ANSWERS: 25
  • Do you notice the dichotomy in your question? Should it be free and how can it be funded? IT AIN'T FREE!!!! IT'S NOT GONNA BE FREE!! EVER!!
  • It should be cheaper, if not free. As for how it could be supplied, well, we could stop the tax breaks to big business, stop pointless wars with people who hate us and always will, and maybe even cut Congress and el Prez's pay back a bit. These people don't *really* need what they have. They just like it. It's all a matter of ending the stupid overpaying, overspending, and misallocation of funds. But first, Save Social Security. Then worry about health care.
  • I think it should be virtually free, as it is in most other coutries past the state of semi-industrialization. It would be funded through taxes and through increased efficiencies in the system which other countries seem to be able to affect but which we seem incapable of accoumplishing with profit making entities (for profit hospitals-come on) standing between the care providers and the patients.
  • everyone should see the documentary "sicko" it applies perfectly to this question
  • Yes. Just take a minor portion out of your military funding and put it in healthcare.
  • Free? No. Universal? Yes. That is, I think... at a minimum... all citizens and legal U.S. residents should have access to health care they can afford. Why? Simply because it's the civilized and humanitarian thing to do. The goal of life is to make things better, to alleviate suffering, to make the most of the possibilities we're afforded. This is a step in that direction. How should it be funded? That's not obvious. There are a number of possibilities, they will ALL cost something. We'll probably have to want this more than we want (for example) to spend $500 billion to destroy the infrastructure of small countries on the other side of the world. That's a lot of want. But it can definitely be done. The U.S. is one of the last holdouts among 1st world countries to not have universal health care. 50 million Americans cannot get care, either because they can't afford the premiums or because no insurance company will take them with pre-existing conditions. Many millions more have poor coverage, with insurance companies routinely denying badly needed services. Until we put our feet down and say "we're not going to take it anymore", the mess will continue -- the insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies will rake it in, while the poor and middle class will suffer (and in some cases, die) for lack of care. It's up to us.
  • Iam a trustee of a benefit fund with 400,000, participants. Ages run from pre-natal to over 100 years of age. There are no co-pays. We are a very generous plan and cover doctors, hospitals, ancillary services, prescriptions, and a small dental benefit. Our cost per capita is a little less than $4,000. Of course, Medicare takes over at 65 years-but we still cover prescriptions. -No deductable, no co-pay. -Why is our cost relatively inexpensive? We are very tough negotiators with hospitals and pharmacy plans. And our administrative costs are less than 7%. Many private plans have administrative costs plus profits of up to 22%. There is little fat in our plan. The government could do as well. Private care will never be as cheap.
  • :You know you have picked at a pussy sore of a question. You seem to have all the answers to a debateable qustion. You know that monies from collection taxes are in the jist of things that your country's federal reserve has to subsidise many programs thought to be from collecting taxes alone. The United states has the trade surplus than all of the countries in the world. Trillions of dollars collected from sales to other nation in food, arms, dow, you know what I mean wall street. The Answer to the question is not so much of a matter of having the money but having the insurance to buy it. Making it easier for peole to buy a realistic health insurance that would help to pay rather than make your health care system free that is not going to happen but yes, who should pay or better yet how much to pay for health care maybe a part of the US trade surplus could help the people with no money to buy health insurance,qualify for insurance with other monies. Poor or not they are an American problem not on Left or the Right simply american in need of a pratical Health care system, your government could hold off with the Orion program not shut down but postponed
  • Yes, and RealEstate Sales.
  • It would be funded in the same way other social programs in our country are funded. examples..The fire dept. police dept. and the library.
