The issue is not "don't some people have bad or no insurance" but what exactly is broken in the current system?
What's broken in the current system is the fact that the normal market mechanisms of price negotiation don't exist. There are too many layers of indirection between consumer and provider for the consumer to be able to affect the pricing that the provider establishes directly. Insurance was never supposed to cover everything. It was supposed to mitigate catastrophic risk, not guarantee entitlements. People act like the government hasn't intervened in health care and what we have is some kind of laissez faire free-for-all. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every aspect of it is regulated, every aspect of it has been legislated, and what we have is a system where private companies are competing in a set of government-established rules that almost guarantee constantly rising prices. Here again Bush is just as much to blame with his "prescription drug" entitlement. If doctors had to charge what the market could truly bear, prices would drop dramatically. Look at the computer hardware market. If health care were treated like a normal commodity, prices would find equilibrium. But it's treated, and regulated, like an entitlement, then people can't figure out why the prices keep going up. After all, what's your God-given right to health worth? Problem with the current system is few people understand economics, and politicians have seized on the iniquities in the system they themselves created as if now they are the system's saviors. Like this hasn't been tried before. Ask the mortgage industry how this story ends... - Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Pete Theisen > Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 8:46 AM > To: ProFox Email List > Subject: Re: [OT] Things that make you go "Hmmm" > > Bob Calco wrote: > > > A classic manufactured crisis... people who believe their healthcare > is good > > overwhelmingly believe everyone else's sucks. > > Hi Bob, > > Mine sure does. I had to do without diabetes meds for a year while the > health Nazis around here were fighting about whether or not I was > eligible for one program or another. > > Now I need to see a specialist but I won't be able to until February > because I won't be able to afford the $1000 + *per month* deductible. > The "co-payments" I pay to the doctors I do see, are actually all the > doctor gets so you can't blame the doctors for not seeing someone in my > situation. > > The co-pay is on the order of $20, but at my income level that is a > lot. > What if you have three health appointments in a week? > -- > Regards, > > Pete > http://pete-theisen.com/ > http://elect-pete-theisen.com/ > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
