"The Rick" Rips on US Healthcare

[BlueSkyJaunte]

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=7492&sid=175&n=156

Discuss (RTFA first!).

[kach22i]

What took GM so long to come out and say the health care system is broke? Bill Ford said this almost a year ago.

I can see American industry getting behind nationalized healthcare because unlike the upstarts (Honda, BMW etc...) with young healthly work forces working here, the old big three have a much older crowd to take care of..............and it costs them big time to do so.

[lendaddy]

Normally the lefties in here look at everything the big three brass say and look for the evil. But this, this is good???

The big three are making a selfish play here, and it is understandable. They have sold their soul to the unions on benefits, the largest of these is insane healthcare. They see a chance to get rid of it alltogether!

They do this not out of care or feelings, but economics, selfish economics. They currently pay through the spider for their employees and see a chance to wash their hands of this by sharing the bill with (guess) YOU. I think it's gonna get real interesting when these union autoworkers get their stellar HC benefits replaced by HillaryCare or the like. Ought to be funny "What the hell have we done". or "hey Bob, how many ahead of you on the heart bypass sheet this week?".

I don't blame the companies for pushing this, companies are about making money. I blame us citizens whom are fooled into buying this BS.

[nostatic]

Len, you're right on.

"Wagoner said he was not advocating a national healthcare plan. But the U.S. ought to take steps that place limits on the liability of providers. At the same time consumers should be offered more information from healthcare providers on the quality of the care they deliver, including rankings, he added."

This article is all about money, and nothing about the welfare of the individual. Of course there is an argument that if the company goes south, so does the individual. The trick is finding the middle ground. Amazing number about how much of a car's price is due to health care ($1400).

Limiting liability is a short sided solution imho. Instead, how about we get sane juries and judges? And some sort of tort reform. No easy fix though...

[kach22i]

Originally posted by nostatic
the U.S. ought to take steps that place limits on the liability of providers.

My life is only worth $225,000 per state law (Michigan), how cheep do you want me to get? I mean a doctor could outright kill me and his insurance company only shells out enough to .................oh never mind, we all have to die sometime.

http://www.atra.org/show/7338
LIMITS ON DAMAGE AWARDS

1986 (Mich. Comp. Laws 600.1483) Noneconomic damages in medical malpractice actions limited to $225,000 unless there has been a death, intentional tort, foreign object wrongfully left in body, injury to reproductive system, fraudulent concealment of injury by health care provider, limb or organ wrongfully removed and patient has lost a vital bodily function. The limit on noneconomic damages shall be increased each year by the increase in the consumer price index.