On Aug 30, 2009, at 9:51 PM, Jenny Thrasher wrote:
> I'm also wondering how hard an alternative to Obamacare would be, in > the form of clinics that were set up to offer care to ONLY those > without insurance or medicaid. > > WHat I'm thinking about is that if someone wanted to be a doctor, > instead of getting financial aid, they allowed the state to pay for > their education with the stipulation that when they get their > medical license, they are to work for a set amount of years in a low- > income medical facility and accept a much lower rate of pay. Same > for nurses. Med school costs a small fortune these days, but I > suspect that it would cost a lot less for the government, and > individual states to pay for the education of a new doctor than to > implement Obamacare, or medicaid. If the hospitals weren't having to > operate at a deficit level by raising fees to cover the expected > loss from non-payment, perhaps hospital fees could go down as well, > and at some near point, the vicious cycle could end. Just a thought. And a good thought. It would also do in many cases just to remove the obstacles to doctors offering low-cost services. In many places it is actually illegal to offer medical services below the approved Medicaid cost. In almost all places HMO agreements forbid doctors/facilities offering any services below the approved HMO price. We know that charity would increase without these rules since it was quite common before the rules were put in place. At the extreme end, over 2,000 free or low cost medical facilities once existed in New York City ALONE: outpatient clinics, medical dispensaries, doctors offices, hospitals, etc., etc., the majority provided by Catholics, Baptists, and Jews. The system largely worked before we broke it. Sincerely, Eric Vought "Faith does not absolve us from trying to understand our world and make moral distinctions with the eyes and brain given us. Religion is as much responsibility as direction: Duty not Distinction." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ This is a Free Speech forum. The owner of this list assumes no responsibility for the intellectual or emotional maturity of its members. If you do not like what is being said here, filter it to trash, ignore it or leave. If you leave, learn how to do this for yourself. If you do not, you will be here forever. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
