I\u2019ve read a bunch of stuff about our health care system. I\u2019ve also thought about it a lot \u2026 not just in the last three months \u2026 but over the past 34 years. Being in a medical family will do that to you, or at least it did to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think that none of the remaining proposals for \u201chealth care reform\u201d address the critical, foundational issue driving our health care problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problems are legion, but I think that they all pretty much devolve to the fact that \u201caccess to health care\u201d is synonymous with \u201ccoverage under a comprehensive health insurance plan.\u201d If this were not the case, we could address the problem without resorting to any sort of insurance. We could just give poor people money. Or vouchers. Or something similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, we need to tinker with insurance and so on because it is nearly impossible to buy your own health care directly. Even if it were possible to get prices ahead of time and to comparison shop, nobody can afford health care at its current rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is truly odd because we supposedly have a very large collective bargaining group working for us: The insurance companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, it becomes clear when you think about it a bit: Insurance companies, medical provider companies, and pharmaceutical companies look at each other in this situation and say \u201chow rich would you like to be?\u201d The answer, naturally, is \u201cI would like to be very, very rich.\u201d Without any influence from actual consumers, hospitals can charge insurance companies any amount they feel like. It\u2019ll only be felt indirectly because employers will find it harder and harder to keep up with the premiums. Insurers make money on the margin. The margin on a large amount is much larger than the margin on a small amount. Insurance companies *like* large bills. It\u2019s just math to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consider eyeglasses: You can get custom made eyeglasses in an hour or so at the mall for less than $100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consider Lasik. When it was new, it was insanely expensive. Now it\u2019s down around $800 per eye, with providers charging more for the use of newer equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consider breast augmentation or reduction surgery. Same deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consider an MRI. 20 year old equipment, requires a tech and a radiologist about half an hour. They billed my insurance over $1200 when I got mine. Seriously?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The real solution to lowering health care costs is to get the market re-involved on both sides. Medical care providers should post price lists. Insurers should do what my auto insurance company did and offer me some concrete benefit for going to \u201cpartner\u201d providers. Employers who choose to offer health benefits should offer them as pre-tax dollars that can either go into insurance or into a flexible spending account. I should be able to take my insurance program with me when I leave my job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consumers should make up their own minds on both sides. We would very, very quickly see radical adjustments in the way the industry runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As to the unemployed, the impoverished, and other unfortunates \u2013 I don\u2019t know \u2013 but it would have to help them to have prices come down and be payable in cash \u2013 no?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve read a bunch of stuff about our health care system. I\u2019ve also thought about it a lot \u2026 not just in the last three months \u2026 but over the past 34 years. Being in a medical family will do that to you, or at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-care-and-medicine","category-politics-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1954,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions\/1954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}