I love how people complain about the greed of the insurance companies while the real culprits of the higher costs is our "savior" the government. Medicare and Medicaid pay, on average, only 80% of the true costs. People that are on these programs (at least on Medicare) are also the ones that have the highest costing treatments (the elderly are now getting diseases that only show up later in one's life, like cancer, Alzheimer's, etc.). Taking both of these ideas together, hospitals and doctors try to recoup their costs by going after the only other party "willing" to pay (the government has the power of the law behind it, so if they say they won't pay anymore, they won't) by overcharging the insurance companies, who in turn charge their customers more. Hence the reason for the $12 box of tissues.
The government also dictates where a person can get insurance from. Instead of being able to select from a national pool, people can only purchase plans within their own state. Having a smaller pool of people means that those in it will have to carry more of the costs. It also creates less competition; competition being some thing where the "greed" of other insurance companies causes them to battle with each other to gain customers and in the process lowers costs. The President and Congress were trying to tout the public option as being that competing factor, but as is seen with Medicare and Medicaid, the government doesn't have to listen to market forces, but rather makes their own dictates. As such, the government becomes an unfair competitor and may lead to other insurance companies having to close up shop, eventually leading to less competition. Furthermore, opening a person's options across all plans in the US means that there would be many private competitors versus only one public option.
The government also gives tax incentives to businesses that buys insurance for their employees. The idea being that businesses will create a large pool of their employees thereby spreading the costs among all of their members. But that leaves out those that are not working -- either because they are disabled, retired, in school, or just plain lazy. If the tax incentives were given to the people instead and allow the people to form their own health care groups across the country, more people would be able to gain access to insurance and the costs should also decrease; instead of having ABC Manufacturing employing 500 workers get one plan, all of the members in FC could develop their own plan. This would also allow people to group themselves by what they want in health insurance as well as their lifestyle choices. For example the people in candyterrius' video may elect to band together with other health-conscious individuals that didn't want cancers to be covered (and so if any did develop cancer, they'd have to pay out of their own pockets or go without treatment) but would rather have alternative therapies covered instead.
So which is the better "sin"? Corporate greed or power-hungry politicians?
Community Forum
Topic: Health Care Bill passed in America (Read 5139 times)
July 06, 2009, 08:19:13 pm
