Liar

Watching the talking heads on teevee.. debating health care.

In everything that is said about the issue from the right.. they are lying.. lying.. lying.. purposefully and demonstrably lying.

Some jackass (Lars Larson) claimed that Medi-Care and Medi-Caid are "destroying" health care in this country because the government programs pay the doctors "50 cents on the dollar". That's what that jackass just said. He claims that the "cost is shifted to the rest of us on private insurance". He's lying when he says that.

It is true that doctors have the option of contracting with the government programs in order to treat those patients. The doctors sign a contract for payment based on the fee schedule. They are not forced to see those patients.

Everyone else has an insurance plan that is virtually identical to the government programs with one notable exception. The doctors (and facilities, hospitals, rad clinics, etc.) sign a contract and receive a set rate for services. The price is negotiated and it does not matter in the least what the doctor "charges" for services. He gets paid a certain rate, and he's able to bill the patient for the amount the patient is obligated based on their insurance plan.

The lying jackass (Lars Larson) claims that everyone not on a government program has to pay the full amount of the charges, which are higher because of government fee plans. He's lying.

I had surgery on my sinuses a couple years ago. My doctor billed my employer provided insurance company $11,000 for his services. They paid him $1200. I owed the doctor $150. The doctor wrote off the rest. It wouldn't have mattered if he charged a billion dollars for the service, he only gets the negotiated rate.

The lone exception between government and private insurance is.. the profit margin. That's it.. nothing else.

The reason why the evil lying scumbag conservatives are trying to convince everyone that government is inherently "bad" is simple. The insurance companies make a profit. They have share holders. People who buy stock are generally wealthy, and the profits is nothing but a "redistribution of wealth" from the poor and working class, to the wealthy, who do nothing but own the stock.

If we shifted the entire nation to a government single payer system, there would be no profit in the system, everyone would be covered, and it would cost a hell of a lot less money. Fuck the people who own the insurance companies (the stock holders). Fuck them, and dissolve those companies because they are nothing but blood sucking vultures.

And the really sad thing.. is that "working class" conservatives are too stupid to understand this. They are too fucking dumb to realize private insurance is not in their best interests.

The people with all the money control all the policy, so getting to a single payer system is probably going to be impossible.