Well, if we want something, we need to be willing to pay for it. In this model I suggested we and our employers would be paying for it. The better employers could offer supplemental insurance products as part of the compensation package, making working for them more attractive and fostering employee loyalty. In this model I suggested, you could leave a job for another job seamlessly. In the event of a layoff, I could see paying for insurance out of an HSA that had been built up for that purpose. There's also Medicaid. Point being, there are solutions to problems. Seth
I've never seen 1 plan address why costs are going up. All they're doing is shifting the bill around to different groups. What are the top 3 reasons why costs rise?
I don't know what the experts would say to that question. I can only give my opinions, so take them for what they're worth. Clearly, insurance costs have risen because of O-care. People who can afford to pay for insurance are paying for people who cannot afford it which drives the cost of insurance up. Another reason is that 75% of medical expense in our country is expense paid for seniors' health care, and most of that is paid by Medicare. But Medicare underpays what doctors and hospitals charge, so they make up for it by charging more to privately insured patients. (This is why some providers don't accept Medicare patients.) And finally, I blame a change in our belief system about paying for things. Our parents and grandparents grew up in times where if you could afford something, you could have it. If you couldn't afford something - or you just didn't want to pay for it - you couldn't have it. But people don't see things that way anymore. Now, our society believes that everybody deserves everything, and that someone else should pay for it. So now, our federal government is just about broke because our politicians think deficit spending is better than making their constituents actually pay for the spending. And we cannot find consensus on health care because nobody wants to pay for anything. At the same time, 41% of the nation's wealth has been concentrated in the top 1% of the people. The 1% has purchased the politicians, and those politicians use smoke and mirrors to appear to be helping the middle class, while assiduously protecting the wealth of the 1%. So really, I think our culture is a little sick. We don't want responsibility, the most fortunate don't want to share, and our politicians are corrupt. What do you think?
Maybe. People who got sick and no insurance still got medical treatment. Usually ER. And I've been buying health insurance since about 1990. There has never been a year that is hasn't gone up. But did the more people getting insurance offset the costs that was being paid for by us any way those using ER and the costs being passed on to us. Perhaps. Even though my parents are on medicare, I don't know what they pay or don't pay. I have heard the under pay and there have been places that stopped taking medicare payments. Outside that, I can't really comment. I will say, IMO, doctors prescribe drugs way way to often. Which also, IMO, drives up medical costs. Yes, insurance as the middle man has left the consumer with little recourse. Insurance should only be for catastrophic type medical needs. But even those policies are enormous. And yes, cash should be king. If one can afford to make payments, one can afford to save and then buy. I agree on the 1%, and for the life of me, why many RW absolutely adore the 1%. Who's interest is to further their wealth by using politicians. And pushing more costs to the middle and poor class.[/QUOTE]
I have never allowed anyone, except myself, to control my healthcare. My insurance company controls only what they will or will not pay for. And that is in a contract that I accept when I buy that particular policy, right?
It covered you for two years till you could find another source of insurance. Unfortunatly if you had a pre-existing condition you were basically sh-t out of luck. Oh, and they could raise your premiums.
So you want to go back to before Obamacare when 50 million were uninsured and the young and healthy were ditching insurance because of the crazy cost, and healthcare costs were rising 5-10% every year. Healthcare then and now costs $10,000 per capita while in western europe it is only $3,000. Their entire universal healthcare systems costs as much as our medicare. We are doing something very very wrong here. We need a system that we know will work.
Because we do have the best healthcare system in the world for the wealthy and they control the government. Most of the systems that provide better overall care for the entire population would require the wealthy to give up some of their privileges. In order to get a better system for the masses in this country there is going to have to be a dual system that allows the wealthy to maintain their privilege while at the same time providing minimum standards for the rest of the population.
I am talking about WAY before obamacare, not just before it. My bet is that you aren't old enough to remember.
Government should repeal unconstitutional ban on on purchase of government health insurance (Medicare) for people 26 - 64 years old. Government is committing crime preventing people from accessing Health Care.