That's messed up. That is quite enlightening. Thanks for the link.
Isn't Romneycare a disaster too?
Personally, I think gov't should require private health insurance companies to accept everyone and cap their profit margins that adjusts for cola anually etc...and/or subsidize them. Add a very reasonable healthcare subsidy payroll tax. Healthcare should not be a right but there needs to be a reasonable charge or cap for those who will absorb more than they put in. These preexisting folks definitely need some skin in the game so it doesn't get abused as an entitlement.
Care should be rationed if you hit the subsidy level. I'm not against paying more, I'm against this turning into a new entitlement. Thoughts?
I don't know the solution. But we need lawmakers to fix the system so that citizens can't lose everything they own because they got sick while insurance companies recognize record profits year after year. Preexisting conditions shouldn't mean you can't get coverage. Insurance companies seem to operate such that they can't afford to lose on anyone.
The health care industry behaves badly. Very few industries in a free market can get away with refusing to share prices for services. How much does it cost to fix my broken arm? I'd like to shop around. You know- competition. Better for all of us.
On the flipside, health insurance should be about having a net to catch you if something goes wrong. Instead citizens have developed the belief that coverage means you never need to pay for office visits or prescription meds.
We need at a minimum- a catastrophic health policy accessible to all. Financial aid to people who can't afford it should be available. It's a very Christian concept but oddly enough, the people who seem to oppose it the most are also the most religious.
Entitlement has become a code word- a dirty one. The spirit of many good programs designed to help the populace is tainted thanks to special interests. The politricksters have convinced "real Americans" who need entitlements the most that they are where we need to focus our cuts.
In Florida we have a fund that all insured drivers pay into that covers the cost of fixing your windshield should it break. Everyone who is legally insured is required by law to pay into it. This socialist
program works great.
I want to see some savy folks get together and turn the insurance industry upside down. I'm thinking of USAA (the credit union) and how it is so much better for its members than publicly held banks. But do this in healthcare. I'm thinking of the way Napster changed the music business (I am in no way saying to steal anything). I'm talking about leveraging technology to create group buying power- a non for profit collective.
What is the difference between a for profit company and a non profit? Only one thing. The latter doesn't pay dividends. Sounds good. Instead of having fat cats and wall street seeing a better bottom line as a result of taking care of sick/injured people, let's put those billions back into the healthcare system itself to make it better. Let's make it affordable. Let's make it universal.
Rambling.
