Vermont House Passes Single Payer Health Plan Bill

[viper37]

Aren't doctors allowed in private practice in Canada?

It is forbidden by a doctor to charge money for an act covered by the public insurance.
It's also forbidden by law to sell insurance for this type of coverage.

So the doctor makes a choice: 100% private or 100% public.
Given that there's really no health insurance, except for a really narrow field of practice, because of a supreme court judgement, there is not much doctors operating in private health care clinics.

Not to say there aren't any, there are, but they ain't that numerous.  Not enough to make a real difference, and there are no private hospitals were you could get a surgery.

[Jacob]

What do you mean there are no doctors operating in private clinics? Vancouver is full of clinics and I'm pretty sure most of them are private.

Also, we don't have bagged milk on the West Coast.

[Josquius]

Bagged milk?
I'm unfamilar with this but it sounds awful. But then I also find milk in plastic bottles less than great, if it doesn't come in glass its not worth having.

Good news on the main subject I think. Though I am quite unfamiliar with this single payer term.

[Grey Fox]

Bagged milk?
I'm unfamilar with this but it sounds awful. But then I also find milk in plastic bottles less than great, if it doesn't come in glass its not worth having.

[Admiral Yi]

Good news on the main subject I think. Though I am quite unfamiliar with this single payer term.

All medical bills get paid by the same entity.  In this case the Vermont state government.

[Neil]

Bagged milk?
I'm unfamilar with this but it sounds awful. But then I also find milk in plastic bottles less than great, if it doesn't come in glass its not worth having.

That is fucking weird.

[Valmy]

Good this is the way health care should be done: on a state-by-state basis.  If a particular system proves superior to the others we can think about it on a national level.

[The Brain]

Canada = Socialist hellhole.

[derspiess]

Good this is the way health care should be done: on a state-by-state basis.  If a particular system proves superior to the others we can think about it on a national level.

  And if it fails miserably we can avoid it like the plague.

[Caliga]

The problem with that approach is that, because healthcare has become a political football, it will be quite difficult to determine whether, going forward, any state healthcare system is well managed and healthy.  The Democrats will find every reason under the sun to say that it is, and the Republicans every reason under the sun to say that it isn't.

[garbon]

[KRonn]

Don't forget that Massachusetts also has had a health care plan for about five years. Hard to tell how well or badly it's going. I believe costs have gone up, and the State has a harder time affording it. However, most or a lot more people have some insurance, paying into the system. ED visits have gone up as people with health care apparently visit Hospital EDs more often, than the reverse which was the plan.   

[DGuller]

Good this is the way health care should be done: on a state-by-state basis.  If a particular system proves superior to the others we can think about it on a national level.

I can see some difficulties with that approach.  What prevents sick people from making Vermont their mecca?  If you got cancer, and you got no insurance, move to Vermont. 

The single payer system then would probably collapse, especially since Vermont is tiny and can't handle much "health tourism", but it would collapse precisely because it was the odd one out in US rather than because it was single-payer.

[MadImmortalMan]

Good this is the way health care should be done: on a state-by-state basis.  If a particular system proves superior to the others we can think about it on a national level.

I can see some difficulties with that approach.  What prevents sick people from making Vermont their mecca?  If you got cancer, and you got no insurance, move to Vermont. 

The single payer system then would probably collapse, especially since Vermont is tiny and can't handle much "health tourism", but it would collapse precisely because it was the odd one out in US rather than because it was single-payer.

What prevents them from going to Canada or the UK now?

[viper37]

What do you mean there are no doctors operating in private clinics? Vancouver is full of clinics and I'm pretty sure most of them are private.

Also, we don't have bagged milk on the West Coast.

A doctor can have his private clinic, but he charges to the government, not the client.  Such doctors practice at their clinic as well as in the hospital.

If he charges directly to the client, then he can no longer work in an hospital, or charge anything to the government.