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I cant imagine the alternative this author suggests.
High deductible, market plans?
How is the solution to unaffordable medical care, for us to pay even more of it out of our pocket?
Reducing medicals "costs" by people simply not getting proper care because they cant afford it, is ridiculous.
Trying to "fix" the costs, by raising the bar as to who can actually afford medical care at all is ludicrous.
I don't know if forcing everyone on to some state healthcare "plan" is the right answer, but exacerbating the current problems is absolutely not the answer.
Interesting article. However, it misses a few key issues pertaining to health-care.
The first is the exorbitant cost of practice protection for medical practitioners. Right now, doctors have to carry a lot of insurance just in case they get sued. You and I pay for this in our bills.insurance. Reasonable tort-law reform is required to bring these costs down.
Then there is the cost of prescription medication. Right now it is the US health care consumer that is paying for R&D by the big drug companies. Other countries don't pay this because their governments cap the amount that can be charged for medication. So we are paying for the whole world. That cannot be right! Let the US government cap the cost of medication too. Then if the drug companies need more money, other governments can pay up too.
Finally, there is the efficient use of resources. Right now, 50% of US health care is taxpayer funded anyway. So where are the benefits, the economies of scale, etc.? If the Obama reforms go through, the majority of US health-care will be taxpayer funded. So why maintain the pretense of a private system. I want to see more bang for the buck from my tax dollars
I cant imagine the alternative this author suggests.
High deductible, market plans?
How is the solution to unaffordable medical care, for us to pay even more of it out of our pocket?
Reducing medicals "costs" by people simply not getting proper care because they cant afford it, is ridiculous.
Trying to "fix" the costs, by raising the bar as to who can actually afford medical care at all is ludicrous.
I don't know if forcing everyone on to some state healthcare "plan" is the right answer, but exacerbating the current problems is absolutely not the answer.
High deductible works for people who are in generally good health, rarely visit the doctor but want to cover against that bad accident or illness just in case it happens.
Interesting article. However, it misses a few key issues pertaining to health-care.
The first is the exorbitant cost of practice protection for medical practitioners. Right now, doctors have to carry a lot of insurance just in case they get sued. You and I pay for this in our bills.insurance. Reasonable tort-law reform is required to bring these costs down.
Then there is the cost of prescription medication. Right now it is the US health care consumer that is paying for R&D by the big drug companies. Other countries don't pay this because their governments cap the amount that can be charged for medication. So we are paying for the whole world. That cannot be right! Let the US government cap the cost of medication too. Then if the drug companies need more money, other governments can pay up too.
Finally, there is the efficient use of resources. Right now, 50% of US health care is taxpayer funded anyway. So where are the benefits, the economies of scale, etc.? If the Obama reforms go through, the majority of US health-care will be taxpayer funded. So why maintain the pretense of a private system. I want to see more bang for the buck from my tax dollars
You make excellent, excellent points. In fact, everything I think on the situation.
As a note though, I heard a study that showed that 72% of our healthcare is tax payer funded. I don't have a source though at the moment (heard a speech at a conference), but regardless, anywhere between those two numbers certainly mean I want far more for my tax-payer dollar than the status-quo.
The current system is horrid and the only people unwilling to admit it are the halves. That's unfortunate.
High deductible works for people who are in generally good health, rarely visit the doctor but want to cover against that bad accident or illness just in case it happens.
Preventitive medicine is the key to making "catastrophic" illnesses not become "catastrophic" in the first place.
If we picked up the deductibles and co-pays, and made insurance largely just a blanket for catastrophe, people who have insurance now, who may be able afford their current copays or deductibles to be able to get physicals and routine screenings, would stop going, and the higher you pulled the bar up, the more would stop going.
Often, when someone is sick enough to be considered "catastrophic", they are to the point where they are terminal, or need extensive operations and procedures.
We need to move towards better, lower cost preventitive medicine, not make preventitive medicine a luxury for those with money to burn.
Again ... it depends and you have to do the math. For a generally healthy person, paying out of their pockets for a comprehensive check-up while having a high deductible plan can still work out cheaper than having a lower deductible but more expensive policy. Then there are those (like myself) who get the comprehensive check-up as a benefit at work so, again, no need to buy the more expensive policy if you are generally healthy. There is no one size fits all.
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5 freedoms you'd lose under Obama's health care reform from CNN Money
