Originally posted by eljefejesus
But what is the solution to these rare cases, and is the only way to nationalize healthcare? how much would that delay or restrict care for how many people? how much more deficit spending would it take? can we afford that right now of all times?
Healthcare has already been heavily nationalized. And the private insurance industry already greatly restricts care. So those horses left the barn decades ago.
Medicare and Medicaid already deal with many of those "rare cases". The main issue involves the remainder of those cases -- that is, people who are chronically ill or at a high risk but are not yet old enough to qualify for Medicare, or poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. If, as you say, these cases are rare, then it shouldn't be that expensive to cover them - whether it be via some sort of public option, or via some sort of subsidy system.
I would argue that "now of all times" is when healthcare reform is especially important. With lots of people losing their jobs, the number of people losing their insurance is also going up. And with premiums rising rapidly, employers are going to have to cut back or stop covering their employees entirely in order to remain competitive and create jobs in a slow economy.
As for the deficit - there are any number of ways in which the government can cut back on benefits or programs that go to people who don't really need them. Maybe we can raise Medicare premiums for affluent seniors. Maybe we stop sending so many subsidies to big farmers that don't need them.