Thune: Socialist Health Care Fantasy Would Be a Nightmare Reality

Pat Powers


Thune: Socialist Health Care Fantasy Would Be a Nightmare Reality

“Let’s hope the Democrat Party halts its mad rush to the extreme left before Americans are forced to live under the ugly reality of socialized medicine.”

Click here or on the image above to watch the video.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed the Democrats’ plan for a government takeover of health care that would result in tax hikes for middle-income Americans, long wait times and lower quality of care, government involvement in health care decisions, and the elimination of private health insurance.

70 thoughts on “Thune: Socialist Health Care Fantasy Would Be a Nightmare Reality”

  1. For instance, according to this analysis, when an American family earns around $43,000, half of the average compensation when including cash wages plus employer payroll tax and premium contributions, 37 percent of that ends up going to taxes and health care premiums. In high-tax Finland, the same type of family pays 23 percent of their compensation in labor taxes, which includes taxes they pay to support universal health care. In France, it’s 2 percent. In the United Kingdom and Canada, it is less than 0 percent after government benefits.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/opinion/medicare-for-all-cost.html

    1. Sorry Ike, I went to nursing school to support my family, not yours.

      The days when nurses were unmarried women living in convents and riding bicycles to work are over.

      1. Did I say anything about paying doctors and nurses? Since when is payroll counted as profits? Socialized medicine doesn’t mean medical professionals work for free. It doesn’t mean diagnostic tools and treatments are just given away. It means we remove private sector greed incentives when treating the sick and injured. That’s it. Sheesh.

  3. And when the cost of this Medicare for all becomes apparent, and the money will have to be rationed, the govt will have to determine if a person’s life justifies the amount needed to keep them alive…… Or maybe they can just print more..it worked so well for Obama.

    1. Lol. I could pay $15k/yr more in taxes and that would still be less than my health insurance premiums. Doesn’t even include my deductibles and co-pays. I’m always stunned at how many people don’t have any idea what health insurance premiums actually cost. Remove the greed and make healthcare a human right. Anything less is spitting on Jesus.

      1. I’m sure your story was much different before Obamacare. I pay almost triple now for less coverage than I had prior to that horrible blunder. How in the world would more government control make it go down??

        1. The CBO put out a study last year that showed that while the ACA didn’t reduce costs, it did SLOW the rate of increase. Had the Republicans not had such a hissyfit and let the damn thing do its job, your premiums could well have stabilized. You can thank the ACA your triple increase wasn’t tenfold.

  4. I love the libs idea that anything that happens after bring born is a human right…free family leave, free preschool, free health care, free monthly stipend to every adult, free housing, free college, etc etc. Of course all these human rights do NOT apply to the human right to be born.

    1. Nobody said free. Stuff costs money and I’m willing to pay more so my neighbor doesn’t die of something preventable just because they’re not independently wealthy. Meanwhile, gofundme and tax cuts for the rich are not a healthcare plan.

      1. Donate to Charity.
        Tax cuts have nothing to do with Government spending.
        You do know the US is taking in record receipts right now right?

      2. The liberal Dems say free stuff every time they open their mouths…their words, not mine.

        1. “Free” to the consumer at point-of-service, but you can’t in all honesty say that “liberal Dems” think that stuff doesn’t cost money. We’re all intimately familiar with the idea that our property taxes help fund “free” public primary education – none of us believe that the buildings constructed themselves and that the teachers are there with no visible means of supporting themselves. With that as our analogue, why do you think public education is more important than basic healthcare?

          1. Of course they know their freebies will cost money…that is why they want to raise any tax they can think of to pay for them. So the more you work and earn, the more you will pay so others can get freebies.

            1. Since the wealthy have the most to lose, I think that puts them on the hook for paying more to keep a healthy happy society, don’t you?

              1. The wealthy already do. What you seem to want is a society where everybody is completely equal. That is a utopian dream, that is the promise of socialism, that is the dream of libs. Look no further than the icons of the Democrat party to see how well they really believe in this…Bernie, Pelosi, Obama, etc. How much of their millions are they contributing to the poor in this nation? The reality is a healthy, happy society is built on people taking responsibility for their own lives, with a sense of philanthropy for others without govt mandates, with a safety net for those who are disabled etc. The promise of socialism is disaster…look no further than Venezuela.

                1. The wealthy don’t, sorry. They pay more than me, more than you, more than most, but they’re also most able to afford it. They’ve also got the most to lose when/if society decides it’s had enough.

                  I don’t look for everyone being equal, just equal access and equal opportunity – neither of which we currently have vis-a-vis healthcare.

                  If Venezuela is your model, you don’t understand Democratic Socialism. Bernie, et. al. don’t want social ownership of the means of production. Democratic Socialists are genuine capitalists, but with specific socialist institutions – education and healthcare chief among them. Western Europe is the model – unless you think Germany and Sweden are shitholes? Add American Exceptionalism, rugged individuality, and western European modern democracies, and you have a winning formula. What we’ve got now is the rich getting richer, you and I getting stuck with the bill, and the poor going without. It’s simply untenable long-term.

