McCain’s healthcare plan provides best coverage

OK I get it. Your coverage and my coverage will not change, but our taxes will go up, under Obama's plan. Indeed, this is not the best plan for you and me and all who attended the RNC and many who attend UMN. But upper middle-class-white-people (Men in particular) are not the reason our health care system is broken. For those selfish-minded enough to only consider how a new system will affect their own life, McCaine wins among these rich/upper middle-class, employed, white Men. But for those who are now unemployed, or who work minimum wage jobs without benifits; for those who have children, work 35 hr shifts at walmart, and don't get included as 'full-time', and even those who are 65 yo obese smoking truck drivers without the means to live healthfully, should they just rott? I mean, who's case are you making, ours or theirs? I'm not so worried about my healthcare coverage, but I am not autistic either. I have compassion for those who were not born with my set of cards, and I believe in helping them, EVEN at the expense of higher taxes. Is the tragedy of our health care system that negligent dr.s are punished into bankruptcy or is it those who become bankrupt through sickness? Do you know the disparity in these two sets of numbers? Do you not care for those without the means to become Dr.s? If someone in their generation had just worked alot harder, they would be living that American dream both you and I enjoy from our parents. Yes, they did it to themselves.

You do realize we spend >2X every other industrialized nation, all of which have socialized healthcare. So let's not throw around deceiving statements about such systems. If anything, they are struggling because they are underfunded. Something we should be able to accommodate with costs expected to hit 20% GDP in the coming decade. The largest GDP in the world.

Rising Medical Care Costs are the consequence of

1. Most adults, and now some children as young as 8 years of age, must visit their doctors regularly (every 6 months or more) to check for risk factors (such as high blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol) for developing illnesses such arteriosclerosis, heart disease and stroke. If present they usually must be treated with one or more medications. There are screening tests of body fluids, X-rays, CAT scans and MRIs for early detection of various problems, including many cancers. This practice of preventive medicine began in the latter half of the 20th century and has added a huge and growing cost burden to the health care system. The insurance industry believes it is cost effective in terms of sickness prevention and so monitors doctors to make certain they follow “best practices” with respect to screening for and treating risk factors with medications.
2. Unlike medications for actual diseases such as infections, anemia or stomach ulcers, treating risk factors involves regular doctor visits and taking medication everyday for the rest of your life, even though you have no symptoms and are not actually sick. Big Pharma has responded to this growing opportunity with many 100’s of new and expensive medications which they market extensively to the consumer on TV and in print media. Marketing is much more effective than most people realize. Marketing has made Lipitor, just one of several cholesterol lowering drugs, the best selling drug in history, with annual sales of $12 billion. Lipitor doesn’t cure anything and it doesn’t really help all that many people, An antibiotic for a bladder infection usually cures 98% of patients in 7-10 days. Lipitor taken for 5 years has been shown to benefit only 1% of high risk patients. After 5 years they have no solid evidence that Lipitor is doing more good than harm. (Pfizer’s marketing division could give lessons to Walmart, McDonalds and Starbucks.)
3. Taking these “preventive” medications does not actually prevent but only delays the onset of the multiple diseases associated with aging. Most people over 60 have one or more chronic medical problems for which they must see, not just their primary care doctor but one or more specialists as well. In the last 40 years we have developed amazingly effective, complex and ever more expensive technology and expertise to deal with these chronic medical problems. The availability of, the need for and the cost of this technology and expertise is rising rapidly. Kidney dialysis units are full 24/7 and they’re not being built fast enough to keep up with demand. A specialist in Memphis can manipulate a robot in Peoria to remove an adrenal gland tumor… well you get my point. Lung, heart, kidney, liver and bone marrow transplants are now commonplace, limited only by availability of healthy organs. Stem cell therapy is being developed aggressively. Recently ABC News reported success at regenerating an entire rat heart, which then began beating to the wondering eyes of the media. (This is indeed good news for Dick Cheney!)
4. There is a growing shortage of primary care doctors, the so called “gate keepers” of the health care system. This means that more elderly patients will primarily depend on specialist care rather than primary care. This will drive up the costs more quickly. David Walker, head of the GAO has predicted with great certainty that the United States of America will go bankrupt in approximately 2018 due to the expense of millions of baby boomers becoming eligible for Medicare.
5. Providing everyone from an early age with Health Insurance does not solve the problem. Baby Boomer numero uno, Bill Clinton has already had his first heart attack before he even turned 60. You can only imagine how much his acute and now follow up care is costing the taxpayers. Tim Russert from “Meet the Press” on TV, had fine insurance and treatable risk factors, went to his doctor and took his pills, yet dropped dead of a heart attack at age 58. (His dying saved his health insurance company a bundle.)
6. It should be apparent that with respect to Health Insurance and care we Americans are grossly over using the system. The doctors and all their magic technology can barely keep up. And the “not keeping up” problem is going to get much worse as the 78 million Baby Boomers become eligible for Medicare. Health Insurance for Americans is so costly for the same reasons that flood insurance is so expensive in New Orleans and hurricane insurance in South Florida. Cost is based on risk and Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Aetna, Humana, Unicare, Cigna, Anthem, Carefirst and Kaiser are very good at calculating risk. In fact they are so good it’s giving them a giant headache of miserable public relations.
7. Let’s look at the problem of pre-existing medical conditions. The public and the politicians all want them covered, with no exclusions. Hey that’s only fair. People who are already sick need insurance now! But think about it for a minute and apply some common sense. Say you own a nice home, cost you 300 grand, well furnished in a nice neighborhood. The mortgage is pretty steep, you’ve got a couple of teenagers, you and the wife have nice cars. So to cut expenses you didn’t buy home owners insurance. One day there is a grease fire in the kitchen, it spreads to the curtains, then the wooden cabinets and throwing pans of water is not working. Thinking quickly you call State Farm. Hello! Do you really think they are going to sell you fire insurance on the spot when the Fire Department is already on the way? Well, that is what many are expecting from the Blues and all the rest of them. That is turning healthcare “insurance” into a healthcare entitlement. Unless you are on a public program such as Medicare or Medicaid that is just not going to happen.