torrid said:
agracer said:
Tom Fox said:
The answer is simple. Eliminate health insurance. You pay cash when you are treated and let the free market dictate pricing.
It will be cheaper for everyone and save us trillions in tax revenue.
the simple answer is to make it like car insurance...you know, actual insurance. Get in to many accidents or too many tickets, they increase your rates.
We don't have health insurance in this country. We have health maintenance plans.
Wait until you get older.
I understand your point, but there would be systems/laws put in place to keep from gouging people.
Do you pay for the maintenance plan from the car dealer when you buy a car? Only if you want to lose money. I had a dealer try to get me to buy their "pre-pay maintenance plan" which covered 'scheduled maintenance". Or when the car tells me I need to change the oil, brakes, whatever for the three year. It was like $2,500 for 4 oil changes, some air filters and pretty much nothing else. WTF would I spend $500+ to have my oil changed?
Our insurance is the same. My family pays ~$3,000 a year + company contribution makes it about $10,000 a year for our insurance. So we get a few annual exams, a $100 office visit for other stuff, still pay for prescriptions, etc. We are relatively healthy and take care of ourselves. But we get to pay for the those who do not take care of themselves (obesity is the #1 health problem in America today and it's 99% preventable - so I'm not talking about folks who get cancer or other rare diseases).
If it were like car insurance, my cost + company cost would be less than half what it is now, but the overweight, out of shape folks in my office would be paying a lot more and it would incentivize them to get healthy.
The system is broken. I understand there are a lot of moving parts (Pharma, ag, crappy processed foods, etc.), but I'm hoping RFK will shine a light on this and get things changed to make everyone's life better.