration is that once the government has control, they decide who gets treatment. Right now my father is dieing from cancer. He's being treated because he can afford to be treated. If it were up to a government agency, he'd not be getting treatment.

Answer 2

It's very possible. The problem is insurers are some of the biggest moneymakers in this country and they're not about to give up without a fight and some well placed bribes. Just from reading the responses the biggest "myth" is that almost everybody thinks there will be some type of massive tax increase to pay for it. Really? How much does the average worker pay now for insurance (let me answer that, upwards of $600/month, plus the employer's copay. A health insurance policy costs nearly a thousand dollars a month now. It may not be called a tax, but it's money out of your pocket). By centralizing health care and you would GREATLY reduce administrative costs (if handled properly, a big "if") and institute health maintenance services that would reduce long term costs.
That's a short answer. Of course, with the government involved it would be mess. So while it's a viable, affordable concept it can never happen.

Answer 3

You can copy Canada, France, or Germany for starters. You can also endorse the Democratic Candidates for President who have how several methods in the planning and explanation phases right now like Hillary and Obama.
The most common sense way seems to me to be keeping in place the employer based system we have in America, mandating that every worker most be given a health care program that meets Federal Standards which have not yet been established, while the other folks are placed in a Medicare type systems that finishes the job of covering everyone else.
The point is that you must take control of the medical field from top to bottom and control the market, wages and benefits for every worker.
Government can do the job and still allow rich people to buy the highest quality medical coverage. This is the price we must pay to keep our economic system working. I think that Free Enterprize is the engine of future ok, but it has to be regulated to make fair!
It has been done in many Countries successfully.
(Have you seen the movie Sicko?)

Answer 4

sure it is possible if you dont mind paying very high taxes. I love when people call it free healthcare. I am american but i now live in the uk. so i have lived under both healthcare systems.

There are somethings nice about universal and somethings not so nice and the same said about america's system.

The taxes I pay in the uk to help fund it are almost crippling for me and are crippling for others. you have to wait on a long list to get a lot of proceedures done. the quality of care is not the greatest. here is an example you get admitted to the hospital. america you might have one other person in your room. when i got admitted for a massive athsma attack in the UK i had 8 people in my room. none of them where in there for anything related to what i was. some were very sick one guy was in a coma one guy died while i was in there. they have a huge problem with people going into the hospital relativley healthy and catching what they call the super bug also called MSRA. this is a highly contagious virus that is capible of killing. why do they have this becuase of a lack of cleanliness in their hospitals. you will notice while you are in there that there are not 500 people constantly cleaning everything like in the states. why becuase that cost money and they are strugling to pay for what they are doing.

so could we do it? yes but at what cost are you willing to have it at.

this all has to be thought out

Answer 5

slew: Your relative hate the Universal Health care systeem because they do not know what it is like not having it. They think it would be better if there was non. They do not realise if one of them fell seriously ill, it could bankrupt the whole family. Cost of being hospitalized is over $1,000 per day without any specialist attending to you. If you add up the costs of specialist, drugs, special procedures such as X-Ray's, MRI's, Ultra Sound's, Lab tests, specialized equipment. and so on; the cost could be over $10,000 per day. 30 days in the hospital - up to or over $300,000.

With Universal Health Care everyone pays a little and gains a lot.

It is an Insurance policy. If you drive an automobile, automobile insurance is required by law in most of parts Canada and the U.S.A

Everyone pays a little, but gains a lot.

If you get in an accident and is hospitalized for 30 days, the Insurance company pays the $300,000 or more and fixes or replaces the automobile.

Answer 6

It would be possible, but in order to do so the government would have to be willing to take on ownership of hospitals. Our country is based on capitalism, which means they cannot control the prices private hospitals charge, unless like now they agree to the amount the government is willing to pay. There is already a 3 1/2 percent medicare tax taken out of everyones pay, if this was bumped to five percent, and include corporate taxes of the same amount (since they will no longer have to pay a portion of employee health coverage), plus the billions already dumped into medicaid in this nation it would go a long way to provide universal health care in this nation.

Answer 7

You should look at the problems with universal healthcare, before you believe in the hype. I have relatives in Canada and they hate their healthcare system.

Look at how our federal government treats their patients. I worked at the VA, the Walter Reid scandals is just the tip of the iceberg.

Look at the other reasons why health care is escalating. It's not all greed. Health care prices actually is increasing at the real inflation rate. OUr salaries haven't because of outsourcing. We would still end up paying for it, it's just coming out from taxes, and we end up paying more, because of federal bureaucracy would add onto the bill.

Answer 8

The easiest way to create any system is to look at precedence. Instead of reinventing the wheel, look at all the other advanced countries that have universal health care (most of them already do) and learn which ones do the best job. Then try to adapt their system for use in the USA.

Answer 9

The government provides it to all below a certain amount of annual income and who are not insured.
I would pick the cut off as those whose annual household earnings are less than $125,000 per year would get a card that they can present to any doctor's office or hospital of their choosing.

I would cut and reduce funding wars to help fund it...and reduce the cost of it by finding ways to encourage more competition in the medical arena to lower health care costs.

Answer 10

It's possible. Here's how you do it, Americans. The government pays for all heatlh care that is medically necessary, the definition of "medically necessary" being worked out or each jurisdiction that has to pay (in Canada, where I live, heatlh care is a provincial responsibility). Insurance companies and H.M.O.s are cut out of providing insurance for anything that is considered "medically necessary" and have live with whatever is left over. Taxes cover the cost of treatment for each citizen, with those who are too poor to pay being covered automatically.

Voila! Welcome to the civilized world!