[ExI] ...or else... was: RE: What happens when Bitcoin goes to a million bucks?

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of Mirco Romanato
>...

>>... Prediction: the American people will shrug and suggest we give the 
> other guys a chance to fix it.  They too will fail, for different 
> reasons.  They will not recognize that this kind of problem must be 
> tackled at the state level, and that federal government must shrink to 
> fit its budget.  The other guys find that notion as repugnant as the
current crew.

>>... Any questions?  spike

>...Do you think they will move the system to a single-payer system before
they give up and decide to try something more market friendly?...

Had you asked me in September, my answer would differ from what I would
answer today.  Then I would have guessed the system as proposed would fail,
and that would pave the way to single payer at the national level.  But the
national system failed so spectacularly, with a fiery crash on takeoff, that
it sent a strong message: don't trust the federal government with your
health care.  They are too incompetent and too corrupt.

>...Then, the single-payer system do not need to be done directly at a
Federal Level...

Thanks, I agree.  Single payer can be done at a state level, and that's
where it should be done.  Reasoning: the Fed does not and cannot take into
account one's assets, only one's income.  The state can and does take into
account both income and assets when deciding how much you pay.  Having
health care done at the state level makes sense, in fact it even makes sense
to mostly cut out the insurance industry.  Then you move to the state which
has the system you like best.  You have fifty different state governments
competing to create the best model.  Some will work better than others.

We had two states, Massachusetts and Oregon, which had what might be
described as almost a single payer system in place before 2008.  I noticed
the other states were not rushing to follow in their footsteps.  I know from
firsthand experience that the quality of care in Oregon was not as good as
what you could get in Florida, where the state doesn't pay much.

>...In Italy...A lot of people is forced to move from south to north to
obtain the care they need. There are a lot of waiting time everywhere to see
a MD specialist or obtain some examinations from the government health
care...

Ja.  Anywhere the same general rules apply: medical school is hard and
expensive.  People will not invest in that if the doctors are not able to
make a ton of money at it.  So it always means a shortage of doctors.  But I
have an idea.  Read on please.

>...So, no, I do not think if they move from Obamacare to GovernorsCare
there will be any increase of efficiency. In the end, every local government
will try to use the sector to obtain money and votes to stay in power...

I think there will be an increase in efficiency over federal-level health
care.  But the bar is low on that leap, and getting lower each day.  Note
that when the rollout of HealthCare.gov failed, they promised us repeatedly
that everything would be fixed by 30 November.  That's five days from now.
Note that noooobody in government has repeated the 30 November fix.  

The federal insiders themselves have come right out and admitted there are
no plans in place to encrypt the data or do any reasonable measures to
protect patient information that is compliant with the Health Insurance
Portability and Insurance Act, HIPAA.  The HealthCare.gov website isn't
encrypted, and they aren't even claiming there are plans in place to
eventually encrypt the data.  Anything you put on that site is public
domain, and everything needed to steal your identity is asked on that site.
Mirco me lad, do ponder that please.  They aren't going to have even the
"glitches" fixed by 30 November, and there are no plans to PROTECT YOUR DAMN
DATA, no intentions of keeping your private information private, no HIPAA
compliance even in the works, and this, my friend from Italy, is at the US
Federal level.  

The mind boggles.

>...You need (and we need) to move to a free market health care, where
people pay and obtain what the market can afford to offer at some price
level and efficiency improvements are promptly rewarded...Mirco

_______________________________________________

It has been said the medical system is inherently incompatible with free
markets.  I partially agree, but that is not to say it is hopeless or that
the government can solve that problem.  One thing governments can do is be a
lot more open minded to importing foreign doctors who did not get a
bachelor's degree before going to medical school, as we usually require in
the states.  I personally know a doctor who went to med school in Tehran
right out of high school, got her MD at age 23, did a residency, practiced
medicine for several years in Iran, fled the country 8 yrs ago, and has been
struggling ever since just to get a residency in the USA, anywhere.
Somewhere we need to have states which actively recruit foreign doctors who
were trained in similar circumstances.  They would be lower cost.  We could
take pharmacists and others that way too.  

Nursing can be taken as a college major, right out of high school.  Why not
medical school?  Why not pharmacy?  Wouldn't that increase the pool of
doctors, and drive down the cost?

spike