Bill
01-27-2008, 12:35 AM
"Why does Health insurance pay for basic checkups, but car insurance doesn't pay for basic maintanence?". This article says this is the key question about the health insurance debate.
The article starts by talking about how business efficiencios aren't making medical car cheaper. He says the culprit is the way we opeate health insurance and medical care, as inefficient and obscure systems that increase costs, when ordinarily business and market forces would make medical care cheaper and easier to get.
Which sounds really good to me. I hate the way insurance is set up - they charge you an arm and a leg, which forces you into the medical system to "get your monies worth". It's not an emergency protective system.
He traces this pattern in health insurance to the unions back after WW2.
http://www.catalystmagazine.net/specials/misc-specials/the-history-and-maybe-the-future-of-u.s.-health-care.html
One irony that escapes just about all discussion of health insurance is that it is really not insurance. Rather, it is prepaid health care. When you buy insurance-whether for your house or car-you pay a small amount because you risk losing a large amount. Car insurance does not, for example, pay for oil changes or new windshield wipers. Those are expected maintenance. House insurance prevents the loss of your investment in your house should it burn down, but it does not pay for repainting the walls or repairing the furnace. But that is what we expect health "insurance" to do. Health insurers already have your money; every benefit they pay comes right out of their profit. So they try everything to put up barriers to care, such as requiring pre-approval -which is absurd when you are bleeding in the back of an ambulance.
If direct supplier-consumer market forces are brought back into play, there will be an incentive to make use of the Internet and advanced technology. It is amazing how efficient and quality-conscious providers become when they are forced to compete for customers. The American automobile industry is an obvious example. For much of the last century, it was notorious for turning out unsafe cars that fell apart within years. Just a few decades ago, even seatbelts were not available for most vehicles; they were an extra aftermarket installation. Then Honda and Toyota came along and captured huge portions of the market with much better cars. GM, Ford and Chrysler were forced to improve safety and quality in order to compete. As shown by a recent documentary film, GM produced a desirable electric car-and then killed it. Now they are scrambling to catch up to Toyota's Prius. The fact is, market forces work.
Don't expect politicians to bring much change. Because they are at the mercy of powerful lobbyists, we cannot depend on them to radically alter the system. Instead, the market will change the system. People will start traveling overseas for cheaper health care (see the article on medical tourism in CATALYST, August 2007). They will abandon overly expensive so-called health insurance plans and opt for other ways of paying for health care. Companies will rebel against outrageous health insurance costs by finding alternatives. Some companies are already weaseling out of costly health care by hiring workers part-time or as "independent contractors." Starbucks became such a dramatic business success by hiring only part-time baristas just under the minimum IRS criteria that would trigger a benefit package. (Starbucks, along with Wal-Mart and several other companies who prospered by avoiding paying benefits, are now providing health care-at least for a greater proportion of their employees.) Those companies who must provide these employee benefits will increasingly will rebel against outrageous health insurance costs by finding alternatives, such as the Health Savings Account (HSA), rewards for not using health services and countless other clever stratagems. All this would not be necessary if we had a government provider for basic care -like every other industrialized country.
But this is America, the cry goes up, and we don't want a Big Government socialized medical care system! In fact, we already do-just not a single one.
The article starts by talking about how business efficiencios aren't making medical car cheaper. He says the culprit is the way we opeate health insurance and medical care, as inefficient and obscure systems that increase costs, when ordinarily business and market forces would make medical care cheaper and easier to get.
Which sounds really good to me. I hate the way insurance is set up - they charge you an arm and a leg, which forces you into the medical system to "get your monies worth". It's not an emergency protective system.
He traces this pattern in health insurance to the unions back after WW2.
http://www.catalystmagazine.net/specials/misc-specials/the-history-and-maybe-the-future-of-u.s.-health-care.html
One irony that escapes just about all discussion of health insurance is that it is really not insurance. Rather, it is prepaid health care. When you buy insurance-whether for your house or car-you pay a small amount because you risk losing a large amount. Car insurance does not, for example, pay for oil changes or new windshield wipers. Those are expected maintenance. House insurance prevents the loss of your investment in your house should it burn down, but it does not pay for repainting the walls or repairing the furnace. But that is what we expect health "insurance" to do. Health insurers already have your money; every benefit they pay comes right out of their profit. So they try everything to put up barriers to care, such as requiring pre-approval -which is absurd when you are bleeding in the back of an ambulance.
If direct supplier-consumer market forces are brought back into play, there will be an incentive to make use of the Internet and advanced technology. It is amazing how efficient and quality-conscious providers become when they are forced to compete for customers. The American automobile industry is an obvious example. For much of the last century, it was notorious for turning out unsafe cars that fell apart within years. Just a few decades ago, even seatbelts were not available for most vehicles; they were an extra aftermarket installation. Then Honda and Toyota came along and captured huge portions of the market with much better cars. GM, Ford and Chrysler were forced to improve safety and quality in order to compete. As shown by a recent documentary film, GM produced a desirable electric car-and then killed it. Now they are scrambling to catch up to Toyota's Prius. The fact is, market forces work.
Don't expect politicians to bring much change. Because they are at the mercy of powerful lobbyists, we cannot depend on them to radically alter the system. Instead, the market will change the system. People will start traveling overseas for cheaper health care (see the article on medical tourism in CATALYST, August 2007). They will abandon overly expensive so-called health insurance plans and opt for other ways of paying for health care. Companies will rebel against outrageous health insurance costs by finding alternatives. Some companies are already weaseling out of costly health care by hiring workers part-time or as "independent contractors." Starbucks became such a dramatic business success by hiring only part-time baristas just under the minimum IRS criteria that would trigger a benefit package. (Starbucks, along with Wal-Mart and several other companies who prospered by avoiding paying benefits, are now providing health care-at least for a greater proportion of their employees.) Those companies who must provide these employee benefits will increasingly will rebel against outrageous health insurance costs by finding alternatives, such as the Health Savings Account (HSA), rewards for not using health services and countless other clever stratagems. All this would not be necessary if we had a government provider for basic care -like every other industrialized country.
But this is America, the cry goes up, and we don't want a Big Government socialized medical care system! In fact, we already do-just not a single one.