The evils of Socialist Education

[cyrano]

If we offer a public option for education, then that will mean all private schools will have to close--what chance do they have, against the juggernaut of Big Gummint? Plus, then Barney Frank will decide whether kids deserve to go to class or not! Obama is establishing Dumb Panels where they will send your handicapped child to an internship at a petrol station or force them to work bussing tables at IHOP!

Hitler's Germany had public schools! What more need I say???

Comments

[miss-friday.livejournal.com]

I work in both private and public education currently and see both sides of the fence simultaneously. Not all private schools are of the $30,000 tuition variety. Many can be found in the inner city and cost less than $10,000 per year. About the same amount the state pays for that child to be educated in a public school. Give parents the choice which school those funds should follow their child to. But we're straying from health care...

What are the costs of the prescription drug benefit? How are those compared to the projected costs which were used to pass the benefit? What is the quality of care under Medicare? Why do so many people find it necessary to have private insurance as a supplement to Medicare?

More and more doctors are withdrawing from Medicare (or refusing new Medicare patients). Do the greater private insurance payouts off-set the loss of Medicare income? Or is there another reason?

"Massively, chronically, and shamefully underfunded." I recognize that phrase. It's frequently used by the NEA and the AFT.

[evilmagnus]

More and more doctors are withdrawing from Medicare (or refusing new Medicare patients). Do the greater private insurance payouts off-set the loss of Medicare income? Or is there another reason?

Reimbursements - it can cost more to do a procedure than medicare will pay for it, often by a substantial margin, depending where you are in the country. But hospitals often can't give up accepting medicare patients for other reasons, so they swallow the losses or, if they're lucky, pass the costs on to the private insurers. Here's a report from 2005(!) on reimbursement rates. It's worse now:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Medicaid+reimbursement+rate+gap+grows+again-a0134674210

"Massively, chronically, and shamefully underfunded." I recognize that phrase. It's frequently used by the NEA and the AFT.

The who? I don't know those acronyms, but I have a couple of friends who are docs in the VA system - real good docs, with impeccable training, who chose to work the VA rather than private industry (where they'd make much more money). Don't forget that the previous administration actually cut VA funding whilst at the same time massively increasing it's workload. You can't expect it to shine under those circumstances.

What are the costs of the prescription drug benefit? How are those compared to the projected costs which were used to pass the benefit?

Excellent questions. I'm dubious that the projections were based in reality, just because of the horse-trading that went on during the bill's passage. Remember that medicare drug coverage is a new benefit.

What is the quality of care under Medicare? Why do so many people find it necessary to have private insurance as a supplement to Medicare?

Quality of care depends on the hospital you go to, not your insurance plan: providers are different from payers. Medicare doesn't ration procedures the same way a private insurer does, either (their criteria of need tends to be better, and they don't pull your coverage when you make a claim).

As for why some folks keep private coverage - well, I guess they can afford it and see value to it. This is probably particularly true for prescription drug plans.