It seems to me that this whole ObamaCare mess is simply demonstrating the inability of politicians of any stripe to look at healthcare differently.
They are all about the insurance and costs, to the detriment of actual health care.
I suggest they look into outlawing HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations)and PPOs (Preferred Provider Organizaions) and all other policies that offer unlimited doctor visits for a tiny copay, or no copay at all.
One of the reasons that our healthcare has become so expensive is that many (not all) people who have that kind of insurance go to see the doctor for a lot of extremely minor problems. Have a headache? Oh, go to the doctor! Did your child scrape his knee? Better go to the doctor! So doctors get tied up with minor issues and people end up waiting much longer than necessary to see a doctor when there is a real issue that needs to be addressed.
The original idea behind the HMO model is that doctors would be practicing preventative medicine. That did NOT lower health costs, and Obamcare’s ideal of doing the exact same thing as as HMO will also NOT lower health costs. HMOs were created to ration specialized healthcare - your own physician is paid more if he or she does not refer you to a specialist. Obamacare will be much, much more of the same.
Here’s the thing. Back when health insurance was basically just catastrophic coverage, no one had a copay to see the doctor. We went to the doctor when we needed to go. We rationed our own healthcare by making our own decision because it was our money going to pay for that visit. All the copay stuff has done is raise the cost per visit for the doctor because he/she has to now pay staff to file for the insurance coverage for the costs of that visit that was not covered by the copay.
Now, Obamacare is simply adding to the costs of a visit by creating several humongous bureaucracies to determine if and when you get to visit the doctor at all.
I believe simpler is better. Lower doctors’ costs, lower the country’s health care costs by eliminating copays for doctor visits. Go back to Catastrophic Health Care insurance and get rid of all the prepaid stuff.
And there is not one politician that I can find who can see how that would work. Why? Because, I think, even the Republican Pols think Americans are too stupid to understand basic economics.
Ugh.
