Ha! This from a guy that wants single payer. While telling me to buy insurance that does nothing because it is better than the VA. You know the worrisome thing about this? Sly is a pretty smart guy here! This maybe the level of brain power that has the ear. Lord help us.
why didn't private insurers who controlled the purse strings of 85% of the industries business rebel and set the costs lower?
The cost of having the government distort the market drives up costs. Like I said, when the government isn't screwing with the market, the insurers compete for the lower prices. See any GEICO type insurance commercial for the obvious example. But of course doing "business" with 15% of the population that wasn't healthy enough to qualify for insurance prior drives up costs. The cost of one heart surgery (I guess at least $150K) covers a lot of flu shots. Add just one of those while somehow sharing the costs among all the people has to drive the price up. Before I got Lupus, I went to the doctor maybe once a year for $100. If I have to pay a share for you going twice a year, it costs us each $150. So yeah, it goes up a lot. For me, 50% and for a not so expensive thing. None of it controls costs either. If the government were doing care the way I proposed, they'd have the incentive to cut costs by whatever means: tort reform, buying in quantity, etc.
Where did I say I want single payer? I did ask just a few days ago how do we make Trump's campaign promise happen. "Better coverage for less money." That's what the man said repeatedly and I have seen nothing from either party that makes it happen. Better coverage... For less money. I have asked many times on here how do we improve our national standard of health care for ALL citizens and have gotten zero answers, ideas, or proposals. It's a tough issue but one that is in our national interest.
They do pay a lesser price than the lab's bill. In my case, I ended up paying $800 out of pocket, the insurance company $200, and the lab ate the difference. But they charge a lot because someone can pay it. If they were charging me, I would have asked about it and maybe found a cheaper lab.
Some hospitals are considering to take on insurance companies by offering their own insurance coverage...cut out the middle man...amazon is thinking of offering cheap medical insurance as well.....if it happens it would be like Netflix putting Block Buster Video out of business at a huge discount to the consumer...I'm working with a dentist that would love to eliminate the insurance middle man and have an affordable setup for regular care, build a stable client base. Your local clinic would be sort of a membership club with fees...longer term commitment..cheaper fees. Not sure what the timeline is but two of Eugene's main hospitals are considering setting it up in the future...read about it in a local periodical at the library awhile back.
no not the unhealthy ones, the 15% in 2000-2002 before the aca and previous conditions mandate where the insurance companies nor government covered them. could that just be it? the cost of covering services for the uninsured? I think it was a very large factor, larger than medicare at the time as a driver of healthcare costs.
I'm no fan of insurance. It really is meant to be a catastrophic thing. You die, you collect life insurance. You crash your car, you collect auto insurance. But when you stub your toe, you're getting the insurance company to pay the bulk of a needless procedure. Your cost to pay the doctor yourself would have been far less than your monthly premium. When I say catastrophic, I mean, you pay for everything up to $10K, then the insurance pays the rest. Your premiums would be tiny in comparison. $10K is a lot, but it's not going to bankrupt you like a $150K heart surgery expense would.
Government was paying. Medicare. Medicaid. Deep pockets. That's why you have to go look before the 1960s. That's when medicare started. There's the old joke about government spending. Why buy one of anything when you can buy two at four times the price? And then there are those $15,000 hammers and toilet seats contractors sold to the government. That's what happens with the government pays.
were we becoming less healthy, cancer rates increasing living longer on assisted care, I think these factors contributed more than the 15% on medicare too.
I think it's diet. Government got involved in that, too (the food pyramid) and everyone got fat and unhealthy. The cost of diabetes alone is massive.
The best dental insurance I ever had was through Scared Heart in Eugene. Started off paying 50% of everything. You go to the dentist every 6 mos the next year they pay 60%. Every 6 mos after that, next year 70%. All the way to 100%. If you miss a 6 mos appointment it drops back down to 50%. It makes sense, if you're going every 6 mos there won't be any major problems and huge expenses. If the patient wants to save money it's on them to regularly go to the dentist. We need to find ways to financially incentivise people to regularly go to the doctor.
I posted about this in an earlier thread and some of the positive preventive lifestyle choices here in Hawaii. I agree diabetes and his bigger brother obesity
So government tells everyone to eat foods that make us fat and sick. And then they want to hike our taxes to pay for the care. That's just nuts.
I've never understood people's desire to want the government in charge of their healthcare. The GOVERNMENT. Have you seen what our government is like lately? You want THEM in charge of your healthcare? That's like hiring a meth addict to run a pharmacy. Have fun with that.
Keep up that chain of thought if it helps you sleep at night. It is delusional to think that a dysfunctional government can do a better job of running your healthcare than you and your private insurance. And as bad as you think the insurance companies are, the government is worse. And bigger. And more powerful than the insurance companies. Which is why THEY run healthcare in a single payer system. At least with an insurance company you get choices. Limited choices, and shitty choices too.....but still choices. I promise you we won't get that with single payer. But we will get higher taxes. Make government healthcare an option for people to use. But charge only them with higher taxes if they choose to use it. That's the legislation I'd put forth. That way, if someone in San Francisco wants, for example, a $100,000 sex change operation, then they get footed the tax bill, and not the rest of the American people, or the other citizens of California. That's why we need proper tax reform in this country before anything else. You want government healthcare, that's fine.....but you're not gonna get a huge tax return in April. This myth that charging the 1% the highest taxes is going to make everyone's lives better is bullshit.
Same for schools, the military, fire departments, roads, etc. No reason any taxpayer shouldn't be able to opt out of paying for those, right? barfo
