I should never, ever hear a progressive using the term "government RUN healthcare"

[Clintonista2]

the proper term is government FUNDED healthcare. "Government run healthcare" confirms the belief that some washington beauracrat would be making medical decisions, yet I often see progressives using that phrase. Government funded healthcare is a much more accurate and less scary term for the average American to hear.

[MajorChode]

1. How about government run healthcare financing?

There's nothing really fundamentally flawed with healthcare in the US, just the way it is financed. People need to separate the notion of how health care is delivered from how health care is financed. Keep what works and fix what is broke.

[Canuckistanian]

12. Too many words - just use "Government funded"

Framing is important.

And the Repubs want to throw "government run" in your face every 10 minutes (as if that's a bad thing).

They've been trying to make the term "govt. run" a scare tactic, implying that it's going to be barely functioning bureaucratic nightmare. Don't help them spread that falsehood.

[MajorChode]

15. Cuz it sounds too much like the "welfare"

Ideally, the government won't be funding it. It will be funded by the people via payroll deductions and the role of the government is as fiduciary.

[Canuckistanian]

17. Exactly.

Anything to let them gain a linguistic advantage is bad. Then they can twist their rhetoric to convince people that change is somehow threatening.

We had to do it in here in Canada back in the early 60s and it was tense for a while. The threatened doctor's strike never materialized. But in today's world, propaganda is so much more advanced.

It'll be a tough battle. But we Canadians will always be there if you need them, busting those myths and singing the praises of our system.

[Saturday]

2. I think government FUNDED healthcare is just as scary.nt

[vadawg]

3. okay but isnt the government going to run the system, wont government people run the system

i kinda get scared when i look at the DMV and think erm instead of im here to renew my licence im saying erm im here to get a prostate exam....

[divineorder]

5. The Government already has a working precedent

Think food stamps, student loans, FHA. The government funds, not runs. There are no government run grocery stores, schools are run locally, your house was built by a private entity and you got funding through a bank. Even with transfer payments, the entities that are funded are private entities set up to recieve public funds.

What would most likely happen is that everyone gets a card and takes it to whatever health care provider they have, the provider provides services, and fills out a form to get compensation for that service. If the government doesn't fund that service, you would still be free to buy supplemental insurance, pay for it out of personal funds, or fundraise. Just as you are free to go to school using student loans, your or your parents own funds, or scholarships. If the government thinks what you are studying is too frivolous to pay for-you can still get it in other ways.

[vadawg]

6. If the government thinks what you are studying is too frivolous to pay for-you can still get it in o

other ways this is what scares me, i know its like that nowadays with health insurance companies, i just revert to the DMV and having the dude working their signing off on my health bennies, still scared the beejeesus outta me.

[Clintonista2]

9. No, the government would not "run" the system

Doctors make the healthcare decisions, the government foots the bill.

[treestar]

14. A DMV clerk and a doctor are not comparable here

Besides, the DMV does run all right. Most cars have plates and most drivers are licensed. Waiting times might be a complaint but hiring more people means higher taxes.

[tabbycat31]

19. Personally I think the call center HMO employee is worse than the DMV employee

n/t

[MajorChode]

20. But you're not at all afraid of greedy corporations that will fuck you over in a New York Minute?

Whenever someone wants to make a horseshit argument out of public healthcare insurance, they always bring up the absolutely worst example of government functions they can imagine. Even then it's largely based on myth. In some states, the DMV functions extremely efficiently. In Texas, I only have to visit a DMV office in person every 12 years, and even at that the last time I went I was 3rd in line for about a 10 minute wait. I get far worse service buying a picture frame at Target. I register all my vehicles through the mail or online for less of a fee than I'd pay to order a movie ticket online.

