Is America Ripe for a Public Health Option?

[GGT]

In the US of A, around 50 million people are now without affordable Health Insurance/health care coverage.

Translation---50/300 million rely on emergency rooms for treatments such as: Fever, vomiting, diarrhea <UGI>, ear infection, flu, bronchitis, pneumonia <URIs>, bladder/kidney infections <UTIs>, pregnancies or sex diseases <STDs>, sprained or broken limbs, accidents, head injuries <SCI>

Employers cite escalating health insurance costs as a barrier to expanding business, and hiring.
Workers cite employer-based health insurance as a carrot/stick obstacle to career mobility.

Is it time we offer a Public Option, to free employers and employees from this cage?

Would you prefer this to be individual state offerings or a federal program?

[GGT]

Crap, I meant to create a poll, but that's not an Advanced Edit Option.

[rumrunner]

ha-ha. insert Nelson from the Simpsons here.
Ripe? As in ready to be picked, like our pockets would be? Sure. Not that I'm against it in theory. In reality, though, it would be a fiasco. I don't trust the government, or insurance companies to handle such a thing reasonably. We can hardly feed, house, and educate the poor in this country. How on earth are we going to expand what little health care is provided to them?

[GGT]

ha-ha. insert Nelson from the Simpsons here.
Ripe? As in ready to be picked, like our pockets would be? Sure. Not that I'm against it in theory. In reality, though, it would be a fiasco. I don't trust the government, or insurance companies to handle such a thing reasonably. We can hardly feed, house, and educate the poor in this country. How on earth are we going to expand what little health care is provided to them?

No, seriously.

A public option might mean several things, from single payer to vouchers paying insurance companies. I'd like to get rid of the middle men insurance companies, though. I've paid them for decades in premiums, but that hasn't meant better care. Not at all.

[GGT]

Hey, my thread got moved? Then no more posts? What....?

[Being]

Yes.

Federal.

[GGT]

Yes.

Federal.

I am tending toward that, too. Something not related to employment, or which state we live (or work) in. Something every single American has, no matter our age or pre-existing conditions, self-employed or unemployed, working for a small company or multi-national mega corporation.

The main problem would be defining "Basic Care" and/or "Urgent Care". Then which doctors or hospital clinics would re-structure facilities, or billing practices.

My ideal mind doesn't match reality. Too many people fight against the do-able and call it Freeeedom.

To be honest, I don't get what's so freeee about living or dying with sub-standard medical care. Just because insurance doesn't cover standard care, or it's too expensive to pay out of pocket, shouldn't mean a death sentence.

[Dreadnaught]

Why not just change the laws that make it illegal and doubly-expensive to have interstate health insurance decoupled from employment?

With the flick of a pen you can bid for health insurance nationally no matter where you work.

[GGT]

Well. We may be ripe for such a thing, but no one dares climb the ladder to harvest the fruit. Many critics wondered why the Obama administration chose health care as its first initiative, when we had a dire employment issue staring us down. On some level that made sense, because employment doesn't/shouldn't mean getting health care.

But they didn't go far enough. I wanted to bust up the insurance monopoly, but they only ensured their control. I wanted to split health care from employment, but they only made that link stronger. In hindsight, I wish a public option would have more consideration. But screamers about SSSocialism or Government TAKE OVER of health care doomed that early. Ironic to learn after the fact that most of those screamers were also saying Don't Touch Our Social Security or Medicare!

[GGT]

Why not just change the laws that make it illegal and doubly-expensive to have interstate health insurance decoupled from employment?

With the flick of a pen you can bid for health insurance nationally no matter where you work.

Those interstate restrictions may be overly-hyped. I've been buying my policy from another state for years, decoupled from employment. It's not illegal and it's not doubly expensive. In fact, premium price was one thing that was very competitive.

[Dreadnaught]

The public option wouldn't have solved any of that. May as well have the government start making its own brand of cars to show others how cars "should" be done. They don't know anything about running an insurance system and such a program would run as a loss of hundreds of billions of dollars within a decade.

If a public option were considered, it should be a last resort after removing the legal structure that makes the insurance industry less competitive and more bizarre.

Does your policy actually cover things as easily? Does your insurer make an effort to market plans to you where you are?

[GGT]

I spent the last several minutes replying to Dread, and it suddenly went POOF, vanished, gone. What's up with that?

[GGT]

The public option wouldn't have solved any of that. May as well have the government start making its own brand of cars to show others how cars "should" be done. They don't know anything about running an insurance system and such a program would run as a loss of hundreds of billions of dollars within a decade.

If a public option were considered, it should be a last resort after removing the legal structure that makes the insurance industry less competitive and more bizarre.

Does your policy actually cover things as easily? Does your insurer make an effort to market plans to you where you are?

A federal public option would not necessarily mean they are running an insurance program. Looking to other countries and how they provide national health care gives us clues. You're probably thinking any public option would look like Medicaid or Medicare. That's an American bias and probably a fallacy.

