The U.S. Health Care Debate

[Don Corleone]

The bill that just passed the House is anything but a blank check to the insurance companies.

Seriously, do you understand how insurance (of any form) works? Insurance companies collect premiums from a large pool of insured, on the assumption that the majority of them will have no claims, or that their claims will be less than their total in premiums.

SCANDALOUS!!! SCOURGE THOSE CAPITALIST PIGS!!!!

Wait... how about the minority that I didn't mention above? Well, for them, their health (or for that matter, liability) bills might come to 3x, 5x, 10x, maybe more than what they paid in premiums.

People pay (and grumble, granted) health care premiums not because they expect to come out even on the deal, they do it because "what if...". If my costs incurred exceed my means to pay, I'm covered.

If you force the insurance companies to take a haircut on premiums, and simultaneously force them to up their coverage on everyone, you don't have an insurance scheme, you have a wealth transfer.

I'm no apologist for the insurance industry. They've done a lot of malevolent things to gain what I would say is a well-deserved nasty reputation. But don't kid yourself into thinking that money comes out of thin air. An insurance company isn't a cookie jar. If you try to force it to be one, it will simply divest of its health care holdings, and you and I will be paying the health care costs for an Orange County divorcee who believes she needs a 4th reconstructive nose job and breast implants.

If you really want to "reform" health care, you need another oversight committe looking at not-for-profit hosptials that turn 28% profit numbers and doctors that order 3 MRI's to make the loan payment on their sailboat.

And putting an end to WhoCanISue.Com, a website dedicated to helping people who don't even have a case sue anybody, anywhere, any time with no downside risk, wouldn't hurt either. Lemur likes to point to the actual legal cost of lawsuits (most of which get settled btw, specifically to keep the legal costs down) and say "It's not that bad, let the ambulance chasers have their fun", but it goes well beyond that. Doctors and hospitals, who need no encouragement on the matter, end up ordering many more diagnostic tests then even they deem sane, just to keep the slathering lawyers at bay.

[jabarto]

The bill that just passed the House is anything but a blank check to the insurance companies.

Seriously, do you understand how insurance (of any form) works? Insurance companies collect premiums from a large pool of insured, on the assumption that the majority of them will have no claims, or that their claims will be less than their total in premiums.

SCANDALOUS!!! SCOURGE THOSE CAPITALIST PIGS!!!!

Wait... how about the minority that I didn't mention above? Well, for them, their health (or for that matter, liability) bills might come to 3x, 5x, 10x, maybe more than what they paid in premiums.

People pay (and grumble, granted) health care premiums not because they expect to come out even on the deal, they do it because "what if...". If my costs incurred exceed my means to pay, I'm covered.

If you force the insurance companies to take a haircut on premiums, and simultaneously force them to up their coverage on everyone, you don't have an insurance scheme, you have a wealth transfer.

I'm no apologist for the insurance industry. They've done a lot of malevolent things to gain what I would say is a well-deserved nasty reputation. But don't kid yourself into thinking that money comes out of thin air. An insurance company isn't a cookie jar. If you try to force it to be one, it will simply divest of its health care holdings, and you and I will be paying the health care costs for an Orange County divorcee who believes she needs a 4th reconstructive nose job and breast implants.

If you really want to "reform" health care, you need another oversight committe looking at not-for-profit hosptials that turn 28% profit numbers and doctors that order 3 MRI's to make the loan payment on their sailboat.

And putting an end to WhoCanISue.Com, a website dedicated to helping people who don't even have a case sue anybody, anywhere, any time with no downside risk, wouldn't hurt either. Lemur likes to point to the actual legal cost of lawsuits (most of which get settled btw, specifically to keep the legal costs down) and say "It's not that bad, let the ambulance chasers have their fun", but it goes well beyond that. Doctors and hospitals, who need no encouragement on the matter, end up ordering many more diagnostic tests then even they deem sane, just to keep the slathering lawyers at bay.

You're blowing this all out of proportion.

All I did was ask if the clause that mandated you to own health insurance made it in to the final bill (I honestly didn't know) and if so, was anything done to control costs. Because if not, than the insurances companies can charge whatever they want and if you can't pay it you get fined, hence the "blank check" analogy.

[Don Corleone]

By the way, I'm not opposed to the core of the bill that got passed. On the surface, the bill sounds a lot like the Corleone plan I unveiled 2 months ago (require coverage of everyone, subsidize those that cannot afford it). Requiring universal coverage is the one thing that you can do to make certain insurance companies can keep up with all the other demands, and also is the best way to provide coverage for all Americans.

I'm just disgusted with a 1992 page bill getting released 24 hours before its voted on so that a dozens of other items, that have nothing to do with "reforming health care costs" can get rolled into it.