Re: I singed up for Obamacare!

[JoeRaisin <joeraisin2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 12/13/2013 11:46 PM, G. Morgan wrote:
>
>
> The question remains for you to answer.  Why shouldn't your waitress or
> lawn care guy have access to affordable healthcare?  Is your answer
> simply to let them die if they get sick or in a car accident?
>
> Put another way...  just who in your opinion is "entitled" to have their
> basic healthcare needs met?  Insurance companies prior to now deny
> coverage to people with a preexisting condition, a purely profit
> motivated decision.  Some things in life, and in capitalism just
> shouldn't be just "for profit".  Healthcare is one of those things.  Why
> should only the rich be able to see a doctor?
>
>

I'm sorry, I don't see how this "fix" is going to turn out any better
than any previous "fix".  Fixes that have played a large part in why
only the rich can afford health care.

The first related "fix" was an end around the wage controls the Gov't
had in place around WWII.  This evolved into health insurance being the
major source of how folks paid the doctor.

The problem was that the consumer lost incentive to "shop" and, in most
cases, never even knew what it cost to see a doctor.  Heck, since the
health insurance was paid in whole or in part, by the employer, the
consumer didn't even know how much the insurance cost, never mind the
doctor.

With this basic tenant of the free market removed from the equation
price creep began.

When the price creep became apparent as a full out, balls to the wall
speed run, HMO's were created to help control costs.  In response, the
costs got 'creepier'.

So now, instead of returning the incentive to the consumer, the
government is going to artificially control how much one person can pay
another for a particular service and that's how this whole thing got
started.

Sort of reminds me of Morphine being created to help with Opium
addiction, Heroin coming about to cure Morphine addiction and Methadone
here to cure Heroin addiction.  Each 'cure' just exacerbated the condition.

I gotta wonder how things would have turned out if the those first
insurance plans were in the form of HSA's with catastrophic coverage.