                  1. If you’ve been paying attention, Germany IS a shithole and Sweden is following their lead.

                    1. Weird then that they pay less per capita on healthcare and still get better outcomes. Also weird that their productivity is higher with fewer hours worked. Weirder still is they are better educated on the whole. Golly, one may even begin to question ones definition of shithole.

    1. He’d say it’s better to spend your limited resources where they will do the most good. If I’m ever bedridden and in debilitating pain, skip the treatments that will keep me barely alive an extra 2 months and let me pass with dignity.

      Y’all make me chuckle sometimes… only caring about birth and death with no regard for that bit in between.

  6. No Ike,
    We are talking about a child they wouldn’t let come to the US.
    I love how you you are contradicting yourself. First you say it should be a right then you are saying it’s OK to ration.

    Feel free to move to a Country that rations healthcare. That will never be the USA.

    1. We already DO ration. It’s the ability to pay that makes it unavailable for some. People skip appointments because they can’t afford the co-pay and labs. They cut their prescriptions because they can’t afford them. At some level, it’ll always be rationed. It’s the equality of access we’re talking about. You shouldn’t have better health outcomes because of how fat your wallet is.

  7. Ever notice how many grossly overweight people are slowly walking around? Kids in grade school looking like the Dough Boy. Yikes! High blood pressure, heart disease, joint problems, diabetes, etc. all caused from obesity. But don’t say anything because you might hurt their feelings. Instead of FAT SHAMING them into a healthy lifestyle Liberals want everyone to pay more so they have FREE Healthcare and FREE Food and FREE Education and FREE Medicine. It’s crazy. Sort of like pouring richer gas in a car hoping it runs better on blown out tires. People have lost their minds.

    1. Food insecurity will do that to ya – overeat because you don’t know when you’ll get more food. High calorie junk foods are also cheaper per calorie than healthy alternatives. When the budget only goes so far, you fill your family up as best you can. But go ahead and blame the symptoms rather than the disease if it helps you sleep at night.

      1. Big Mac, large fries, and a diet Coke are not a good recipe for losing weight.

  8. Ike study people shopping in grocery stores and eating in restaurants. I do every time I am in a public place. I’ve been fat and I know why I was fat. Poor eating and drinking choices Period.

    1. Lovely anecdote. Unfortunately, there’s actual science on the subject of poverty and obesity rates.

      Abstract
      Obesity is a civilization disease and the proportion of people suffering from it continues to grow, especially in the developed countries. Number of obese people in Europe has increased threefold over the last 20 years. The paradox of obesity and poverty relationship is observed especially in the developed and developing countries. In developing countries, along with economic development and income growth, the number of people with overweight and obesity is increasing. This paradox has a relationship with both the easy availability and low cost of highly processed foods containing ’empty calories’ and no nutritional value. To date, this paradox has been described in the United States and the United Kingdom, although many European countries are also experiencing high percentages of obese people. Among the reasons for the growing obesity in the population of poor people are: higher unemployment, lower education level, and irregular meals. Another cause of obesity is low physical activity, which among the poor is associated with a lack of money for sports equipment. Due to the large rate of deaths caused by diseases directly linked to obesity, the governments of many countries implement prevention programmes of overweight and obesity. These programmes are based primarily on educating the public about a healthy lifestyle based on healthy eating, daily physical activity and avoiding alcohol and cigarettes.

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25292135

      Gee, I wonder if free/low-cost preventative care and regular doctor visits just might help people learn and develop healthier habits… Nah. Couldn’t be. They’re too lazy to go to the doctor, right?

    1. Sarcasm is a thing, ya know? It’s telling that you equate poverty and laziness. But you got yours, f*** everyone else.

  10. Well said, Ike. But, you know it doesn’t matter what a small state full of half-educated hicks thinks. Giving everyone in America a chance to buy a Medicare health insurance policy will save we smart ones a lot of money. If the plow jockeys want to buy something else, go for it. They’ll all be buying a Medicare policy within two years. Except, Anne Beal. She’ll make up another story about when she was a kid.

    1. Anonymous, your liberal bias is showing. So now South Dakotans are plow jockeys and half-educated?! So typical.

      2. I wouldn’t say ” plow jockeys and half-educated”– but those in S.D. or anywhere that would lap up the insulting lies and fear mongering of thune and his ilk might have the I.Q of a salamander…… Do you folks want every socialist program or service in this country abolished? Maybe start with thunes government paid salary, health insurance and pensions, then your medicare / medicaid, social security, etc. etc.? If you folks are not whining about all those socialist things, you are flaming hypocrites to whine about the claim of universal care being socialist

  11. Scroll down to Truman,s quote on socialist fear mongering–https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/truman-socialism-scare-word/

  12. “Socialism is a scare word they’ve hurled at every advance the people have made. Socialism is what they called public power, social security, deposit insurance, and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for anything that helps all people.” –Harry Truman, 1952

  13. Springer is ignorant. Medicare for All isn’t even socialism. It’s group buying to secure a lower price. Wake up, lady.