The Federal Highway Administration manages hundreds of thousands of miles of interstate to standards that exceed every country on earth except for maybe Germany and arguably even them considering the expense per mile and they do it cheaper than any toll road. The Federal Aviation Administration manages to orchestrate the transportation of over 2 million passengers per day with a system that is by far cheaper, by far more efficient, and by far the safest in the world. Nobody else comes close. The Post Office can deliver a letter from anywhere to anywhere in the US in about 2-3 days for 44 cents. HHS manages Medicare for about 1/10th the overhead costs of any private health insurance company in the US.

The head of every government agency makes less than $200,000. Compare that to corporation CEOs who make millions and sometimes billions. Government agencies have no shareholders they must show a profit at the expense of their customers. Government agencies have minuscule advertising budgets and most of that is simply public information campaigns. Private industry runs better than the government? Horseshit. I'll take a government run organization over a private entity any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Supervised Works For Me...

As was the case in '94, the lexicon is co-opted with simple buzzwords and phrases that usually are meant to distort rather than amplify a perception of government's role in health care. While the government will direct the funding, they're not the ones who will be cutting all the checks. Their role should be to be a passive insurer (as they generally are with Medicare)...creating competition with existing insurance companies to keep prices low and under control while enabling everyone basic coverage and preventative care.

[GivePeaceAchance]

7. Yep languages is everything like Womens health providers then abortion providers. (nt)

[closeupready]

8. I wish people would make up their mind.

Single Payer, public option, government run - WTF. :eyes:

[PassingFair]

10. National Health.

That's the only term I use.

I now push for the Public Option,
which will pave the way for a
National Health Care program.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Thank you. I've been saying that for a long time around here

"The Gubmint" has NO SAY WHATSOEVER in your (basic) health care in a public system, like we have in Canada.

If you want plastic surgery for vanity cosmetic reasons, you're on your own. but almost everything else is covered. Even chiropractors and natural medicine practitioners.

Your Doctor and other health care professionals and YOURSELF decide your treatment. Then the government foots the bill.
They can't refuse to pay, they won't "ration" your care, they won't intercede in any way, shape or form. If your doctor says you need treatment, you get it. Period.

The ONLY thing the govt. does is set standards and a standard fee schedule and issue health cards.

The last time I ever had to deal with the govt. about my health care was about 20 years ago when I needed to get a new health card. And even that took about 15 minutes.

[rustydog]

13. who cares! A duck is a Duck whether you CALL it a cow, pig or

Government run healthcare.

Get away from the labeling fixation and argue the merits of a single payor system. Otherwise known as government run healthcare.

[PurityOfEssence]

16. Take it from a LIBERAL: if you let yourself be cowed by the right, you will continue losing

Fuck this crap that "gummint bad" and that the government can't properly run anything. It's precisely like the bullshit that "liberal" is a bad thing and we have to run from the term and call ourselves "progressives".

Government does some things very well, and it's hard to criticize their operations when one takes in the factor of SCOPE. Governments are HUGE in comparison to corporations; it's always easy to find examples of waste and incompetence in the former.

My blood boils every time I hear Obama being pleased that 90% of the stimulus money will run through private enterprise. I'm a capitalist. I'm in a VERY competitive, capitalistic business, and I believe in private property, incentive, entrepreneurial spirit and all that, but regulation and specialization ARE OUR FRIENDS.

Stop and think for a second: continually bolstering the accepted idiocy that government is "bad" and "ineffectual" and "sloppy" only serves to destroy society itself. We NEED government. It provides us with many standards and predictabilities that allow us to thrive in our highly specialized pursuits. The ONLY people who benefit from slagging government are the members of the grotesquely wealthy who want aristocratic unassailability (note that I don't think all of the mega-wealthy are like this, only some) and crackpots of various stripes. We need to stand by government and help to make it better, otherwise we become a nation of scofflaws and moral criminals.

Call it "Government RUN" health care, and have it be as transparent as all hell, except for personal records.

[Clintonista2]

18. Government RUN healthcare is not what it is though

That's the point. It's not RUN by the government, its FUNDED by the government. It's an important distinction.