My policy is a straight forward 80/20 major medical. The kind of policy most folks had, before employers started offering perks from insurance companies. I pay a full premium, no employer contribution. I chose my deductible. I chose whether organ transplants or dialysis was covered. Mental Health and Psychiatry was expensive, even without prescription medication coverage. It was quite the complicated process, actually. But I'm probably more tuned into what my benefits are than most people, if they rely on their employer or human resources to tell them what they've bought.

[GGT]

Also, elective abortion seems to be a big obstacle for a public health care option. Go go USA #1!

[Lewkowski]

If the liberals couldn't get a public option in before how do you think they are going to get it in now? Ripe? No way.

[GGT]

If the liberals couldn't get a public option in before how do you think they are going to get it in now? Ripe? No way.

When Republicans voted to repeal the bill, they left a way open for adding a public option. We may be "ripe" to reconsider an employer-based health industry, with so many people unemployed and others ready to retire but not ready to file for Medicare.

[GGT]

Lewk, since you're our resident Insurance guru, it would be interesting to hear your views as your Insurance employer tells the story.

[Lewkowski]

Lewk, since you're our resident Insurance guru, it would be interesting to hear your views as your Insurance employer tells the story.

What?

[GGT]

What?

Post the anti-public option from an Insurance Industry perspective.

[Lewkowski]

How about from the freedom perspective? Government stay out of decisions made between doctors, patients and the forms of payment the patients select.

[GGT]

How about from the freedom perspective? Government stay out of decisions made between doctors, patients and the forms of payment the patients select.

Okay. Then how about insurance companies also butt out?

[Asmodian]

Country wide insurance does not mean government has to run it. Example Switzerland it is obligatory to have health insurance, i.e. you must be insured, there are like a 100 companies offering health insurance so there is competition and you can pick any one of those, if you do not and government realizes this they will pick one for you, usually they pick the most expensive one as punishment, I am not sure if you would also have to retroactively for all the time you were not insured (this situation is quite rare I think and nly concerns people just coming in to the country, as in order to resign from one insurance company you must prove that you either left Switzerland or got insured with another company). If you do not have sufficient income government will pickup the insurance bill for you (they will probably switch you to the cheapest insurance currently available at this point). So in effect you have health care but government is not running insurance.
Not saying this is a good system, personally i hated it with the premium of CHF 200 per month and a franchise of 2,500 (i.e insurance picks up all medical bills for the year once you have paid 2,500 out of your own pocket, can set this lower 300 minimum but then premium would go up by about 100 per month) it was a total waste of money. But I guess as I get older it is making more sense.

Oh and the insurance premiums as well as medical cots not covered by the insurance can be deducted from your taxable income.

[LittleFuzzy]

In the US of A, around 50 million people are now without affordable Health Insurance/health care coverage.

Translation---50/300 million rely on emergency rooms for treatments such as: Fever, vomiting, diarrhea <UGI>, ear infection, flu, bronchitis, pneumonia <URIs>, bladder/kidney infections <UTIs>, pregnancies or sex diseases <STDs>, sprained or broken limbs, accidents, head injuries <SCI>

Employers cite escalating health insurance costs as a barrier to expanding business, and hiring.
Workers cite employer-based health insurance as a carrot/stick obstacle to career mobility.

Is it time we offer a Public Option, to free employers and employees from this cage?

Would you prefer this to be individual state offerings or a federal program?

So rather than trying to address the actual source of this problem *again*, that being the ridiculously high price of health care, you want to shove the responsibility for paying that high price from the user at one remove to the user at two removes *again* and pretend that doing so makes any actual difference whatsoever *again*

[Loki]

What I don't get about medical clinics in the US is the utter lack of transparency. It's incredibly difficult to find out how much any procedure costs, and the clinics have no qualms with adding to those costs without asking for any permission. How can people shop for lower prices if the information is unavailable?

The related issue is that people with insurance generally don't pay a portion of a procedure's cost; instead they pay a flat fee. That discourages shopping around, with everyone getting a higher bill as a consequence.

[Lewkowski]

Okay. Then how about insurance companies also butt out?

No one forces anyone to buy insurance. Oh I guess that's not true anymore. However previously they filled a market niche, they pooled risk. Government created the current employer provided insurance care due to how medical benefits are taxed.

[Being]

No one forces anyone to buy insurance.

Try getting a driver's license or a mortgage without it. For that matter, try getting a contractors license or a daycare license or...

[Lewkowski]

Try getting a driver's license or a mortgage without it. For that matter, try getting a contractors license or a daycare license or...

I was referring to health insurance.

[Being]

I was referring to health insurance.

Why is it okay to force the purchase of insurance as long as it is not health insurance?

[Flixy]

There's a difference, you don't have to buy a car or a house.

Of course with health insurance, uninsured who still end up in the emergency room and are unable to pay their bills are quite a burden on the system. I'm not against mandating health insurance. Over here basic insurance is mandated, but the insurance companies are private and compete. You are allowed to buy additional insurance if you like.

Also, insurers are not allowed to change their prices or to deny coverage to people with pre existing conditions. Only legal reason to refuse someone is if they have a history of fraud.

[Being]

There's a difference, you don't have to buy a car ...

That is not so true here in the US. We don't have a transportation infrastucture to support large numbers of people without cars.