Happy May Day, Comrades!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

The high cost is partly due to the very lack of the consumer not being involved in the cost decisions. Another major factor is the legal system where doctors have to practice “preventative medicine”. Their cost of malpractice insurance is unreal and their fear of being sued makes then many times perform un-needed tests.

But for the really serious emergency illness, it’s called catastrophic or major medical health insurance. It has a high deductable. It can be $1000 or more per occurrence. You couple that with a health savings account to deal with the “minor” emergencies. This gives the consumer an incentive to find the level of service that is appropriate to his needs and gives the providers incentive to provide true cost effective options to the consumer.

I find it interesting the different medical treatments from around the world that seem to work well and are cost effective. But doctors here would never consider them because they are not "approved" or "main stream". If something went wrong they would face lawsuits that would ruin them.

So what would a cheap quad bypass cost?

What is your point anyway? For one I never said medicl care is a right so I do not understand the comparison with food as a "right". Now you are suggesting shopping around. Not to practical when you have a heart attack.

I simply suggest that we have ONE provider of this insurance and we pay ONE provider, one that is not in it for a profit. Vemront has implemented this and we will be p[aying 11% of our income for premiums vs. roughly 30% now for premiums and prescriptions. WHY? Bigger pool, spread the risk. For the same reason you get lower rates through a group plan with your employer...only on steroids. In fact Vermont offers a "bronze plan" which is cheaper and does what you suggest. That one was not good for me. I pay full fare but the cost of my prescriptions alone covers that.

I guess I fail to see what you are arguing about. You are suggesting insurance, I am suggesting insurance. You want to limit group size and split it up further? For what purpose?

I prefer to see it done by the states myself. But medicare for all would be OK with me also. Obamacare is an atrocity. Incidentally the insurance for the students at Rice university is increasing 20% this year and the letter we received about it made them sound quite PROUD of that. Obamacare sucks.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My point in all this, that was brought o my attention by my immigrant wife who is hardly one to accept a handout...The country CAN NOT funtion independently and be viable if 2/3 of a family's income is going to housing and medical care. THEY CAN NOT do that. 1/3 left over is not enough to sustain an economy. It is simply too much. When I was young it was considered prudent for your house payment to be 1/4 of your gross income, "make your house payment in one week" they always said. Families used to do that with ONE income. Now they have TWO incomes and the rule of thumb has changed to 1/3 of your gross pay...and now insurance rates are through the roof. We are going to be stuck in a trashy economy forever unless we do something to stop the confiscation of most of our after tax income for just TWO needs.

I do not think you will read any of my posts and mistake me for some "big government" kind of guy

But it is out of control.

[Brian121957 43]

So what would a cheap quad bypass cost?

What is your point anyway? For one I never said medicl care is a right so I do not understand the comparison with food as a "right". Now you are suggesting shopping around. Not to practical when you have a heart attack.

There is a large block of people who think that having everybody insured for everything will fix the high cost of medical care.

My point is that it is because we have so many people insured that has caused the price of healthcare to rise. It was government messing up the free markets that caused this problem. It was tax regulations that made it beneficial for employers to offer employees "benefits" instead of cash. That is when the consumer really started to lose control. That’s when health care providers learned they no longer had to be cost competitive.

As a side note, not all insurance companies are the same. Some are Mutual insurance companies. They are kind of like credit unions. The stock holders are the policy holders. My house and car are insured this way. And when they have a good year and have big profits. I get a dividend check of the profits.

While you are unconscious with something like a heart attack you may not have a choice. But after you are stabilized you have choices. In my city there are 3 major hospitals. I already know if I had to have internal surgery where I would have it done.

I might go as far to say people do more planning for ‘emergencies” with their car then with their health. They are more likely to know in advance where they would go to get the alternator of the car replaced then where they would go for a hernia.