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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP your story is very moving.  A sick child is a heartbreaking situation.  No one wants a child to suffer, and I wish your child the best possible outcome.

There are several questions that need to be answered with this example:

1.  If healthcare is an entitlement, are we entitled to have any and all treatment that we want?  There is a difference between giving any and all treatment and alleviating suffering.

2.  Resources ARE limited, even with pooled resources from taxes. Resources are limited by merely the number of hospital beds available, the time and appointment slots for specialists and other providers, the amount of money for equipment, facilities, and medication.  Who decides the cost/benefit of treatment? Who decides who gets priority treatment?

As an aside, the portable care act, passed years ago, insures patients will not be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions if continuous coverage is maintained.  It is very important that consumers are aware of their rights and obligations in using and maintaining health insurance.

I think people imagine that Medicare for all means you will get any treatment that you desire at any time.  That is not what it means.  In fact, Medicare for all will have a strict formulary, strict requirements for qualifying for certain treatments, strict requirements for accessing specialty care, and cost/benefit analysis driven care.  OP, your daughter would likely benefit from such a plan, but there will be other patients who would be losers.

OP, understandably, you want the best for your daughter, but a planning a comprehensive healthcare strategy can’t be accomplished through an emotional lense.  FWIW, I am republican who wants some form of high deductible universal catastrophic coverage for all and a separate government pool for high risk coverage, for patients like your daughter.  I also think insurance should be uncoupled from employment for greater coverage security.

Obamacare was very ambitious and got some things right, but it also is very flawed.  It is flawed in it’s cost shifting.  It is flawed in it’s failure to control costs.  So, as part of a community, OP, I want your daughter to have care.  However, I do not believe Obamacare achieves care equity or is the best use of our community resources.[/quote]

Fellow republican here who has been engaged in the "entitlement mindset" discussion.

In general I don't believe "a program organized by the federal government" is the right solution - it is the solution of last resort. I'm open to the argument that federally managed healthcare is indeed now the solution of last resort, but I've not yet see any convincing arguments. People who describe universal healthcare systems of other countries paint rosy images but does not acknowledge the short comings of those systems, such as UK's system being so inadequate as to necessitate secondary private insurance, or that Japan in general only provides palliative care for terminal illnesses.

That said, I too support some type of universal catastrophic coverage program that is centrally managed. A catastrophic coverage provides a "last resort" type protection between the affected families and absolute financial ruin.

As for decoupling insurance and employment - unfortunately I am not sure how this can be accomplished. Employers offer subsidized health insurance as part of the employees' compensation package. If a decoupling were to occur, what would that look like? Would employers be barred from providing health insurance coverage to their employees? If so, then what happens to the money that was previously spent by companies to subsidize health plans - it was more or less equally applied to all employees, so would employers then be required to pay some amount to employees in lieu of this benefit? Kind of like a health insurance voucher?

That employers are willingly offering insurance programs for their employees is in reaction to natural market forces: a group of people is organized together and creates a risk pool. I am not sure that there are any other ways that risk pools are naturally formed like this. [/quote]

OP here- there is so much wrong with your argument but here is the problem with voting for Republicans:

Lofty ideas are just that- lofty ideas.  An incomplete solution has been implemented, Obamacare.  You say costs are out of control- that’s not because of Obamacare, that is an existing problem that has actually been slowed by Obamacare- again Obamacare has slowed the increase in medical costs.  My insurance was getting significantly more expensive every year before Obamacare, and has not since Obamacare was implemented.  I am a regular middle class person and my healthcare is from a regular office job.

And again, what is the point of a debate without legislation?  We have total Republican government control- if they aren’t coming up with healthcare solutions now they never will.

Give me a reason not to vote for a Democratic ticket across the board, especially with my circumstances.[/quote]

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