  14. For fun, google the name of a medical center in one of our northern border states plus “Canadian patients.”
    My favorite is what you see when you type “University of Vermont Medical Center + Canadian Patients.”

    It’s in Bernie Sanders’ home town, only 90 minutes drive from the McGill University Medical Center in Montreal, arguably the best hospital in the entire nation of Canada. Go ahead. See what they’re doing in Burlington VT.
    That’s how Canada’s single payer system works: people with money cross the border and pay cash.

    1. I am so sick and tired of listening to these politicians. Do you realized they are owned by the Insurance industry, big pharma, and the medical industrial complex. So what is the Republican plan? They don’t have one. At least Bernie is trying and isn’t owned like our Congressmen are. Bottom line….they don’t want to fix it. So Thune is basically saying is he and Congress are incompetent and inept to run healthcare. WOW! It’s an easy fix.

    2. Sometimes? Maybe? Here again, you need to look at the whole:

      Compared to the US system, the Canadian system has lower costs, more services, universal access to health care without financial barriers, and superior health status. Canadians and Germans have longer life expectancies and lower infant mortality rates than do US residents.

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633404/

    1. No question Mayo is number 1 in the world. People come from all over the world and every state in the nation. Mayo is very socialist. They never turned anybody away. There Drs are paid modest salaries. Everything goes back into the hospital. They are superior than most health care systems because they are true healers, not money makers. Remember Mike Myers. I learned a lot from him. Unfortunately the 2 SD parties are to close minded to scared to step outside their comfort zone and do their own independent research.

      1. You folks had your chance to change health care in SD, but you chose to be owned by who you put into office. Enjoy your dinner parties

    1. Notice how not one Democrat has explained how they are going to bend the cost curve down.

  18. https://www.unitymedcenter.com/what-we-do/overview.html

    I could do this all day you know.
    That’s how great Canada’s single payer system is.

    The young woman who carried flowers in my 1972 wedding was living in Calgary, gettin’ all that free medical care, too. She came to the US for treatment but it was too late. She was only 44 when she died. If she had crossed the border sooner she might have been diagnosed in time.
    Does the Canadian government keep statistics on their citizens who die here?
    How many premature deaths recorded in the US are actually refugees’ from single-payer health systems?

    1. Many people from the US go to Canada for their health care needs too. What’s your solution to health care in the US? Maybe you should stay with private insurance and forgo medicare.

  19. So Anne, what is your solution and your parties solution for health care? You fall right into the big pharma, and insurance propaganda. Think for yourself.

    1. Tara, The Repullblican house passed a bill that covered pre-existing conditions and got rid of Obamacare. Your party blocked it in the Senate.

      1. To set the record straight, I am not a Democrat or Republican. What is John Thune and the Republican party’s solution to health care?

      2. The House and Senate for Trumps first 2 years where Republican……quit making excuses. They got nothing done on health care. So hat is their solution?

  21. Tara, do I need to explain to you how the filibuster works?
    I don’t care what political spectrum you are on. Your arguments are illogical. I am still waiting on your ideas on how to bend the cost curve down.

    1. SD chose an Obama Care Governor over the former CEO of Mayo……..go figure. Quit complaining about Obama Care..That’s what you voted for.

  23. I’ll tell you how you do it, you vote in politicians that will not sell out to big pharma, insurance companies and medical Industrial complex. Voters need to wise up and quite buying the BS. Remember, Congress is a reflection of the people. Apparently you weren’t paying attention to the 2014 SD Gubernatorial election.

    1. That’s not an answer to my question Tara. Thank you for acknowledging you have no idea what you are talking about and that you just want to make this discussion political.

      1. Research the 2014 SD Gubernatorial campaign. I was Mike Myer’s campaign manager. He was CEO of many hospitals including Mayo. There is plenty of information on Health Care. By the way, how am I making this political?

        1. Tara,

          Are you ever going to discuss Health Care costs?
          You’re wasting our time if you are not going to.

          If you want a fact free health care discussion, I recommend the out of State blog.

          1. Mike Myers was the heath care guru in SD. I learned so much from him. He had radio shows was a syndicated columnist, taught health care law. He pushed up against the system and both establishment party’s trashed him. He was probably one of the most ethical and honest person I have ever known. Unfortunately those kind of people usually don’t get elected to office.

          2. Do your homework. I gave you all the resources, now quit being lazy. I am not going to spoon feed you

            1. Tara,
              I will gladly have a discussion about solutions when you are ready. Just let me know.

              It’s clear you don’t have any or you would discuss them here.

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