[BITList] Fwd: Obama's healthcare law - and his legacy - in the balance - Channel 4 News

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Mike

tks for the article – however its somewhat exaggerated. it will not be the end of the world if the health mandate is declared unconstitutional.

I may have mentioned before the size of the US healthcare industry is mid boggling, $2,6 trillion in 2010 – somewhere around 1.6 trillion uk pounds.
By comparison the UK GDP last year was $2.480 trillion, so the US spends more on healthcare than the entire UK GDP.............!! 
It is also the most inefficient healthcare system in the world.

There are 2 groups involved in the HCI, patients and providers. Both parties are not entirely happy with the status quo [nothing’s perfect] but muddle through. 
However, there are 2 problems – healthcare costs are rapidly rising, so the people who can afford healthcare insurance is decreasing and there are already nearly 50 million people without health insurance in the US. These folks do without health care as long as possible then go to the most expensive supplier of healthcare – the hospital emergency room. They will not generally be turned away but will be patched up at enormous cost, which will be paid by the state they are in. 

To produce a more efficient and affordable healthcare system for everyone is a task so enormous that it is bordering on impossible. Generally speaking healthcare providers want to keep the present profitable system as long as possible and they have the money to persuade politicians to do nothing to harm their business. Folks with health insurance have no say in their ever increasing premiums and can either reduce their coverage or drop coverage when they can no  longer afford the premiums. The uninsured have no voice at all. 

The US is the only industrialised country without universal healthcare for its citizens but to achieve a NHS all citizens must contribute. This is where the health insurance mandate comes in.
All workers will be required to buy health insurance from sellers of same. The premiums will be deductible against income tax. Yes, the system will remain in private hands and I would have thought it would be a bonanza for the HCI, however freedom loving emmeffs here have decided they don’t want the government ordering them to buy health insurance.

This is ludicrous, the government orders us to do many, many things – but this particular one has caught the attention of the HCI and they are fighting it tooth and nail!

Obamacare looks rather like a patchwork quilt to me and few are happy with it. I personally hope it is scrapped and a fully fledged single provider NHS system is put into operation.

Ironically we already have a NHS for all over 65, it runs well and there are few complaints, in fact it is so good that some don’t even know it is run by the government. Our premiums are automatically deducted from our pensions, we are not even ordered to pay the premium, the government just takes it without any option.

And finally, the insurance mandate was watered down so much by liberals that it was meaning less. The fine for not buying health insurance is $100 but there is no penalty what-so-ever for not paying it.......consequently, even if the mandate is declared constitutional Obamacare may fail simply because folks don’t want to buy health insurance.....................!!

ct





From: M.j. Feltham 
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 8:54 AM
To: Colin Taylor 
Subject: Fwd: Obama's healthcare law - and his legacy - in the balance - Channel 4 News



http://www.channel4.com/news/obamas-healthcare-law-and-his-legacy-in-the-balance
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