I have no problem with making access easier. Any system that depends on Employment to gain access is a bad system. Most employees do not even realize that most Employer's heavily subsidize the offering to keep premiums as low as possible.
A hidden cost to Obamacare was the impact to employers. Employer plans were hit with coverage mandates, Govt fees (taxes) and penalties if your plans were too rich (Cadillac Plans).
Single Payer sounds wonderful, but supporters are either naive or have not thought it all the way through or simply don't care because it supports their political agenda:
1. I completely understand the concerns with pre-existing conditions, but at the same time you can't wait until something comes up to get insurance either. Otherwise, we would wait to get Car Insurance until after we wreck, or get Home Insurance after a fire, etc. It kind of defeats the purpose of "insurance" if you wait, hence the need for the mandates.
2. Any "savings" expected by eliminating the "for profit" insurance companies will be offset and then some by Government Waste, Fraud and poor Service. When was the last time you saw a large scale government program that was well run? And even if they do a decent job with something (i.e. military) they have to spend 3X as much to do it.
Look no further than our Vet Hospitals. While their are pockets of good services, overall I think both Democrats and Republicans both agree that they do not provide the level of service and care our Vets deserve and they definitely don't do it at a competitive price.
You can not use Medicare / Medicaid as a comparable model because most Doctors and Hospitals tolerate these programs and write off substantial losses. If all they have is Single Payer then costs will skyrocket or service will decline (most likely both).
3. The United States "for profit" model is the primary driver of medical and drug advances for the rest of the world. Socialized medicine in other countries have a chance for success because they simply control cost and services but rely on the US for most of the innovation.
What do you think will happen if Drug Companies and Medical Device makers no longer make huge amounts of profit? You will still have Government funded R&D, but practically zero incentive to achieve results.
We have made huge advances in medicine in the past 50 years in areas such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc. Move from a For Profit model to only government funded research and we will vastly slow rates of improvement. Even with profit, we are falling behind on with the effectiveness of Antibiotics.
Unfortunately, Republicans in their zeal to undue Obama's legacy, were simply trying to replace Obamacare with a plan that would be just as bad or worse. I am by no means an Obama fan nor Obamacare supporter, but it is already there. So why don't we do what is best for the country instead of one of the parties getting some political points? Let's take Obamacare and fix it:
1. Revise the "required" coverage plans mandated by the government.
2. Allow plans to be purchased across state lines.
3. We need Litigation/Tort reform.
4. We need some government funded "free clinics" but they need to have private contracts with a good audit and replace system (I would do it through State or even County Block Grants).
5. Eliminate the Cadillac Tax. Companies that provide better coverage should be commended, not them and their employees penalized.
I am sure there is much more that can be done but this post is long enough already......