  • I'm having a hard time with this question, yes it would be nice to have universal health care benefits available to us here in the US, but don't you think there is enough free handouts going on here in the US? Most certainly the monies would be collected from our taxes that we pay in,but some of us get sick and tired of paying taxes out of our paychecks. I think my biggest pet peeve more than trying to install a universal health care program is the the welfare/Medicaid program.Rather than focus on universal health care, why not start right from the bottom? How about getting all those millions on people off the welfare system that have been sponging off of our tax dollars for years, there are some people whom think the world owes them a living and they get welfare, then they have like 10 kids and their kids get welfare too, then these kids have their own kids and the welfare chain is never broken, why bother to work when it so much easier to sit back on your lazy ass and expect everyone else to support you and your kids? The welfare system was implemented for the very old, as well as the very young and people who just needed a little helping hand, to help them to get on their feet,If I have 2 work 2 jobs and support myself, then so should the hundreds of others who have the attitude" I don't have to work" I don't mind doing my share, but enough is enough already,you people are making a lifestyle out of it!! And I'm getting sick of it!!! I totally understand that there are people who rely on funded programs because of a physical disability,but then there are others who are perfectly healthy and could be a nice addition to our workforce, but they choose not to work because they have no goals in life, no drive, no ambition, thats sad and its even sadder that people like me who work 2 jobs, working 15 hours a day have to support such undeserving losers. . The government needs to get rid of the spongers, and take the monies and put it to better use instead of having a nation of nothing but welfare squatters.I mean how much more do you people want for free?, you already have subsidized rent, food stamps, Medicaid,WIC,free dental services via a van,cash allotments,free college programs, free parenting classes,free daycare services, as well as a host of other government funded programs that come directly out of my hard earned tax dollars, Thats where the extra money could help out universal benefits with, did I leave anything out or forget anything?
  • i really think so yall people dont think about the poor people kids adults senior citzens that are dieying just because they have no health insurance is that right i think not...think about it what if that is one of your famaliy member and they get denie because they have no health insurance..think about it.
  • I dont think you can ever fund endless government efficiencies..have you dealt with medicaid/medicare? That's a long-standing system, inefficient and limits what it covers. True story: I personally know someone that had a relative that was put in a coma by a car crash and won 300,000 (the max) in court while in a coma. His family handled the case. His medicaid/medicare hospital bill was in the millions so medicaid/medicare was entitled to the 300,000 dollars won in court. My friend and his attorney tried witth three written letters and five phone calls to hand the money over, knowing thier obligation to do so. If they kept it, they had to put it in a special needs trust which had a time constraint. MEDICAID/MEDICARE HAS NEVER CONTACTED THEM TO THIS DAY!!!!! YOu want that kind of government care? They cant even catch 300,000.00 when you are BEGGING THEM TO TAKE IT. They were afraid to keep it. Pleaded for them to take it.
  • By YOU of course and your mighty tax dollar.
  • I believe that QUALITY Medical Care should be availiable to each and every American citizen in this country .... Funding would be from a TAX placed on Tobacco Products and accesories, Alcohol, and Weed and Paraphanaila (sp), once it was Legalized ...
  • i think for children and seniors it should be free, since most health situations happen as a child or a senior
  • Basic healthcare should be free. Legalize prostitution and tax the hell out of it. Pussy will sell no matter how high the tax is. There are people paying escorts hundreds of dollars per hour. In fact, if we legalize most vices, we could solve quite a few issues without effecting the average citizen. Don't like Pussy tax, don't buy it. Don't like weed tax, give up smoking weed. Everybody's laid. Everybody's high. Everybody's reasonably healthy and taxes across the board go down in other areas. Moral purists can at least have some comfort in knowing that the "wicked" are at least paying for it.
  • Yes. Cut all the pork fat, nepotism, lobbyists… Basically hold the politicians accountable for their megalomaniacal decisions.
  • yes. I am tired of turning patients away who desperately need care only because they have no health coverage. As to funding it, tax everyone for it so much out of each check. poor and rich alike.We all benefit we should all have to pay. It will not cost as much as people think it will. Everyone of us is paying non insured health care whether we realize or not: in the form of welfare, workmans comp, disability, soc. sec/SSI. We are paying anyway so it won't cost much more if any than what it's costing now.
  • TANSTAAFL. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. If you like the Federal Reserve, the Post Office, and Social Security, you're gonna LOVE gov't sponsored healthcare. And considering that we just burned 13 trillion dollars for no good reason, funding is a non starter.
