Most Planned Parenthood clinics provide just healthcare, screenings, and contraception services.
Some provide abortions. Here's
info on the Dallas clinic, which is the nearest clinic to Lewisville where a woman can obtain an abortion.
Lets be clear on what "Obama care" really is: It's NOT government-run healthcare. It's privately run healthcare, paid by privately purchased insurance, in a regulatory framework that spreads risk both temporally, and across all health levels. The individual mandate portion and Medicare spread risk (meaning insurance) temporally, meaning that when you are a young person with relatively few health problems, you pay in to the system, subsidizing older people. You get that same benefit back when you're older and pay lower premiums than the market would normally require. Risk is spread across health levels by regulating against pre-existing condition exclusions. People without access to insurance can now obtain it.
When it comes down to it, look at what health insurance really does: It spreads and shares risk over a pool of people. Usually, the bigger the pool, the lower the risk to the operator of the pool, which is why group health insurance is usually a lower cost. But the operator of the pool has to make a profit, and that means that in aggregate, people pay into the pool much more than the actual cost of healthcare provided. What bigger risk pool is there than the U.S. Government?
On this one specific sector of the economy, for the payer section, I think socialism fits the bill much better than our broken free market. Health care just is not a good or service that fits any of the classic definitions of what is suitable for the free market. You don't bargain for healthcare. You and I, if we're not doctors, are not trained to understand what is being done to us, and whether it's the best option. We can't decide not to buy healthcare when we need it. We can't walk away from the table and say "that's my final offer on that heart surgery". We don't even know the prices before we go in. Have you ever gone to the hospital and received an itemized bill BEFORE you decide to get fixed up?
Michael Burgess is right about one aspect of our high health care costs: We don't know the costs of what we're getting. When other people are paying for our services (insurance), we don't pay attention to the cost. We get whatever the doctor recommends. Burgess' answer is more deregulation and free market, but I fail to see how that helps when it comes to consumers making informed decisions. I think we have to have managed care, where there is oversight by medically trained individuals who know what works, what to try first, and what is a sham. Then you have payer/provider negotiation between two parties that know what the heck they're dealing with. Private insurance has managed care, but is missing two essential components for keeping costs down: 1) Oversight by government. (Under-regulated) and 2) The ability for consumers to make intelligent choices. You and I typically are not able to predict what health problems we might someday have, and what drugs that our doctors will prescribe. So reading through hundreds of pages of formulary and coverage conditions and exclusions is meaningless. The closest we come to that is health benefits for extremely large corporations, or government entities, where there are professional benefits experts who manage that.
I'd take the Canadian system (private provider, single payer) in a heartbeat over what we have, because it would put more money in my pocket. Not only would costs be managed to lower the percentage of GDP spent on it, but I think we would free up American business by removing the employer-provided health care burden. Corporations could focus on the goods and services they make, and doing so in a way that competes in the world markets with companies who don't have those burdens.
To sum up, if it were up to me, here's what it would be:
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Pharma: Private companies, but government subsidized research results in lower prices for Americans who paid for it in the first place. Regulated drug prices allowing a fair profit, but not gouging. (Sort of like utility regulation is now)
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Doctors: Still private, but usually paid by the government. They're free to accept private insurance or cash, or not accept government paid patients.
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Private insurance: Mostly disappears, but some people may buy it to cover disability, or extra services, or more expensive providers, if they opt out.
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Employers: No longer have to offer insurance. Playing field is leveled, and American business is more competitive
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Government: Regulates and pays for healthcare much like Medicare or Medicaid, but payments are increased to real-world levels. In under-served areas, government could build hospitals and clinics, and administer them much like the V.A. hospitals are today, except that they would be better funded and staffed.
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Individuals: Instead of paying hundreds per month out of pocket, and having the employer pay even more on their behalf, a flat percentage is deducted from their paycheck, just like medicare is today. Instead of 2.9%, it might be more like 10%, but would still probably be less than what goes out of your pocket to private insurance today. Individuals would still be responsible for copays - lets say 20% or so, with an out-of-pocket maximum of around $1,000 per year (family of 4) which can be waived for low-income individuals. That's an incentive to individuals to keep costs low. You might even consider providing rebates in the annual tax return to individuals who can keep their costs low.
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