Is the Obama Honeymoon Over?

[ulmont]

Tort Reform is a red herring. In the states that have enacted tort reform, it has made no difference to costs.

[jimmy olsen]

What would be a reasonable price to pay?

There is no freaking way anybody could afford to pay that sort of money going by market value.  Tim is talking that to cure him of one disease it costs about what the average American households entire income would be for several years (depending upon exactly how many hundreds of thousands of dollars we are talking about).  I mean that is simply bullshit...beyond bullshit unless we are talking a luxury item.

I remember the figure $250k being thrown around as the total up to the point after the operation so the end price was probably $300k or more.

[Neil]

Tort Reform is a red herring. In the states that have enacted tort reform, it has made no difference to costs.

Tort reform is merely a piece of the puzzle, not the answer to everything.

[The Brain]

Come back W all is forgiven!

[DGuller]

Tort Reform is a red herring. In the states that have enacted tort reform, it has made no difference to costs.

It's at best only half the puzzle.  If neither doctors nor patients have to pay for defensive medicine, then they'll still do it just to be sure.  In our messed up system, the financial incentives are screwed up even worse than in a typical socialist setup.

[Ed Anger]

Come back W all is forgiven!

I do miss his devil may care attitude. 

[Zanza]

I remember there was a graph in The Economist few months ago comparing health care costs in various Western countries. Germany was the country with the second highest health care costs per capita, after the US.

What was staggering, the US government was paying exactly the same amount of money, per capita, as the highly socialized German government, but then the same amount was paid again by US employers (whereas German ones didn't pay a dime) - effectively, this debunked any myths about the US health care not being socialized- it's just damn expensive.

PS: Actually, in Germany, the health care is paid for by a kind of payroll deduction that goes to your health insurance provider that are split about 45-55 between employers and employees. I assume that the "government" part of the chart for Germany means the obligatory public health insurance (about 90% of the population), whereas the private means the other 9.5% or so that have private insurance (only available with high income).

[derspiess]

I think you won't be able to reform healthcare in the US without the tort reform.

Shhh... that's something only Republicans say here

[Valmy]

Shhh... that's something only Republicans say here

Only because the Democrats are owned by the Lawtalker lobby.  It is hardly an ideological position.

[Razgovory]

Shhh... that's something only Republicans say here

Only because the Democrats are owned by the Lawtalker lobby.  It is hardly an ideological position.

Just a silly one.

[derspiess]

Only because the Democrats are owned by the Lawtalker lobby.  It is hardly an ideological position.

So you're saying the GOP takes this position out of spite? 

Anyway, I would say it's one of their more ideological positions. 

[Valmy]

So you're saying the GOP takes this position out of spite? 

Anyway, I would say it's one of their more ideological positions. 

No I am saying the Democrats are against the position because of corruption and not ideology.

Without the big trial lawyers throwing cash around we would have had tort reform a long time ago.

[Ed Anger]

Lawyers should be culled regularly.

[garbon]

omg, Michelle Obama is in SF! I wish I could go stalk her!

[Admiral Yi]

Tort Reform is a red herring. In the states that have enacted tort reform, it has made no difference to costs.

Interesting.  If you have a link I'd love to take a look.