Matt is my nephew and he has always understood health insurance better than most people. One day I asked him to write an article about it, which he did. Even though it restates some of the things we have been discussing, he has his own insightful slant on the matter, especially as it pertains to cost, so here it is.
Understanding Health Care by Matt Rhode
A lot has been made lately in the news and politics of our seemingly “broken” healh care system. My opinion: IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE FIXED.
Many people make the common mistake of confusing health care with health insurance. Everyone has access to healthcare, there are no shortages of doctors, hospitals, clinics, or urgent-care centers. Some folks don’t have health insurance, which is a contract between you and a company detailing who will pay for what and in what amounts should you get sick or injured.
What’s the scope of that problem? Those who work for a large company or a government entity have a health insurance plan. Seniors have Medicare, a form of insurance. Workers injured on the job have workman’s compensation. Veterans are covered by the VA. People injured in vehicles or at someone’s house or place of business have auto or homeowner’s coverage. Illegal aliens have emergency rooms, as do all the poor and indigent and those without social security numbers.
Who’s left? CNN did a study that suggested 86.7 million went without health insurance in the last two years, 75% of whom did so for more than 6 months. That figures to 65 million.
What can they do? I looked online and in 5 minutes I found a health insurance policy that would be right for me at a cost of $95 per month with United HealthCare. I call that affordable. So you say it’s not? Then how about we just pick up the tab for those people? 65 million times $100 is 6.5 billion, that’s 0.05% of Gross Domestic Product.
Ok, ok. So you just can’t stand it, you have to CHANGE something right? Well here are my suggestions:
1) Allow people to buy insurance across state-lines, increasing competition and
reducing cost.
2) Allow people to opt-out of coverage they don’t need. Single males don’t need
maternity coverage or pre-natal care, sane folks don’t need mental health
coverage, and tea-totallers won’t need drug rehab.
3) Require doctors/HMO’s/urgent care centers/ER’s to post their prices PRE-
insurance.
4) Outlaw withholdings of health care premiums. People should write a check
for their premiums, then they’ll realize the true cost of healthcare.
Do you have any ideas that would reduce cost, increase access, and not steal money from the wealthy to give to the poor? Or do you want the U.S. to play Robin Hood when it comes to healthcare?
Posts
My Brother, Eddie
13 years ago
Although I agree with most all of your premise, I think all four of your suggestions are critically flawed.
ReplyDelete1. You can already buy insurance across state lines. There are plenty of companies that operate in more than one state. Most of the laws that prohibit people from buying across state lines are state laws not federal laws. If you don't like what the law is in your state, then move. I would much rather increase state's rights to let localities determine what best suits their needs than hand over more authority to a distant federal government.
2. You already opt-out of coverage you don't need. The prices for insurances are determined by the risk that you pose to the insurance company, based upon their actuary tables. The reason insurance for a 25 year male is cheaper than a 25 year old female is because the male has no risk of getting pregnant. Furthermore, you can purchase catastrophe insurance for pretty cheap, and avoid the cost for preventative coverage.
3. Although this requirement sounds simple and logical, it just isn't. Medicine is not typically one of the fields that there is a set process and cost structure for each instance. When you take your car to the mechanic and say it's broke, the mechanic can't give you a total PRE-diagnosis. Likewise a doctor can't accurately give you a cost for something before diagnosis. For most routine procedures, like immunizations and physicals, they can give you a pretty good estimate if you ask.
4. Once again, I don't want the federal government micromanaging my life, or my business. If your employer won't tell you what your coverage is costing them, that is a problem between you and your employer. I agree that it is a trick, just as is tax withholding, to mask the actual cost and impact. If you can't figure out the cost, or don't like it, deny the coverage and purchase your own.
Overall I agree that our health care system doesn't need the fixing that our government is representing. All of your points before your suggestions are valid and strong. However, I think your four suggestions fall in the same category as the reform proposed; critically flawed.
I agree with most of what you said, but I would like to point out that it's not necessarily as easy as you might think to buy your own insurance. For example, if you have a previous mental illness for which you have to buy outrageously expensive medicine (and without which you would be totally incapable of functioning), private health insurance companies are within their rights to deny your coverage, because you will cost them too much money. The amount of money you'd have to pay to get their coverage would be more expensive than just buying the medicine, but for many people with mental illness, this is just too much money. They end up going off their meds, and many end up on the street. None of this is intended to argue that the government should step in and fix this (perhaps some sort of private charity could fill the gap?), but it isn't as easy to buy healthcare as you might think.
ReplyDelete