An open letter to Mr. Paul Mulshine, opinion writer for The Star Ledger, in response to his blog post My generation is kidding itself about Medicare:
Mulshie,
You can delete my comments from your post all you like, it doesn't make you right, and it won't stop me from publishing them elsewhere.
First of all, do us a favor: head over to "the Google" and look up Godwin's law. As usual, you have it wrong.
As for Medicare, I agree that it's broken, but the solution is not to hobble it and make it impotent. What you're kidding yourself about isn't Medicare, it's the delusion that the "free market" can solve anything. The fact is that Medicare is the largest health care provider in the US, as such they have immense negotiating power. Because of this, they pay pennies on the dollar for health care compared to what the average insured American under 65 does. A hospital may bill Medicare $100,000/ day for ICU care, Medicare only actually pays a few thousand. That's because Medicare has a full time staff that makes sure YOUR tax dollars aren't wasted; that the corporations running our hospitals are not charging Medicare $10 for an aspirin.
If the US had a socialized medicine program similar to the UK or Canada, we could all benefit from such negotiations, not just curmudgeons like yourself. The fact is, the majority of people in the world are covered by some sort of socialized medicine. They get better health care than all but the wealthiest Americans and are happier for it.
You, and the small minded internet trolls who love your "writing," continue to labor under the delusion that health care in the US is a "free market;" it is not. The free market is a fairy tale, invented by the wealthy in the 18th century to control the middle class. I seriously doubt you're wealthy enough to benefit from the perpetuation of this myth, so why don't you stop working against yourself and the majority of Americans and join the 20th century? The fact is, Medicare is the only group that has the power to negotiate with the mega corporations running our hospitals and as time goes on this will only become more true.
I know you think that private businesses are better at handling, well, anything, than the government, but the reality is that health care is supposed to be about healing people, not about profiting on death and suffering. Corporate America has proven time and again that they only care about the bottom line. They've shown that bad corporate citizens can simply buy their way out of bad behavior, it doesn't matter how poorly they treat their customers because you and I have no actual choice. One corporation is no different from the next, and they all collude in keeping prices and services pretty much uniform.
Government may be inefficient, but government, at least in this country, is still the people. They're accountable to us. Perhaps instead of playing to the lowest common denominator of internet trolls here on NJ.com, you should use your forum to promote intelligent discourse. Instead of encouraging and perpetuating the delusion that we're better off without socialized medicine, take a look at history and the rest of the world. It could just be possible they know something you don't.
Before you go accusing me of not being on topic, let me sum up my comment here: you're complaining about Medicare paying so much for people who are "old." I'm saying you're working off of bad information: Medicare pays pennies on the dollar compared to what health care corporations bill and still less than private insurance does. I would provide links to back this up, but NJ.com (or you, I don't know) has deleted my previous comments with links, so I guess you're just going to have to find it on your own. I suggest you start with Stephen Brill's article in Time Magazine titled "A Bitter Pill." Please stop spreading misinformation and rhetoric, you're not helping anyone.
Finally, I noticed your update about the Dying in America paper. Wow, you could not have missed the point of that paper more. That paper is about giving people the option and opportunity to die with dignity. It was about letting doctors inform terminally ill patients that they do not have to suffer and wither away, spending their last months or weeks in a hospital hooked up to machines and causing their loved ones immense grief. Do you know why this kindness is not legal in the United States? Because the mega corporations that run the hospitals in this country, not Medicare, petitioned the government to remove language permitting it from the Affordible Care Act because it would hurt their bottom line. That's right: the problem isn't Medicare, as you imply, it's the billion dollar corporations you think should be administering our health care. Did you read the paper? Maybe you should.
Mulshie,
You can delete my comments from your post all you like, it doesn't make you right, and it won't stop me from publishing them elsewhere.
First of all, do us a favor: head over to "the Google" and look up Godwin's law. As usual, you have it wrong.
As for Medicare, I agree that it's broken, but the solution is not to hobble it and make it impotent. What you're kidding yourself about isn't Medicare, it's the delusion that the "free market" can solve anything. The fact is that Medicare is the largest health care provider in the US, as such they have immense negotiating power. Because of this, they pay pennies on the dollar for health care compared to what the average insured American under 65 does. A hospital may bill Medicare $100,000/ day for ICU care, Medicare only actually pays a few thousand. That's because Medicare has a full time staff that makes sure YOUR tax dollars aren't wasted; that the corporations running our hospitals are not charging Medicare $10 for an aspirin.
If the US had a socialized medicine program similar to the UK or Canada, we could all benefit from such negotiations, not just curmudgeons like yourself. The fact is, the majority of people in the world are covered by some sort of socialized medicine. They get better health care than all but the wealthiest Americans and are happier for it.
You, and the small minded internet trolls who love your "writing," continue to labor under the delusion that health care in the US is a "free market;" it is not. The free market is a fairy tale, invented by the wealthy in the 18th century to control the middle class. I seriously doubt you're wealthy enough to benefit from the perpetuation of this myth, so why don't you stop working against yourself and the majority of Americans and join the 20th century? The fact is, Medicare is the only group that has the power to negotiate with the mega corporations running our hospitals and as time goes on this will only become more true.
I know you think that private businesses are better at handling, well, anything, than the government, but the reality is that health care is supposed to be about healing people, not about profiting on death and suffering. Corporate America has proven time and again that they only care about the bottom line. They've shown that bad corporate citizens can simply buy their way out of bad behavior, it doesn't matter how poorly they treat their customers because you and I have no actual choice. One corporation is no different from the next, and they all collude in keeping prices and services pretty much uniform.
Government may be inefficient, but government, at least in this country, is still the people. They're accountable to us. Perhaps instead of playing to the lowest common denominator of internet trolls here on NJ.com, you should use your forum to promote intelligent discourse. Instead of encouraging and perpetuating the delusion that we're better off without socialized medicine, take a look at history and the rest of the world. It could just be possible they know something you don't.
Before you go accusing me of not being on topic, let me sum up my comment here: you're complaining about Medicare paying so much for people who are "old." I'm saying you're working off of bad information: Medicare pays pennies on the dollar compared to what health care corporations bill and still less than private insurance does. I would provide links to back this up, but NJ.com (or you, I don't know) has deleted my previous comments with links, so I guess you're just going to have to find it on your own. I suggest you start with Stephen Brill's article in Time Magazine titled "A Bitter Pill." Please stop spreading misinformation and rhetoric, you're not helping anyone.
Finally, I noticed your update about the Dying in America paper. Wow, you could not have missed the point of that paper more. That paper is about giving people the option and opportunity to die with dignity. It was about letting doctors inform terminally ill patients that they do not have to suffer and wither away, spending their last months or weeks in a hospital hooked up to machines and causing their loved ones immense grief. Do you know why this kindness is not legal in the United States? Because the mega corporations that run the hospitals in this country, not Medicare, petitioned the government to remove language permitting it from the Affordible Care Act because it would hurt their bottom line. That's right: the problem isn't Medicare, as you imply, it's the billion dollar corporations you think should be administering our health care. Did you read the paper? Maybe you should.
