It appeared to me some time ago that there were two Tea Parties, the thousands we saw at rallies, and the few we saw putting out $500 a plate for dinner with Caribou Barbie to celebrate integration with the Republican Party
Could you link to this? I'm doing a weekend deep-clean of my apartment so I don't have time to really get into researching this right now.
E: So my apartment is old enough to have knob and tube wiring, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who's ever cleaned my oven. Jesus.
Without insurance, you would have people saving up in special accounts in case of medical emergency, which is basically the same thing except that individuals lack the negotiating power of insurance companies so prices would be worse. I'm not saying that insurance-like organizations are doomed to fail, but I am saying that purely corporate profit-based solutions are by nature inefficient.
There are already examples of goods and services that are impractical for markets to allocate, but still really important, so that governments heavily regulate, control, and subsidize them. An example is electricity; it's effectively a natural monopoly with the way the Bulk Electric System works now, so government needs to step in and regulate prices. Could you live without electricity? Probably, but living a modern existence is impossible without it. The Founders only knew of electricity as "that thing that Ben keeps screwing around with" so there's nothing to address that kind of public utility situation in the Constitution. (E: I suppose I should add this for clarity. Healthcare is the same way. You can live without it, but it's something that's come to be regarded as an essential part of modern life. Like electric power, it's something that isn't solved very well by markets so the state needs to do something)
Basically I'm saying that the private sector alone won't really be able to figure this out, and that it's the place for either the Federal government or the state governments to kick off a better solution, like co-ops.
I read a poll once, politicians were asked about their priorities.
Number one, to get reelected, two the party, three the US.
I felt that we'd be lucky to be third on their list, I doubt it.
I believe that to be the solution, along with tort reform.
As individuals we are at a severe disadvantage. We need to be able to join groups in or out of state that will give us better rates. At the same time we need to prevent the lawyers from sucking up so much money that health care becomes unaffordable.
Ha ha. Same old song and dance. Wait until some stoned doctor butchers your family member. Or your beloved insurance company denies or delays a procedure that could save your or your family member's life. Then you wish you had a lawyer to suck up some of the money.
You know very well that John Edwards made millions "channeling" unborn babies. I see that as a problem.
I also see it as a problem when doctors can't afford the insurance and don't deliver babies.
Since lawsuits are pretty much the only weapon that the "little guy" has against big organizations, I'm immediately suspicious of things like tort reform.
I think it is a good illustration of the point we have reached.
We need the ability to sue, at the same time it must make sense.
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