Jacob Hacker Defends the Public Option

[ObjectivistAesthetic]

If you think this is a good system, try living in the UK for a year. You'll see how scary life gets when doctors don't even take you seriously--like me, you'll just stop going. And it makes taxes so high you'll never be able to afford a private doctor.  National healthcare is totally unethical, its an abuse of the taxing power of government and its going to work as well as communist Russia. Enjoy.

[Renegen1]

So where are you going to run? Seriously. Every developed country has some sort of public healthcare plan. Are you going to run to Mexico?

[ObjectivistAesthetic]

I'm not going to run--I'm going to continue to fight it.

What a crazy concept: men and women getting off their butts to fight for what's good in life trying to support the right and moral cause instead of saying, "yeah, but what'r ya gonna do?" all the time.

[d00m0racl3]

y y'all b pikin on us mesicans all de time eh? FYI the only diference in medicine between mexico & usa is the facilities really, check out how many surgeries MEXICAN drs are called upon to perform at such critically acclaimed centers in usa. is it that our drs are better? maybe, but maybe it could also be the fact that lawsuits are fairly unheard of here, (2expensive for majority) giving drs (unethical maybe) opportunities to develop radical cutting edge treatments.

[d00m0racl3]

any1 remember aids victims flocking to mexican/us border cities on the onset of the aids epidemic? why do u think that happened? it takes 10yrs for any medicine to pass the FDA, mexico had aids meds 8YRS B4 THE USA DID. oh & just so u get in the habit of checking on things b4 u speaK, MEXICO ALSO HAS PUBLIC HEALTH CARE.

[JonathanM00r3]

I see why he calls himself "RoboMikey". It's because he's been programmed to say the same things over and over again without thinking.

[RoboMikey]

I think my favorite example of how either disingenuous or unthinking these people are is the claim that single payer (or the bill at large) will save money. What a wonderful world that would be... Pay money to the most egregious blunders of wealth to ever exist and end up with savings?

It won't work. It is just that simple.

[megarational]

1) A single payer system IS less costly because of it's administrative simplicity. I could go into detail but you should do some research yourself to see for yourself how about 1/3 of your health care dollars are lost in needless paperwork necessitated by the hodge podge of players in your system.

2) A public option is just another option, & is in no way a single payer system.

[RoboMikey]

This is Socialism. Which is to say a tried and failed system. The supporters of single payer are not purposing a new business model that they themselves will be responsible for, but rather a tax fed bureaucracy. That shows how much they really care for the poor. To assume no direct financial responsibility. Instead they use the force of government to try their idea, with everyone's taxes.

[Duboisi]

It works very well in Europe. The end result is that you get very good healthcare for all at a lower total price. If you want extra services/faster service for smaller issues etc, you can get insurance aswell.

[RoboMikey]

Your reply is vague. Where in Europe? There are lots of countries there. Unless you are suggesting, every county there runs identical systems, and they ALL save for a "lower total cost".

[ObjectivistAesthetic]

I live in Europe--it sucks, and everything else costs more because of it.

[terpis]

I watch this, then I read Digby, and the PNHP, and I see red.

Hacker's idea is so incrementalist and unrelentingly modest, given the scale of the problem...it KILLS me that these blue dog senators frrom unpopulated states get to do the damage they do, w/ no recourse for the vast majority of American voters.