Nickname said:
Last time I checked, UPS and FedEx are doing a fine job competing with the postal service…
That’s because USPS isn’t geared to compete with UPS and FedEx. USPS has roughly 13% marketshare and it is assumed that when you ship with them it’s not going to get there fast or in good condition. When was the last time you shipped something of value via USPS?
Also, USPS is posting record losses and there are talks of closing offices. They have already cut the hours of rural offices and most of them around where I live close at noon at least one day a week. If USPS weren’t a government entity it would be getting in line for bailout money.
Nickname said:
Um… I’m gonna point out that people in serious need of surgery/doctors etc will get them all the same, so I strongly doubt your claim, but I will say that hundreds of thousands of lives will be SAVED because the 52 million people without health insurance now will actually be able to get the care they need.
If there’s a 3 month waiting list on the surgery then no, they won’t be getting it all the same. The only thing preventing people from getting care now is money, if there’s rationing all the money in the world won’t get you that surgery.
Oh and btw even with the currently proposed plan that 52 million number you gave will be more like 20. 30 million or so will still remain completely uninsured.
Also worth noting, while 100% of Canadians are insured, around 12% aren’t able to get assigned to a family doctor due to shortages. Without a family doctor assignment they aren’t able to get routine care and can’t see specialists because they weren’t referred. This essentially makes them uninsured. Sure they can get emergency care but that’s not what the current debate is about anymore.
Nickname said:
Please show me in his plan where he plans to stop said research programs. Regardless, many of these companies get this money from private donations, which is unlikely to just stop.
I didn’t say the government was directly forcing them to stop, I said they were forcing them to make the current drugs cheaper. If the pharmaceutical companies have to sale all their drugs at the $5 Walmart price there’s no way they can continue to fund future research. It’s going to take a ton of private donations to make up for that amount of profit loss and in the current economy that’s not going to happen. They’ll have to cut costs somewhere…
Nickname said:
A lot of the negative press about all this is being passed on by a very small group of people. Many Canadians, for example, actually enjoy their healthcare system.
The negative press seems to be spread by much more than Fox because all the mainsteam groups are running nothing but positive coverage about the new plan yet popular support for it is falling hard. Like REALLY hard.
Many Americans, for example, actually enjoy their current healthcare system. Roughly 9/10 Americans have some sort of health insurance and 84% rate it good or excellent. Recent polling shows the reform legislation is down to 34% in favor and 49% opposed. The longer this issue drags on the more that number will grow.
I’ll debunk your sources one at a time.
Nickname said:
NPR typically leans liberal, most of the time actually, but that aside I’ll quote from the article to prove my point.
“Several years ago, when she was on a long waiting list for a pain clinic…”
“about half of Canadians say they would like the option to buy a private health insurance plan. Currently, that’s not allowed.”
Commentary on this from Canadians point out that they pay 40-50% in taxes which is consistent with my uncle’s family used to pay when they lived up there. If the middle class hates their 20-25% I can’t imagine how they’d ever tolerate 40% income tax and the double digit sales tax Canadians have.
Nickname said:
Here’s a bit From the About Us of their website.
Quote:
We live in a remarkable political moment: precarious, yet potentially transforming. At the Campaign for America’s Future, our daily work is to bring about the progressive transformation.
After three decades of conservative dominance in American politics, we Americans are threatened with economic disintegration, environmental devastation and international
isolation.
But out of the ashes of this era of conservative failure comes an historic opportunity for progressives to salvage the American Ideal and shape this young century.
That’s where we come in.
The Campaign for America’s Future is the strategy center for the progressive movement. Our goal is to forge the enduring progressive majority needed to realize the America of shared prosperity and equal opportunity that our country was meant to be.
So Fox News is biased but these guys aren’t? Wow dude, just, wow.
Nickname said:
Huffington Post? Dude…
Dude…
Even the most liberal people will admit they’re biased. Way to fail.
Nickname said:
This is really your only solid source. I’ll debunk it tomorrow.
Nickname said:
I guess my only issue with the whole thing is that companies like BCBS employ a LOT of people and if they cannot compete with obamacare then potentially quite a few jobs could be lost.
I’m less concerned about BCBS employees as I am their customers. That’s about 100 million people who’ll lose their coverage if they go under and you know BCBS is a solid insurance company that treats customers right.
Personally, I like the health savings account I have and know I won’t get that flexibility on a government plan.