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Are you claiming that Doctors are going to willingly accept less money for their services than they have to? 67% of households in the US earn over 100k. That is plenty of patients for doctors to build a practice around. If those people can and will pay $150 for an office visit what the heck makes you think that Doctors will drop their office visit to $30 so that the 33% who earns less than that could see a doctor? If that were the case we never would have needed health insurance, would we?
The median household income is far less then $100k which makes your stat dubious.
I must say, I agree with #7 on that list, as that's what I was having to do with my asthma medication before I got health insurance. (over $200 here in the US, could get a MUCH cheaper version for around $57 through a canadian online pharmacy)
Require price transparency from all healthcare providers, especially doctors and healthcare organizations like clinics and hospitals. Individuals should be able to shop to find the best prices for procedures, exams or any other medical-related procedure.
Remove barriers to entry into free markets for drug providers that offer safe, reliable and cheaper products. Congress will need the courage to step away from the special interests and do what is right for America. Though the pharmaceutical industry is in the private sector, drug companies provide a public service. Allowing consumers access to imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas will bring more options to consumers.
Allow individuals to fully deduct health insurance premium payments from their tax returns under the current tax system. Businesses are allowed to take these deductions so why wouldn’t Congress allow individuals the same exemptions?
Another one he SHOULD be pushing is equality in pricing. There should be ONE PRICE for any medical procedure. Why do we let medical providers adjust price depending on who the patient is?
BTW- I won't be voting for Trump but he has some good points about the health care racket.
The median household income is far less then $100k which makes your stat dubious.
I apologize, you are correct only about 20% have a household income of over 100k The median household income in 2014 was about $54,000 but that doesn't change what I am saying. Think about it for a minute. Shop rate for an auto mechanic at a dealership is around $100-$140 an hour. If you make 25k a year and you need your car fixed, do you think the dealership will only charge you 25% of the going rate? It's the same with Doctors if they have enough patients who can pay their bill they are not going to charge one cent less. I have yet to meet a doctor unless it is a charity clinic, which usually receives government subsidies, that will treat you according you how much you can afford.
These super cheap pre-ACA plans were a joke. There hasn't been such a thing as 'cheap healthcare' in the US in decades. My neighbor had one of those wonderful plans and when she couldn't keep it after the ACA became law she was running around with her hair on fire complaining to everyone who would listen that the ACA was robbing her and she wanted to keep her old policy.
Finally a doctor who lived in the neighborhood asked to see her policy. Oh, it was just great low co-pays etc and for only $300 a month. The only problem was that the maximum annual amount the policy would pay was $10,000. You can't even cover breaking an arm for 10k anymore what would have happened if she had a heart attack or got cancer.
Go read your old policy, look at what the annual and lifetime limits were, check the physician networks, see if it covers lab testing and x-rays, pre-existing conditions and under what conditions they could cancel you. If those policies had been any good the ACA never would have come into existence, they could have simply subsidized those policies and expanded medicaid, but they were about as worthless as a $3 bill
While I suppose some of those cheap/junk plans existed, they were far from the norm. I don't personally know anyone who had one and the only evidence ever presented always seems to be "I know someone," never first hand Prior to the ACA, I had a very good BC/BS policy. It was originally canceled because it didn't meet the provisions of the ACA. Now keep in mind this was a VERY good policy. Fortunately, after the "If you like your doctor you can keep him," blowback, I was allowed to renew. On the other hand, my girlfriend who purchased through the marketplace was forced to get a mid level plan through BC/BS that was ACA approved. It costs her nearly $1000 per month and is not nearly as good as the policy I have at $527/Month. Oh yes, prior to the ACA my cost for the plan was $227.
Damned if you do and, damned if you DON'T. I've got several friends who are more than 50 years old; many employers WON'T touch them cause they're "too old" so they're stuck working at a "Walmart" kind of job for part time AND private health care for them would be more than 400 a month, try closer to 700 bucks in some cases with preexisting conditions.
Too; telling their kind they can retrain for different jobs, not in the real world, again cause they're too "old". Many employers want younger people and, sometimes it's tough for even us Gen xers to be looked at unless we have super skills.
While I suppose some of those cheap/junk plans existed, they were far from the norm. I don't personally know anyone who had one and the only evidence ever presented always seems to be "I know someone," never first hand Prior to the ACA, I had a very good BC/BS policy. It was originally canceled because it didn't meet the provisions of the ACA. Now keep in mind this was a VERY good policy. Fortunately, after the "If you like your doctor you can keep him," blowback, I was allowed to renew. On the other hand, my girlfriend who purchased through the marketplace was forced to get a mid level plan through BC/BS that was ACA approved. It costs her nearly $1000 per month and is not nearly as good as the policy I have at $527/Month. Oh yes, prior to the ACA my cost for the plan was $227.
Your policy went up exactly $300 due to the ACA? I sure can't figure out why.
As far as your girlfriend, I have to make some assumptions, so I estimated age at 30 and entered zip code of 27587. I entered an income of $80,000 to remove any possible subsides and found this:
Platinum Plan $500 deductible, $2500 max out of pocket = $533 a month
Gold Plan $1600 deductible $3500 max out of pocket =$353 a month
And there are bronze plans that start at $276 a month.
In the absence of insurance, doctors could charge what people could pay and not a dime more.
No, they don't pay 50k. The kids are discounted because they are young and mostly don't have expensive critical procedures, just lots of doctors visits for shots and scraped knees. Those are cheap. But the average still comes out to 10k per person, per year. So while kids cost less, people over 50 cost more. Average cost of a knee replacement is $50k. Kids don't need those, but older adults do.
If we were to eliminate insurance the effect will be that people will only get treated for what they can pay for. Doctors will set their fees around the average, which will be what the middle class can afford. Poor people will basically get nothing. Middle class will get basic care but even they will not be able to afford knee replacements or any sort of hospitalization. An accident, like a broken leg, will be a serious blow to a middle class person's financial health. But rich people will be able to afford it all.
Do you think that is fair - that the rich are the healthiest, the middle class are less healthy and the poor are completely left out of healthcare?
If we eliminate insurance and replace it with universal health care, that will provide accessibility for all, but like ACA, it still does not solve the high cost problem. High costs have not come down through competition. It requires government oversight and cost controls to rein in high costs. But nobody wants that.
I've got an idea. Why don't you take a few of your fellow freeloaders and wander to one of your beloved European utopias.
Oh, don't you worry. I have dual citizenship elsewhere, so I can certainly do that if the idea of a civilized and humane country is so unfathomable here.
And I'll be sure take the 30% income tax my 'freeloading' spouse and I both pay with me, a rate we've diligently achieved by working our entire lives since legal age.
What bums we are for actually thinking that a medical emergency shouldn't guarantee bankruptcy for 99% of those who can't afford to spend the equivalent of second rent in health insurance!
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