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On Thu, 03 Aug 2006 15:36:47 -0400, Bert Robbins wrote:


Why do Canadian's come to the US for health care? Because they can
see a
doctor or get an MRI next week rather the 10 months from now.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarti...m?ItemID=10515

"Most of what we hear about the Canadian health care system is
negative; in particular, the long waiting times for medical
procedures. But we found that waiting times affect few patients, only
3.5% of Canadians vs. 0.7% of people in the U.S."

How is that not significant? If I wrote the headline, it would read:
"Five times as many Canadian patients are affected by long waiting
times compared to American patients".

The fact that the author downplays that important fact, yet hypes
another fact like "9.9% of U.S. respondents couldn't afford medicine
vs. 5.1% in Canada", shows his bias.

No matter what country you're talking about, why should it EVER be a
luxury item? I know the usual drivel: It's not mentioned in the
Constitution, but that's not a good enough reason.

Health insurance ought to be made more affordable. Period. Start with
the insurers. Repeal that damn McCarron-Ferguson Act, and put
insurance under Federal regulation. Allow small businesses to band
together across state lines and purchase insurance through their
national associations.

I wouldn't be opposed to paying higher taxes to cover medical insurance
if I didn't have to spend what I currently spend on health
insurance...*AND* I could get coverage at least as good as what I
currently have.

It costs my family $1200/month for insurance. Add that to the
$800/month I spend for my employees, and that's $24000/year that I
spend on health insurance. They could raise my tax rate 5 percentage
points and it would still be cheaper than what I'm paying now.

Oooh....government regulation. You're a liberal!

And you're a conservative:

"I agree. If I need an x-ray and money's tight, I can put it on a credit
card. And, there's never a problem with $60 office visits to the
internist. Meanwhile, I'm paying $300 a month for Blue Choice, for
medical needs which may never happen. I'd love to have a policy that
covered everything over X amount - $2K a year, or some such thing.
"

You just described Bush's medical savings account plan.

"On August 21, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the
Kassebaum-Kennedy bill that allows Americans to open a Medical Savings
Account (MSA)."

Unless you're finicky about the numbers, it seems to be a different
president's plan.

Bush's *Health* Savings Accounts. HSA's. Sorry.

" Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were created by the Medicare bill signed by
President Bush on December 8, 2003 and are designed to help individuals save
for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free
basis. "

http://www.treasury.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa/