[speaker001:] okay do you have any um ideas on universal health insurance do you have any strong opinions you do
[speaker002:] yeah I think it's probably a good idea um I think given that um well given that there're so many people who don't have health insurance it's probably a real smart thing that at least have some basic coverage for everyone I mean you hear these horror stories of people
[speaker001:] uh-hum
[speaker002:] homeless people going to the hospital and and being thrown out because they have no insurance and having to go to someplace else you know it would be nice if
[speaker001:] yeah right
[speaker002:] no matter where you are or who you are or what happened you know what happened to you you go to the hospital and they say okay just just take him don't worry about who or what he is later so
[speaker001:] yeah yeah yeah I feel like there should be some kind coverage made but I I am really leery of um
[speaker002:] that would be a nice thing
[speaker001:] kind of a government administrative health insurance or medical plan because I just feel like everything the government takes over is just going to be run much poorly and it's going to be six times more expensive as what
[speaker002:] yeah no that that is certainly true but I wonder about like in Canada in Canada where everybody everybody um automatically has insurance in Canada
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh right and they have that in England too but I think it is a pretty poor they get a lot lower quality care than we do now I know that some people don't agree with me but um I know you have to wait real long time to get for certain surgeries that aren't emergencies and you do have the kind of choices that we have here
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and um I've worked a lot in doctor's offices and hospitals and I really don't want to give up having those choices
[speaker002:] that's true that's something I haven't thought about
[speaker001:] because I think I mean there is a night and day difference between good doctors and bad doctors and good hospitals and bad doctors hospitals and
[speaker002:] that's true that's true
[speaker001:] and in England at least at the time I was familiar with it about ten years ago they just told you what day you had to show up and where you had to show up and who your doctor was going to be
[speaker002:] no oh so you don't get any choices at all or anything
[speaker001:] no no I mean that yeah
[speaker002:] oh that's a problem yeah because I I mean I know I even even among you know even even now the way we have it now there's
[speaker001:] it's getting worse isn't it yeah
[speaker002:] there are some places yeah I mean like we have an an HMO that allows us to pick our own physicians
[speaker001:] right right uh-huh
[speaker002:] and we picked a primary care physician and just didn't like him you know and and had to switch because I felt he was a quack
[speaker001:] right that's exactly the problem there's just so many such variation in it but you see I guess what what they had in England and I guess in Canada is socialized medicine so maybe that's like the extreme of it do you think
[speaker002:] yeah yeah that is the extreme and what what that I what that I think tends to do though is I think that tends to that probably has two a a good and a bad side for young people wanting to become doctors I mean what you get is other people who are motivated to be because the money isn't I guess as much for doctors anymore so they would wind up getting
[speaker001:] uh-hum uh-hum right right
[speaker002:] the people who really want to be doctors being doctors but then again you know you don't get those people who'd be good and are real smart and decided hey I I wanna make a lot of money so I will go into medicine you know you don't get those
[speaker001:] really want to right right or that yeah exactly or people also get the feeling that well geez you know you do have to worry about you have a lot of job security there and it's more of a seniority I would imagine kind of thing instead of having a skill or whatever to advance and so you don't necessarily get the kind of quality control or the kind of
[speaker002:] yeah that's true
[speaker001:] I don't know I think we have to have something I really do
[speaker002:] yeah and it would be nice to see something where at least right I mean even something that said you know look free major medical to all you know to everyone and then beyond that you sort of work out on your own if you want
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I know I I don't know I I've having worked in doctor's offices and stuff I see it from a physician's point of view and I
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] I think the problem with the skyrocketing costs right now is the insurance companies because I don't see doctors getting all rich
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] and I think hospitals do make money but not nearly as much as insurance companies do I think they are really making a killing and nobody's talking about it nobody's
[speaker002:] oh right no yeah they're the ones who make I mean they're the ones they have you know decide although I mean the unfortunate part of that is that is that people tend to forget that doctors are humans as well
[speaker001:] uh-hum
[speaker002:] so that so that you know insurance companies have to charge a substantial amount for certain people or certain physician types of of doctors given that you know someone decides to have a malpractice suit against them well they could take you know it could be millions I mean unfortunately and and if the doctor whether it was you know I mean I feel those cases where the doctor was wrong or malicious or something you know but there are you know I mean
[speaker001:] right right right there are mistakes are made right sure sure yep
[speaker002:] mistakes you know everybody makes mistakes unfortunately and and it shouldn't be a billion dollar you know industry it should be I made a mistake and this is this is fair compensation not
[speaker001:] so is I guess yeah I think that's the legal part it coming in to too that I wonder if we should have a limit on how much people can sue for
[speaker002:] yeah that is a big problem that'd be nice
[speaker001:] or or I don't know because then that's where the insurance company benefits if if people weren't having to spend these huge amounts of money on getting insurance coverage
[speaker002:] uh-huh it would be a lot better yeah and I'm sort of in a in a government run medicine program sort of I'm I'm in a well well I'm a graduate student at and uh
