The Wall Street Journal's (OPINION) of Baucus's health care reform bill

[Maple]

Baucus Health-Care Plan Is Still Government Run - WSJ.com


Are you curious that we don't see any physicians promoting either of these plans? I certainly am.

 

[midcan5]

Are you aware that physicians have no competition? And want none. When we were young mom went to a pharmacist as could not afford a doctor's visit, it is that minute clinic etc that is required today.

This is a bit OT but covers your wonder.

Offshoring: The Next Industrial Revolution? | Foreign Affairs

I see article is no longer available so I'll excerpt one piece.

"A few disparate examples will illustrate just how complex -- or, rather, how untraditional -- the new divide is. It is unlikely that the services of either taxi drivers or airline pilots will ever be delivered electronically over long distances. The first is a "bad job" with negligible educational requirements; the second is quite the reverse. On the other hand, typing services (a low-skill job) and security analysis (a high-skill job) are already being delivered electronically from India -- albeit on a small scale so far. Most physicians need not fear that their jobs will be moved offshore, but radiologists are beginning to see this happening already. Police officers will not be replaced by electronic monitoring, but some security guards will be. Janitors and crane operators are probably immune to foreign competition; accountants and computer programmers are not. In short, the dividing line between the jobs that produce services that are suitable for electronic delivery (and are thus threatened by offshoring) and those that do not does not correspond to traditional distinctions between high-end and low-end work."

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

Baucus Health-Care Plan Is Still Government Run - WSJ.com


Are you curious that we don't see any physicians promoting either of these plans? I certainly am.

From The Article

The headline is that Mr. Baucus has dropped the unpopular "public option," but this is a political offering without much policy difference. His plan remains a public option by other means, imposing vast new national insurance regulation, huge new subsidies to pay for the higher insurance costs this regulation will require and all financed by new taxes and penalties on businesses, individuals and health-care providers. Other than that, Hippocrates, the plan does no harm.

***
The centerpiece of the Obama-Baucus plan is a decree that everyone purchase heavily regulated insurance policies or else pay a penalty. This government mandate would require huge subsidies as well as brute force to get anywhere near the goal of universal coverage. The inevitable result would be a vast increase in the government's share of U.S. health spending, forcing doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and other health providers to serve politics as well as or even over and above patients.

So it isn't really anything better than HR3200, in fact it may be worse.

Like i've said

I still say if obama is truly interested in reform he should pick at the low hanging fruit instead of the entire fruit tree.

Start with tort reform. You will get support from both reps and dems on tort reform and its something the citizens of the country would support.

Its easy to do, just pass a tort reform bill, he could have it by christmas no problem. Then he would have actually gotten a real and effective cost saving reform done. This would not only boost his approval and the people's trust in him on health care, it would also boost congress' approval.

The boost in approval would lead to him being able to pass insurance reform next, another item of health care that he can get bi-partisan support for.



But I'm just a racist since I dont like the massive overhaul method