  • I shudder to think how horribly the Federal Government could ruin our amazing medical system by adding ENDLESS BEAUROCRACY to getting a doctor's visit. Plus, nothing worth having comes free. That's maybe the oldest and truest addage ever. And what is 'FREE' anyway? Would it really be cheaper? Or would you end up paying more per month than if you just BOUGHT health care now? You know, as a 33 year old male in good health, Blue Cross 80% coverage, $1000 deduct only costs 175/month. That includes prescriptions. Not as cheap with the GOVT, I'd imagine.
  • There's no such thing as FREE in this country! Somebody has to pay for it, and it's going to be the taxpayer. Is that you? Do you pay taxes? Then you will be paying for all the FREE services. That's an oxymoron! You have given our Congress and our President the supreme authority to spend YOUR MONEY, and decide who should get it. You did that when you voted for him and his croneys in Congress. We are now living under what might as well be a monarchy. President and Congress all agree! That might as well be Hitler or Napoleon or Stalin or Castro. There is no way to stop them now. They have the power until the next Congressional elections in less than two years, so start paying attention. Until then we are being held hostage while they take over one more private industry, or bank at a time. What happened to all the bail-out money for GM? What happened to the bail-out billions for the finance industry? Where is all that money? Does anyone know? I think we need to check some pockets, don't you? Because it certainly didn't save the jobs of those auto-workers, did it? He told us we needed to bail them out to save their jobs. But GM is still bankrupt and they closed plants! When will people start figuring things out for themselves, and not just blindly follow wherever they are led to by the "Annointed One" as Sean Hannity calls Obama. Doesn't anyone have a calculator? Can't anyone count to twenty billion? does that even fit on a calculator? Doesn't anyone realize that the government doesn't have any money to pay for all those campaign promises? All you need is a calculator to know that! Unemployment causes more depression because nobody can spend. More depression causes more unemployment because businesses must close. It's a cycle! And we now have a Musllim whose middle name is Hussein in the White House. Has anyone noticed? How comforting is that for you? Oh, I forgot, he said he's a Christian, and we all know that politicians NEVER LIE! Is anyone else scared besides me? Doesn't anyone else wonder where all his millions in campaign funds came from? His American "followers" weren't rich voters. It was the poor he made all those promises to. Where did all that money come from? Doesn't anyone else wonder? I understand our President hasn't been in a church since the election. Has anyone seen him wearing his flag lapel pin lately? Who's going to pay for the health care? What foreign power will have to take us over to bail us out? Any guesses? I'm open.
  • Why do most Americans think healthcare is free in most countries? Let me tell you something. Nothing is for free. I lived and worked in Germany many years and while the heathcare system was very good and I paid nothing out of pocket at the doctor or hospital I paid for health insurance out of my paycheck every month. I believe making healthcare universal would bring the prices down for heathcare in the US. No more uninsured patients and more people buying insurance would mean lower premiums for all. Bottom line, there is no simple solution for this problem we are facing here, but to do nothing or bury your head in the sand won't fix a thing. We have to start somewhere and I think President Obama has the right aproach. At least he's not hiding from this issue that should have been solved 20 years ago.
  • • cost per capita for a US Health Benefit Plan I am an trustee of a 400,000,covered lives benefit plan. Our lives range from pre-natal through 65. We have zero copays. Our members are mostly blue collar workers who work for hospitals. There is a bias toward women. We have some professionals (nurses & doctors) but not many. Our plan is relatively generous. We cover doctors, hospitals, prescriptions and lab tests. And after age 65 we continue to cover prescriptions. No co-pays. In 2007 our net cost per capita was less than $3800. This includes administration costs of less than 7%. Medicare's administration cost is even less--less than 4%. Insurance companies have administrative costs + profit ranging from 11% to as much as 25%! - So what does that mean for Single Payer? If the US covered all 300 million citizens the cost would be $1.1 trillion. But two years ago the US health cost was $1.4 trillion. -- If the US adopted our plan there would be a net saving of $0.3 trillion.

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