[speaker001:] you know yeah are you okay at where oh okay uh-huh are what I'm in Texas yep yep yep
[speaker002:] at University of Rochester in Rochester New York I'll bet you're in Texas up yeah I was gonna bet that okay um yeah and as as it turns out my wife has pretty decent coverage through her company and can get me covered as well
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh great yeah
[speaker002:] but uh which is great except and because the university but the university offers two plans they offer what they call the mandatory portion which is basically major medical and then they offer the waiveable portion
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] which is which is you know every you know sort of everything else you need so your your your your basic care beyond major medical separate stuff
[speaker001:] uh-huh okay
[speaker002:] and they don't and even though my my wife's insurance covers me for everything I still have to pay them a hundred some odd dollars a semester for the mandatory portion of the insurance
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh oh no that that that can't be legal
[speaker002:] yeah I'm not actually sure it is or not but no one people keep sort of fighting it and I'm and I keep meaning to fight it but you know I just don't want to spend my time
[speaker001:] oh my gosh how can they how how can they make you pay for insurance coverage
[speaker002:] well the reason the I mean their rational is is they make everyone pay for it so that it it keeps the cost of university health services down and everyone can use it you know it
[speaker001:] how how does it keep the cost down
[speaker002:] because everyone is now forced to pay for this
[speaker001:] oh so they just use the money for something else besides your insurance policy
[speaker002:] and there's like a uh well no what yeah well what they used it no they what they use it for is is is university health services we have a we have a hospital here and a subportion a subportion of the hospital was
[speaker001:] okay okay okay so you're subsidizing the hospital
[speaker002:] right so I'm basically paying for a welfare state now as it turns out as it turns out um my wife and I have chosen to use the university as health services as out primary care physician we can do that
[speaker001:] uh-huh okay oh good
[speaker002:] so in in but in effect I am pay twice for one service
[speaker001:] you are you are I know and see that's the thing that is the thing now that I'm in my thirties now and I have three kids and I'm I mean I'm very liberal I'm extremely liberal and um and I say but now in the last couple years I have gotten to the point where I am saying I just can not afford to pay any more
[speaker002:] uh-hum
[speaker001:] to help people out I I wanna keep helping people out but I need the federal for the government or the agencies to find a way to do it on the amount of money you know that I can afford I just can't afford any more it's it's out it's just outrageously
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] it's just starting to get me angry and for the first time in my life I'm starting to feel like I well I guess it has a lot to do with a lot of the stuff that I find out that I'm paying for now you know
[speaker002:] yeah well that's that's certain true
[speaker001:] I mean I can't afford to have some kind of some kind of voluntary optional operation for myself because our our medical coverage has gotten increasingly worse over say the past five years to the point now where even if we need surgery our insurance only covers eighty percent of it
[speaker002:] right which is ridiculous
[speaker001:] and right and so no matter what happens to me if I get in to a car accident this afternoon I have no idea you know no way of being able to afford the outrageous medical cost because my insurance is now only eighty percent of what ever it's going to be
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and um so on top of that um then what if I what if we decide to have universal health insurance so I am subsidizing
[speaker002:] everybody else
[speaker001:] and and what if they are lucky enough to get into a doctor and a program that's going to say okay well you really need to have those varicose veins or fixed or your teeth fixed or something like that and I'm paying for it
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] you know it stuff like that has happened with education and other things that you hear about and it's just wait a minute you know my kids aren't getting that how come their kids kids are getting
[speaker002:] exactly I don't I don't uh
[speaker001:] and and I know that it's only in a few cases and I don't want them to to uh cut funding for welfare programs or anything I don't want them to do that because I know a lot of people they live right on the edge and they need that
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah it's it's one of the strange I I think it's strange as you get older I I I think the tendency is that as people get older
[speaker001:] but but I uh-hum uh-huh
[speaker002:] and gain I don't I don't I don't want to say more responsibilities but you know things like homes and kids and so forth they tend to lose that liberalism they had when they were younger
[speaker001:] uh-hum right well yeah that's and it's uh it's funny because a couple years ago I hear a quote from Winston Churchill let's see if I can remember it anybody who's not a liberal in his twenties has no heart and a person who's not a conservative in his fifties has no brain
[speaker002:] that is probably very true
[speaker001:] it was something like that yeah and uh I don't know I guess that's what's happening to me but I I I think it's just starting um its I I don't know maybe other people I do you think it's a sign of the times that people are starting to say alright really we really mean it no more taxes or maybe is it my own personal
[speaker002:] no I I think think people are starting to really mean it I mean everywhere you look you're getting something new I mean you start off you know especially um you guys I believe in Texas you don't have state tax do you
[speaker001:] yeah no no income tax
[speaker002:] right we have we have federal income tax state income tax local income tax we have state tax on gasoline um you know because our our so on top of the federal tax on gasoline we have state tax on gasoline so we're just
[speaker001:] yeah oh oh wow yep yeah but I tell you um we have incredible property taxes down here
[speaker002:] or that could be yeah making up for the difference
[speaker001:] so yeah and we don't have the services that other states