Is Health Care Reform Even Worth The Effort Without a Public Option?

[KansasVoter]

[invictus]

1. Without a public option it is not real reform. nt

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

3. Seconded!

[BlooInBloo]

2. Not as far as I can tell.

[bigwillq]

4. No (nt)

[uponit7771]

5. No public option wouldn't fix middle class wage gap created mostly because of health care cost

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Yes. Something is better than nothing. If one more child or one

more senior gets covered than today.

[DURHAM D]

7. Without public option its a Republican bill. nt

[moondust]

8. No. That road is a dead end.

Without a public option there is no real incentive to reign in the rising cost of insurance and health care.

[Butch350]

9. Is this umpteenth poll really necessary?

[KansasVoter]

10. So far 50 people thought it was! Ignore it if you don't like it!!!

[Orangepeel]

11. maybe. it depends

many people are saying they want the same plan that Congress has. That would be government subsidies for private insurance choices with pre-existing conditions covered. If there was, say, some nonprofit HMOs available in the selection and regulations on companies that accepted the subsidies, it would be an improvement.

That's not what I want, but it would be better than it is now.

[mwooldri]

12. You missed an option: Hell no! nt

[bornskeptic]

13. Of course it is.

If the final bill did nothing else but prohibit discrimination based on pre-existing conditions and provide subsidies for those unable to afford the cost of insurance, it would save hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of Americans from bankruptcy or death. Any bill passed will certainly do these two things.

I hope a public option is implemented. However, the healthcare systems in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands are among the best in the world, and all have financing through multiple non-public insurers, and none of them has a public (government-adm inistered) option. They manage to provide affordable coverage to everyone through effective regulation. There is no reason we cannot do the same.

Whatever legislation is passed will not be perfect, but the system we have now is so atrocious that anything passed is certain to be a vast improvement.

[KansasVoter]

15. Great point about the other countries!

[kenny blankenship]

16. Or it would be a great point - if it were true. But it isn't

France has nationalized health insurance. Their system is rated the best in the world by the WHO.
The Netherlands pays for the health insurance of all who cannot afford to pay their govt. mandated insurance premiums themselves.
Germany does not have a system that is praised like France for the quality of its health outcomes. So inclusion of Germany -as if it proved anything- was pointless.

The point you just praised as great trades on people's ignorance. France and Germany have totally different systems. Only France has a system that is praised for its outcomes. Netherlands has a system of private insurance for those who can afford it, and a free ride for those who cannot - which is worlds away from what the poster was implying.

[bornskeptic]

17. Sorry, but you are wrong.

In France, everyone belongs to an insurance fund, which provides him or her with insurance, with benefits regulated by the government. The fund an individual belongs to is determined mostly by his or her employment status. The government only regulates. It does not act as an insurer. In a sense it is reasonable to refer to the French system as a public system, because of the strict rules under which the funds must operate, and because a large part of the financing is provided by the government from taxes. However, the insurance is not administered by the government, which is what is usually meant in the US by a public plan.

http://www.ajph.org/cgi/reprint/93/1/31.pdf
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9994.php

I don't know where you got the idea that I was suggesting that in the Netherlands, individuals unable to afford insurance were not subsidized by the government.I stated my point fairly clearly I believe. Every country with any sort of organized healthcare system has some type of subsidy for poor people. My point was that in these countries the government does not act as an insurer. That remains a fact. You are free to provide links to the contrary if you care to.

As to your deprecation of the German healthcare system, the latest ranking of European healthcare systems by the Health Consumer Powerhouse, the organization which all European countries look to in focusing on improvements to their healthcare systems, seems to indicate differently. The countries leading the list this year are, in order:

1. the Netherlands
2. Austria
3. Luxembourg
4. Denmark
5. Germany
6. Switzerland
7. Sweden
8. France
9. Finland
10. Norway

Austria and Luxembourg have systems similar to those of France and Germany. The other countries on this list have government run healthcare systems, similar to that in the UK, except that they are run by local or regional governments, rather than the national government.

http://www.healthpowerhouse.com/
http://www.healthpowerhouse.com/files/canadaIndex03.pdf

[kenny blankenship]

14. That would be a swindle.

Swindling is worth the effort only to the swindler.

[mvd]

18. Of the options being considered, no

It would not be worth it.

[grantcart]

19. No Even if I finally get some coverage but 20 million others do not, its not worth it

[LaPera]

20. What's the point if no public option-Insurance corporations would just get worse & greedier...

and who's to stop them? The government that can't even pass a public option that the insurance companies fought and paid of politician with their powerful lobbyist?

Get real! The heads of the insurance companies have said as much in front of congress that they won't make any changes....Which means Higher cost, less coverage. more uninsured and more sick & retired people thrown off coverage....

Who would be so stupid as to think Health Care Reform Even would be Worth The Effort Without a Public Option?

Only a selfish fool or someone who has great insurance paid by some one else....Oh yeah and republicans & insurance companies making huge profits on our health coverage.