Deseret News | Can U.S. afford health reform? Ask Argentina

Reader comments
Jay Evensen: Can U.S. afford health reform? Ask Argentina

Lew Jeppson | 12:57 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

I agree with Governor Leavitt. However, let me point out that President Obama is trying to BOTH provide relief for many households who desperately need it (60% of bankruptcies are for medical cost reasons) and contain costs. I think the Democratic plans are reasonable (they'd be more reasonable with a real public option to fight price inflation from private insurers). I agree that the issue is complicated - not enough competition, too much competition, too much regulation, not enough regulation? But how long do we study this? More and more people will soon be without coverage they can afford. Do we just flush a generation down the toilet?

If you don't like the Democrats' proposals, give us a reasonable alternate scenario which allows relief from this crisis.

Timj | 6:59 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

Hopefully we have more in common with Europe than we do with Argentina, although, in many ways (including healthcare) we do seem to be turning into a third-world country.

Nathan | 7:50 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

The "can we afford it" question should be applied to a lot more than just health care. There's no good reason for a nation this wealthy to be 11 trillion dollars in debt.

Comments continue below

Money Quote | 7:52 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

The money quote from Leavitt: "Having a debate on health care outside the context of this (economic) discussion is shortsighted."

cb | 8:28 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

We are going to have to ration health care like the rest of the world. Is it a wise to spend one half of of all your lifetime health care expenses in the last 6 months of your life? That is what we do. If we had to pay more of the cost ourselves we would make better decisions.

Cost | 8:54 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

There's no free lunch. When Obama states that covering millions more people will somehow save money, it is a blatant lie

Cup A' Joe | 9:05 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

Yes Jay Evensen, the US can afford healthcare reform, we are the richest Nation in the world. I'd love to know how President Obama feels about being told what to do by the likes of Michael Moore, a man who admires the Cuban political system. I'd like to believe the president tunes out radical stuff, but there is growing evidence that he does not. The far left also wants out of Afghanistan, continuing to believe that al-Qaida and other terrorists can be contained by simply ignoring their presence. At first, Obama labeled Afghanistan a "war of necessity." Now, he can't decide whether to honor his commanding general's request for more troops there. Is Obama listening to the radical left on the issue?. Didn't Obama promise not to raise taxes on working people? I believe he did. But the far left doesn't seem to care about that and is pushing the president to hike taxes. Michael Moore and his crew speak for a very few Americans. Thank God. So start telling us the truth. And quit installing the fear of loss into your reader's. We can afford healthcare reform.

Rep. Chaffetz wants: | 9:12 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

Lets 1st start and end here:

o Incentivize preventive care,
o Provide affordable access to insurance,
o Make policies portable,
o Cover pre-existing conditions,
o Allow opt-out provisions for states,
o Allow private insurers to compete across state lines,
o Promote more transparency in pricing and effectiveness of health care services.

Suburbs of SLC | 9:17 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

Careful Lew you just wrote a reasonable, intelligent, and well thought out response. Those rarely go over well.

CJ3 | 11:03 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

Yes. Yes we can afford it.

In fact we cannot afford not to.

Time to tax all those unhealthy things, like burgers, fries, and soda.

A Fact | 11:07 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

The healthiest country in the world is Japan.

Their biggest health problem is their love of western fast food, and the associated health risks it brings with it.

Roland Kayser | 11:12 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

Don't ask Argentina. Ask Germany, Japan, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Australia, etc. They all cover everyone, spend far less than we do, and most aceive a healthier population than ours as a result.

Ammon Hennacy | 11:42 a.m. Oct. 4, 2009

Leavitt's right on. We need to raise taxes (unlike Argentina) to pay for our wars, pay for our health care crisis, pay to educate our young & those losing their jobs that won't come back. Politicians can't say that because selfish, me-oriented Americans want all kinds of things but are unwilling to pay for them. Corporate America wants to continue the status quo that allows them to make obscene profits with all the tax loopholes that lobbyists can buy. Close the loopholes, raise taxes, pay as we go.

Chris B. | 12:45 p.m. Oct. 4, 2009

NO - the answer is NO. I can't believe the liberals don't realize that. Spend, spend, spend, is NOT the way to help our economy, and even though the proposed health care reform would benefit some, the damage would be far worse. Get Obama out.

Raise taxes and... | 3:13 p.m. Oct. 4, 2009

you'll kill any chance of economic recovery and kill any chance of providing government health care for the next twenty years. First things first - pay down the deficit.

China won't lend us any more money for government health care. Why should they? The average Chinese citizen is much poorer than the average US citizen and doesn't have government health care, either.

Victor | 6:38 p.m. Oct. 4, 2009

FYI

The Chinese citizen does have government health care.

RedShirt | 7:00 p.m. Oct. 4, 2009

To "Roland Kayser | 11:12 a.m. " if you ask France, it only costs them about $2000 less to treat their people, it isn't that big of a difference. We could easily reduce our costs to that level, or lower if you eliminated all of the government mandates on health insurance and had Medicare/Medicaid pay equal to regular insurance.

Roland Kayser | 8:34 p.m. Oct. 4, 2009

To Red Shirt: Annual health care in the U.S. costs $6657 per capita. The figure for France is $3807, barely over half of ours. (source: Reuters)

Silver Grey | 9:11 p.m. Oct. 4, 2009

As a missionary in Argentina in 1970 I experienced socialized medicine up close. A description of my trip to a "public hospital" shouldn't be published in a family newspaper. Thank goodness for the private British Hospital in Buenos Aires. Evensen and Leavitt are right. Argentina was poised to become an economic powerhouse, but Peron and his socialism destroyed a once great nation. Can't happen here? Argentines probably thought the same thing. Freedom isn't free, but Socialism is slavery!

BLATANT LIE | 12:32 p.m. Oct. 5, 2009

ONE:

End entitlements.

NO SOCIAL SECURITY or MEDICARE.

TWO:

Collect more tax revenue.

MAYBE TO START A NEW DEFENSE INITIATIVE.

THREE:

Pay attention.

DON'T LISTEN TO DEMOCRATS.

FOUR:

Send extra money to:

LEAVITT FOR PRESIDENT.

RedShirt | 2:19 p.m. Oct. 5, 2009

TO "Roland Kayser | 8:34 p.m. " it may cost them $3807, but they pay more than that. The median income in France is about $56,000/year. They are taxed at 19.7% to cover health insurance. That means that half of the population is paying $11,200/year for insurance. Compare that to the $13,000 that the average US insurance costs. We can have a system that costs less than France's system if Medicare/Medicaid would pay the same as private insurance (this add $1000 to the average insurance person's permiums through additional overhead costs during office visits) and cutting back significantly on state mandates (20% to 50%).

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