Impeding changes to our Health Care system

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

The problem is not over the last 10 years, the problem is the last 9 months!

You're not really suggesting that the health care crises began in last 9 months?

The percentage of Americans w/o health insurance has been on a steady decline for at least 10 years and the cost to those covered by employer-based plans has been rising disproportionately at a higher rate than wages for the last 10 years.

Ignoring that fact as it was for those 8 years between 2000- 2008 was not a solution.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Redux

You're not really suggesting that the health care crises began in last 9 months?

The percentage of Americans w/o health insurance has been on a steady decline for at least 10 years and the cost to those covered by employer-based plans has been rising disproportionately at a higher rate than wages for the last 10 years.

Ignoring that fact as it was for those 8 years between 2000- 2008 was not a solution.

No, actually it started long before that, most of the problems really took off because of the Clinton Administration and the things they did and failed to do. The period of 2000 -2008 was mere icing on the cake. The foundation was laid by Clinton.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

No, actually it started long before that, most of the problems really took off because of the Clinton Administration and the things they did and failed to do. The period of 2000 -2008 was mere icing on the cake. The foundation was laid by Clinton.

Health care costs as percent of GDP have been rising steadily for 40 years....from about 5% in the 60s to over 15% now.

The steadily rising cost of health care is not a partisan issue....it is fact, without regard to the party in power.

When Reagan took office in 1980, the per capita expenditures on health care were under $1,000....by the time Clinton took office in 1992, that cost rose to about $2.500...in 2000, it was about $4000 and now it is over $7,000.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealt...ads/tables.pdf (see table 6)

But if you want to make it a partisan issue, by blaming Clinton, I would suggest the partisanship comes about with the proposed solutions, if any....Reagan and GHW Bush did nothing to even attempt to address the problem. Clinton tried and failed, with the exception of SCHIP. GW Bush did nothing. Obama is taking it head on.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Redux

Health care costs as percent of GDP have been rising steadily for 40 years....from about 5% in the 60s to over 15% now.

The steadily rising cost of health care is not a partisan issue....it is fact, without regard to the party in power.

When Reagan took office in 1980, the per capita expenditures on health care were under $1,000....by the time Clinton took office in 1992, that cost rose to about $2.500...in 2000, it was about $4000 and now it is over $7,000.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealt...ads/tables.pdf (see table 6)

But if you want to make it a partisan issue, by blaming Clinton, I would suggest the partisanship comes about with the proposed solutions, if any....Reagan and GHW Bush did nothing to even attempt to address the problem. Clinton tried and failed, with the exception of SCHIP. GW Bush did nothing. Obama is taking it head on.

Under Clinton, Medicaid expanded beyond it's means. After the failure of his health initiatives the insurance industry, HMO's and Managed Care plans took off and essentially have run amock over our healthcare delivery. They have grown exponentially since the late 1990's. That is where it started. With the failure of them to get anything done and to do it right. After the failure they basically quit the game. And here we are today.

http://books.google.com/books?id=tK7...age&q=&f=false

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Under Clinton, Medicaid expanded beyond it's means. After the failure of his health initiatives the insurance industry, HMO's and Managed Care plans took off and essentially have run amock over our healthcare delivery. They have grown exponentially since the late 1990's. That is where it started. With the failure of them to get anything done and to do it right. After the failure they basically quit the game. And here we are today.

http://books.google.com/books?id=tK7...age&q=&f=false

THe exponential rise in the cost of health care began long before Clinton, starting in the 60s and continuing unabated for 40+ years, both as a percentage of GDP and on a per capita basis....the data is there for anyone to see.

The green line shows the percentage of the gross national product going to national health expenditure. It is measured by the scale on the left axis.

The purple line, for gross domestic product (GDP), and the blue line, for national health expenditure (NHE), are in billions of dollars, measured by the right axis scale.

US National Health Care Expenditures

The growth was relatively flat during the Clinton years.

The per capita data shows much the same trends.

[sugarpop]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Under Clinton, Medicaid expanded beyond it's means. After the failure of his health initiatives the insurance industry, HMO's and Managed Care plans took off and essentially have run amock over our healthcare delivery. They have grown exponentially since the late 1990's. That is where it started. With the failure of them to get anything done and to do it right. After the failure they basically quit the game. And here we are today.

http://books.google.com/books?id=tK7...age&q=&f=false

And that is Clinton's fault? You mean it isn't the fault of republicans, who fought any change to the system? Or the insurance companies? Who fought changes to the system? Really? Jesus Christ Merc.