~So if I'm correctly understanding what I heard on NPR this afternoon, the Democrats want to "fix" health care by making sure everyone has insurance, using government programs to fill in the gaps for those who can't afford it (sort of like the plan in place in my state now). The Republicans want to move away from employer-based and government subsidized programs and make insurance more affordable with tax incentives.
~I don't pretend to understand economics or the ins and outs of the insurance system, but it seems to me that both of these plans are flawed. I am especially skeptical of any plan that is based on tax incentives, because it seems to me that they most often benefit the well-off more than the needy. Even in my income bracket, the notion that you can give me a tax break and I'll have enough money to afford something like insurance is laughable. Yeah, if I paid NO TAXES at all it might work.
~I am really disappointed that no one has proposed some sort of single-payer system or anything else that would take health care away from for-profit insurers and make it truly universal.
~But what do I know?
4 comments:
I too am baffled by the complexity of the issue. I hear the phrase 'single-payer' system a lot, but I have no idea what that means or entails.
My understanding of "single-payer" is that there is ONE organization overseeing health care administration (acess/insurance etc.) rather than a group of competing companies. It could be nationalized health care as in Canada and the UK, or it could be something regional. I think that Medicare is a sort of single payer system, or at least it started out that way.
See this link for more info:
http://www.pnhp.org/facts/what_is_single_payer.php
I can't wait for some sort of national health care. We have insurance but can't afford to use it unless we are dying or the kids are sick. I say they give us the same health plan that they get as politicians.
It disgusts me that we pay a great deal of money each month for our "insurance" only to end up spending hundreds of additional money for the payment plans we have set up with seemingly everyone.
And if that isn't enough, you should hear the crazy things we do to avoid trips to the doctor.
hear, hear. insurance companies exist to make profits. they add layers of beaurocracy and idiocy to health care, and force providers to spend a good chunk of resources simply on filing claims and fighting for payment. year by year, the premiums go up and coverage shrinks. it is absolutely common for consumers to think something is covered, and then get a denial -- leaving them to fight or give up, and the company hopes they'll just give up.
i've heard of doctors simply opting out and operating on a cash basis, because so much is wasted on jumping through the hoops. i know that this is especially true for mental health providers -- the coverage is so bad in the first place, and claims are denied all the time for what is supposed to be covered.
it seems unconscionable to me to keep this massively inefficient and unfair system in place because the big insurance corps would be out of business if we actually had a fair system that covered everyone. why should the interest of the few in concentrating wealth outweigh the interest of us all in having healthy citizens?
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