[The Lone Bolt]

Originally Posted by pricejj

The U.S. does not have a problem with health care standards. We provide the best healthcare in the world.

Seriously? While the standard is high the cost is astronomical compared to other countries. No, we do not provide the best HC in the world. In fact our system is by far the worst among industrialized nations.

Under Obamacare, a 15 member panel decides what standard of healthcare you will receive.

Wrong.

The Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, is a fifteen-member United States Government agency created in 2010 by sections 3403 and 10320 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which has the explicit task of achieving specified savings in Medicare without affecting coverage or quality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indepen...Advisory_Board

The only way to cut costs under Obamacare is to reduce services, or which reduces standards.

Pure speculation.

Whereas, competition naturally increases standards in a more free-market based approach.

The ACA (I guess I was mislabeling it the "AHCA") is a free-market based approach. What part of "private insurers" don't you understand?

Inexpensive catastrophic health insurance plans with HSA's are the cheapest and best way to provide coverage in case of emergency.

Evidence? Or is this just in theory?

If you truly want everyone covered, capping skyrocketing Medicare spending is the best way to reduce healthcare costs. This is true all around the world.

Which is what the Independent Payment Advisory Board ("15-member panel") is tasked to do. Yet you are against it.

Romney proposes to reform medicare for younger people, which decreases healthcare costs substantially.

How?

Medicare was enacted in 1965, and has skyrocketed healthcare costs. Capping Medicare spending isn't as dramatic as you make it seem. The world's best healthcare system will remain intact, be more efficient, and less expensive for all. Unlike Obamacare which only increases costs.

As already pointed out to you, the Swiss enjoy quality HC at a much lower cost than us. Real-world proof that you are wrong.

Massachusetts has the highest healthcare costs in the world, with the fastest increasing healthcare costs. So the answer is "NO"...it doesn't work.

Source?

And can you explain why it's remains so popular in Massachussets if it's such a bust?

Though the Massachusetts health care law has been panned by Republicans nationwide, local support for it remains steady.

Two out of three adults in the state support the law, while 88 percent of doctors say it improved, or did not affect, the quality of care, per the BCBS survey.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...re-law-worked/

Obamacare subsidizes individuals and families up to 300% of the federal poverty level...that equates up to about $35k per year for an individual or $69k for a family of four. That is not "poor", that is squarely in the middle-class.

I said "disproportionately benefits" the poor, not exclusively. Reread.

The problem is, healthcare costs are too high. There is no reason a family of four who makes $69k per year should be mandated to purchase health insurance with premiums of $7200 per year, or more. They then have to figure out a way to cover the $10,000 deductible to pay for their ACTUAL healthcare.

Yes there is -- to spread the risk for everyone and to avoid sticking hospitals with the ER bill. But realistically the vast majority of such families would have insurance through their employers so why you bring up this unlikely scenario is a mystery.

That's actually what it would cost for me to purchase health insurance now (and the price is projected to increase). As an FYI, a similar plan in Massachusetts (Romneycare) is approximately $8000. As you can see, mandating expensive health insurance for over-priced healthcare is no solution at all.

Once again, see the Swiss system. High quality care, far lower cost then the USA. A model that has been proven to work in the real world.

I really don't understand you conservatives. You fall all over yourselves to dump a system that has real-world working examples and throw your support behind a plan that only works in theory. That doesn't strike me as very "conservative."

Massachusetts also has the largest debt as a % of GDP of all the states, and the fastest increasing debt...primarily due to increasing healthcare costs. Again, Obamacare doesn't work.

Source?

Obama has stated that he doesn't want to revisit healthcare. That he has "fixed" it.

Can you find one example of Obama saying that he will oppose any reforms of the ACA?

Actually, Singapore has the worlds cheapest, and most effective healthcare system. You should check it out.

Yes I have. Not sure it would work here though. They have a very different system of government. But I'm sure we could learn a thing or two from them.

Switzerland has a debt to GDP ratio of 401.9% and is the 3rd biggest debtor nation in the world. Socialism does not work.

If the U.S. had that debt to GDP ratio, we would be spending about $1.8T on debt servicing, which is over 70% of federal revenues.

What does this have to do with their largely successful HC system?