Comments on: Stuff isn’t free: conservative straw man edition

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:15:30 +0000

Most estimates place the deadweight loss of medical malpractice suits, etc, at about 1% of the health care economy. Even if you could reduce that to zero (and even if the means by which you could do so were desirable — sometimes, after all, the doctor deserves to get sued), how would that fix anything, much less “most of the problems with health care”?

How will a higher deductible help if the insurance company won’t cover you? What if you can’t afford the higher deductible? And have you ever seen how much it costs to get cancer treatment? Very few people can afford to pay for it. Should they go without treatment?

Medicare has been going strong for over forty years, and has not yet “tried to take over everything”. If you want “no government in health care”, should we get rid of the program?

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:44:16 +0000

But my question is how long will that last until they try to take over everything. I would rather have no Government in health care of course it’s kinda of hard to do that for the military. As for the the PreExisting condition problem the most logical fix for that would to have them get a higher deductible. IMHO if the Government get out of health care and we fix the problems with our Law system that will fix most of the problems with health care.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:09:21 +0000

But I don’t have control over my health care in any meaningful sense. My insurance company has leverage with my employer; my employer has leverage with me and the insurance company; and I have leverage with my employer, but we’re not all bargaining from positions of equal strength.

If the insurance company decides not to cover X, or not to pay for Y, I don’t have many options. I suppose I have the CHOICE to pay out-of-pocket for the procedure, and I have the CHOICE to sue the insurance company (althought the Republicans are trying to take that choice away), but realistically, I’m just screwed. In many cases, I wouldn’t even have the CHOICE of finding a new job, thanks to a “pre-existing condition”.

Wouldn’t it be better if I had the CHOICE of buying into Medicare, or a similar program? All of the Democratic plans follow this principle. They don’t forcibly enroll anyone in anything. They provide the option to join a government-operated insurance plan, which won’t discriminate based on market segmentation or pre-existing conditions.

What that does is create a bottom-line insurance that’s the minmum acceptable standard. If my insurance company has a better plan, I have the CHOICE to stick with it. If they have a worse plan, I have the CHOICE to sign up for Medicare.

Under any of the Democratic plans, people would have more control over their own health care, and a greater ability to make decisions for themselves. The principle of universal health care corrects many of the misaligned incentives that are currently screwing things up, and does so in a way that gives people much more flexibility about their health care.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:32:28 +0000

Well it was my CHOICE to join the military. I just think everyone should have there own healthcare plan and make the decisions themselves. Don’t you want control over your own healthcare?

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:17:59 +0000

As for Health Care I donâ€™t know about you but I would rather have control over my own policy instead of some Government Agency. I believe that government Tendrals in the Health industry is the probelm not the solution that is where we differ

Don’t you work for the government? Aren’t CHAMPUS/TRICARE and the VA universally recognized as providing some of the best health care around? Aren’t you happy to know that your health care plan, created as it was by pinko commie liberals whose interest was in providing health care, not in making money, will never deny you coverage or restrict your benefits?

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 07:18:43 +0000

Hey Ben who says that Climate change is a bad thing? How do we know that we are really causeing it from what I’ve read that is just a hypothosis it’s never been acctually proven. I just saw a report that debunks that whole scientific consences. Over 19000 Scientists have come out against that Man Made Global Warming Hoax. But hey it’s a free Country Spend all you want to fight Natural Change if you want to. As for Health Care I don’t know about you but I would rather have control over my own policy instead of some Government Agency. I believe that government Tendrals in the Health industry is the probelm not the solution that is where we differ.Just so you know I do Value the future of the earth I just don’t buy into the fact that I’m hurting it by my own exsistence.