Comments on: Obama’s Dreaming

By: Phil Goetz

Phil Goetz — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:28:33 +0000

Anytime a politician talks about “eliminating waste”, you should immediately dismiss him/her. Waste is inherent in the democratic process. AFAIK nobody has ever been successful in all of American history at making big savings by eliminating waste.

When Obama says he’s simultaneously going to lower costs and increase coverage, that’s even more of a fantasy. That just tells us he’s either ignorant, or not telling us what he really wants.

By: Overcoming Bias : Walmart Med Is Better

Overcoming Bias : Walmart Med Is Better — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:05:42 +0000

[...] has expressed his extreme eagerness to cut med waste, and 30% savings could sure pay for a lot of universal [...]

By: ducktator

ducktator — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:19:58 +0000

Why the admin does not try first to eliminate waste and fraud from Medicare/Medicaid and then have Medicaid offered (with fee) to all people that can not afford private care? Is this possible?

By: Robin Hanson: "So they will cut vast waste without ever telling anyone they can’t get a treatment they want? Fantasy." « Economics Info

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:04:00 +0000

[...] Source [...]

By: The Perfect Healthcare Plan (And Why It Can Never Happen) « Intellectual Detox

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:07:49 +0000

[...] eat up a huge percentage of spending. The Medicare oversight commission the plan would create is completely toothless: “The Commission will not be authorized to propose or implement Medicare changes that ration [...]

By: Floccina

Floccina — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:37:12 +0000

Early in the speech he said these are the facts nobody disputes them. I dispute some of them and I know many people that dispute some of the things head had said. Oh well he is a politician. He seems not worse than most politicians.

By: pdf23ds

pdf23ds — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:04:44 +0000

I agree. I think this is more of a “little white lie” than anything.

By: Kenny Evitt

Kenny Evitt — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:40:35 +0000

While watching the speech, I kept hearing Robin in my head saying “put a tax on medical care!” – but then Obama would say something that would make me think that there is too little care. What’s our problem again? We’re paying too much, a lot of it for care we don’t need, but … we also need to spend more to ensure even more people have access to largely useless care? [My friend made me leave the room when I started arguing with the TV ...]

By: Blogobuzz: Obama’s Healthcare speech – false symmetry

Blogobuzz: Obama’s Healthcare speech – false symmetry — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:39:36 +0000

[...] to Obama’s speech. Honestly, I didn’t pay much attention to it, but I did appreciate Robin Hanson’s comments last night. So he’s going to save $500+ billion over ten years by having an independent [...]

By: OregonGuy

OregonGuy — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:15:47 +0000

I just hope the commission has really cool uniforms and black helicopters. Imagine clinic and hospital adminstrators hiding under their desks when the ‘choppers arrive.

It’s hard to take any of this “debate” seriously, when the arguments are seriously flawed to begin with. Can anyone, with a straight face, claim that somehow innovation in drugs and therapies will result in a lessening demand for better treatment? Me? I’m glad that the government didn’t get involved in “cost control” of computers, back when 386 PC’s were selling for 29-hundred dollars. Imagine the world we would live in today if we controlled IT sector spending to 1979 levels.

The whole debate is a straw man.
.