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How would you propose that a private system would work? Everything I have studied seems to point towards a public system being the only possible sustainable system. (Assuming like Diff said, that we aren't allowing people to die on the streets.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoshi
I'm not claiming to have the answer, because no one has done the homework to find it. But the key seems to be in a looking at the entire system from insurance to care facilities to pharmaceutical companies, etc. If you focus on any one of those, you'll sub-optimize.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony
Unless we're talking about printing money, there is absolutely no reason a public system should be any more sustainable than a private one.
A lot of research has been done on the costs, and while it's not exclusively because of insurance companies, they distort the market in weird ways.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoshi
I'll give an example. Google comes out with a music service that puts your songs in the cloud, so then everybody does. Competition is good. But in health care, a hospital spends millions on a fancy machine, then every hospital nearby needs to do it. It leads to an oversupply of fancy machines. And of course, a hospital isn't going to buy that machine without using it so it leads to a bunch of unnecessary tests that get billed to insurance and drives costs up.
Obviously, the last thing we need is government telling companies what to put into their music services. That'd be terrible. But the government limiting the number of fancy machines in an area can streamline operations and cut costs. It's weird.
Life insurance is totally different from health insurance. Life is just a product that is bought and sold at will, the private market has been good to life insurance outside of some problems over the years that were dealt with. But it's worth noting that life is very strictly regulated by the states...Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoshi
I'm also guessing that you don't work for a health insurer. That was more where I was headed.
The state level is the right level for nearly everything though. The feds would have fucked up life insurance too.
After being with them for 30 years my mom's company was acquired by a competitor and everyone was laid off. For three decades she paid into the system, never taking a dime back, and now she will use unemployment for the first time I her 50 year life to help out until she finds a new job.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoshi
She sure as fuck doesn't only care about herself. Many people in hard situations or, fuck, who have medical issues, would much rather not be in the position where they need government assistance. Who the fuck is like "man, I hope I get cancer so the government can front the bill", who is this person? Yeah dumb ass kids smoking pot while riding funempoyment shouldn't be getting the money, but that's a regulation problem, not a problem with people genuinely in need getting help they've earned.
Life isn't screwed up like health. Like I said, I'm in favor of a private system if I think it can be done.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoshi
Would you be in favor of 50 different universal health care programs if they were regulated and run by the states?
Maybe health insurance should be part of unemployment benefits, once they are reduced back to a reasonable longevity.
This a decent idea assuming jobs come with health insurance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoshi
This is actually a really fucking good idea. Fuck.
I don't want government run insurance at all, but each state should be able to decide that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Diff-chan