Originally posted by: Athena
Originally posted by: blackangst1
[I think the majority of those on this board have the mindset that those who HAVE, can afford to give up a little in order to give to those who dont. So what if "the rich" lose a little in the way of quality. At least "the poor" will have something. Its simply Robin Hood economics.
There may be some who think that way. Others think that those who HAVE are deluding themselves about what they "have" and the sustainability of the current system. Like Rick Wagoner, who told us a year ago that a GM bankruptcy was out of the question, they think that what they HAVE is somehow sacrosanct; that they companies will continue accept escalating medical costs. The GM board knew 15 years ago that it had a big problem with the continuing committment to health care coverage but they couldn't bring themselves to admit it; they stood by and let health care reform get buried by misinformation. Most UAW members didn't have a clue about how precarious their own benefits were until just a few years ago.
Now people here and elsewhere who have with employee-paid health insurance are arguing about about losing coverage because of a government plan -- completely oblivious to the fact that major employers have been saying for years that the
current model is unsustainable. I haven't seen a single word in all this talk about keeping what you have that acknowleges the position of HR executives: major employers cannot afford to continue letting people do that. Most of the open enrollment brochures last November had fewer choices (and higher co-pays) than before and we can expect to see more of the same this year.
People bandy about terms like "free market" and "competition" with no understanding whatsoever of basic economics and the factors that have led every other industrialized country to conclude that they are inappropriate to the field of health care. They ignore the
rationing practiced every day in the US and prefer worry about extreme --usually distorted in some way -- case somewhere else that proves that nothing is perfect. And while they bemoan the potential cost to the government, they seem to be insensible to the financial devastation visted upon millions of people
who have insurance by medical bills, or the employees of the 60% of small business who offer no coverage at all because they cannot affortd. These are not temporary situations brought on by the current recession; these problems have been decades in the making.
Surveys indicate that the elderly -- who benefit from the larges "government run" health policy in the country -- are opposed to reform. They (and their children) are appareantly unaware that unless we make some very big changes, their healthcare is going to eat us all out of house and home.
Health care reform
is not about the 40-50 million uninsured. It is about the security of every man, woman, and child in this country. It is not about the "haves" and the "have nots", it is about the financial viability of every company and our position in world markets. Health reform is not a poverty program.