yournamehere

It's quite easy to explain. Healthcare is so expensive because 33% of the money they take in goes to administrative costs, CEO salaries, and company profit. Only two-thirds actually goes to healthcare providers.

Medicare, on the other hand (which is a government-run healthcare company) only has a 1% administrative cost, government-level salaries for those who run it, and no profit. Think of the public option as simply lowering the minimum age of Medicare from 65 years old to 1 day old, and it makes sense - it would save one-third of all costs associated with healthcare.

The biggest problem with Medicare is the blatant fraud being committed by (private) healthcare providers - but that's not Medicare's fault. That's like blaming a theft victim for carrying a wallet. I'll give you a recent example. My wife is on Medicare due to being disabled - she recently went for an MRI of her spine. The imaging center - a private, for-profit organization, not only charged Medicare for the MRI, but they also tried to charge for a CAT scan and PET scan, also. This kind of fraud happens all the time. Yet people blame medicare for it.

As I've said before in many posts - I believe the health of our nation's citizens is too important to be subject to the "massive profit at all costs" management style that has all but ruined our economy in every other sector. Why bitch about all the money we just gave the banks and car companies, yet think it's alright to give billions of wasted money to the healthcare companies? Healthcare companies are nothing more than a middle man - they produce nothing; they provide no service; they contribute nothing. They merely take $3, keep $1 for themselves, then turn $2 over to other entities. Why do we need them, especially considering their outrageously high cost?

And Light of Icarus, you complain of living in a "socialist time," yet you say you'd rather move to Canada, whose healthcare system actually is socialist. And BTW, I've heard from many Americans how bad the Canadian system is; yet I haven't heard many Canadians complain about it.

I had to laugh last weekend at so many of the teabaggers carrying pictures of President Obama with Hitler mustaches; yet calling him a "socialist." Anyone who wasn't asleep throughout middle school knows that you can't get farther apart politically than socialism and fascism.

Actually, when corporations rule government; non-Americans are looked upon with disdain; and domestic racism runs rampant (albeit disguised) - then we are living in fascist times, if you need to put a label on it.

One more thing - then I'm done, I promise.
For all of you out there who say "I'm happy with my insurance company," do you even have a clue how much you and your employer pay for health insurance? Do you even care that if your family's healthcare premiums were reduced by $200 per month, you might get that much more in salary? It's all overhead, as far as your employer is concerned, it all comes out of the same pocket, and it's all part of the cost of having you as an employee. Why do you think salaries are at the same level now that they were in 1999? It's because healthcare costs have eaten into your employers' pockets so much they can't afford to give you a raise. And one more thing - just because you're happy with your insurance company is no guarantee they won't drop you the second you get a serious diagnosis - which is when you'll need them the most.

I will never cease to be amazed at the Republican Party's uncanny ability to convince their members to act in ways that are in direct opposition to their own well-being.

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If you want to avoid 95% of internet spelling errors:
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