What If That's the Goal?
The Democrats have been so emphatic that “You will not have to give up your doctor or insurance company” that I'm starting to wonder if that's the goal. Right now, insurance companies have to be more generous than they would like because of the possibility of losing customers. If the regulations are written in such a way as to tie customers and insurers together until death them do part, they can start squeezing. (I recall reading that health care spending is higher in parts of the U.S. with more competitive insurance markets.)
By the way, the U.S. health-care system is very good at the sort of things that insurers are supposed to be reluctant to pay for (major operations, cancer chemotherapy, etc.). It's not so good at routine medical care (e.g., prenatal care) that we should not need insurance companies to pay for. I don't see how any of the proposed reforms will improve the latter.
1 Comments:
Routine medical expenses should be covered by tax-exempt medical savings accounts.
Insurance should be for catastrophic coverage.
Things like diabetes that become preexisting conditions should be covered by an annuity purchased at birth that pays a fixed sum into the medical savings account upon diagnosis.
But given who's running the country (into the ground) right now, we won't get a plan as sensible as this.
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