Posted on 07/02/2015 4:34:43 AM PDT by Marcus
The president’s chest thumping boasting to the contrary, Obamacare is still a mess that has caused health insurance premiums and deductibles to skyrocket. Some advocates of Canadian-style single-payer systems, such as socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, maintain that this state of affairs will lead Americans to accept a universal, government run “Medicare for all” system. Such a system would also feature rationing and death panels, as has been the case in countries that have adopted such arrangements. However, a Wednesday article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that Obamacare will, inadvertently, lead to a free market, customer-driven health care system that conservatives have dreamed about.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
The premise of the argument is that high Exchange costs will force consumers into high deductible policies to cut costs and shift most of their medical care as out-of-pocket somehow driving down costs through doctor competition and [voila] price reduction.
Working people - families - will undoubtedly be forced into this. However, we have such a huge entitlement contingent in this country that all they will do is clamor (and vote) for single-payer. Most providers will just simply end up pandering to Medicare and Medicaid patients and working within that system instead of catering to a smaller group of cost conscious patients. They won’t turn them away, but they won’t gear their practice to them.
On the one hand, the idea is nice to think about with an unhindered free market with a level playing field for all, but that is what we do not have, will not ever have, with a government that is committed to pandering to entitlement voters. It’s just not going to happen.
The one thing that indicates this might work...is that the happiest healthcare consumers today are the HSA high deductible (LOW premium) customers from plans that Obama Care has not yet cancelled. This is the one segment of health care that is working.
Don’t we already have “single-payer” health care provided to small group of American patients by the Veterans Administration?
If Obama just changes the rules to make EVERYONE eligible for VA “treatments”, then EVERYONE can start having long waits, incompetent doctors, ineffective (but cheap!)medicines and death panels — just like our veterans do!
See...
Fixing OBAMACARE IS simple — if we just forget about “QUALITY”.
Oh I’m not saying that doesn’t work. It just won’t work on a large enough scale to be meaningful across the healthcare industry.
Working people largely struggle, always keep working and always looks for the best bang for their buck because they try to pay their bills. But they are working against two things: their own needs with limited resources in a largely uncontrolled market, and supplying tax money for the needs of others who don’t or won’t work.
What is going to happen, and is happening in fact is that the Medicaid rolls will swell tremendously. Just go to an emergency room for everything and forget the co-pays and out of pocket expenses. And even if enough do go the high D way, government is going to find a way to fine them because their plan doesn’t meet some OBAMA minimum. Why? Because not enough of high premium dollars aren’t going toward transfers to government for the Medicaid cost needs. They have all sides of this thing covered, and you can’t win because they want it to fail so calls go out for single-payer.
I'm in that group. I'm not sure I'm "happy"... but it is what it is. I started with a $5000 deductible. Raised it to $7500 the first year it renewed to avoid raising premium. Just last month raised it to $10k to avoid 40% premium increase. You know... we're healthy. It pays wellness stuff (we both go to dr for yearly checkup). Its just insurance against a catastrophic event. I'm 55 and wife is 62. Its $540 a month.
You know, if you don't have money you don't need insurance. Government will pick it up, or hospitals will write it off. Us, we have money. We have to insure it.
The courts will see to that no free-market stuff taints their socialist agenda. They’ll just ban the surgery centers and rule the reforms to ACA are unconstitutional. It’s about time we wake up and see what’s happening and stop thinking “if we could only get enough people in power to enact our policies.” Free market policies don’t stand a chance in this government.
and of course Medicaid is not insurance and will lead to the confiscation of assets.
At one time under Hillary’s intended Medical reorganization it would have been illegal (fines and jail time) for taking an out of system (cash paying) patient.
Of course you are right. It has been their intention all along.
Combine it with a "Medical retainer agreement" on the low end for every day stuff ( see the link ) and you have a win-win that will make Obama's head spin, you get Catastrophic Insurance for big stuff and "healthcare" for the little things, that is a mindset change. The million dollar question is can you use HSA or FSA monies to pay for this Medical Retainer Agreement, also known as a "concierge service"...
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/20924
From the article:
"Under medical retainer agreements, patients make monthly payments to a physician who in return agrees to provide a menu of routine services at no extra charge. Because no insurance company stands between patient and doctor, the hassles and expense of bureaucratic red tape are eliminated, which have resulted in dramatic cost reductions. Routine primary care services (and the bureaucracy required to reimburse them) are estimated to consume 40 cents out of every dollar spent on insurance policies, so lower premiums for a given amount of coverage are another potential benefit."
BTW the State Senator who made this happen Pat Colbeck is brilliant, a rocket scientist literally. Avik Roy (Formally? of Forbes, now advising Rick Perry) said Michigan is on the cutting edge of health-insurance issues, by extension I'd say it would include Senator Colbeck.
The Washington crowd will NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER allow that to happen.
The system is designed for a catastrophic collapse. The media will duly air nightly reports on all of the poor suckers from South Succotash whose hernia surgeries, cancer treatments and coronary bypasses cannot move forward. Under great din and clamor Single Payer will be passed, with no small number of GOP votes.
It’s all about the power to them.
Using Obamacare's catastrophic failure as a justification for single-payer is like a woman using her boyfriend's physical abuse as a justification for marrying him. It's totally insane - and what I expect from a liberal.
The end game for the evil left is single payer. The evil GOPe will do nothing to advance marketplace competition.
If you are healthy and have the financial resources, high deductible insurance is the way to go if you have to buy your own insurance. It doesn't make any sense to buy a gold plan if your healthy or not accident prone. The money would be better off going into a retirement account, college fund, an emergency fund, etc.
I think Newton's 3rd law comes into play here. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. At this point we don't know what all the actions are and what the reactions will be...
You are missing one HUUUUUGE piece of the equation.....our high deductible plan is about 11 thousand dollars a year less expensive than a normal plan with a 500 or even 2500 deductible.
We save more on premium than we spend on deductible EVEN IF WE MAX out. It’s a no lose situation.
If you are in poor health, then healthcare is simply going to be expensive period.....under any type plan.
I agree. Those are similar figures that I see for my age. I can almost fully fund a Roth IRA with difference.
It’s so simple.....Obama Care is trying to destroy these policies...before people realize it’s the way to go.
I am sure they want to erase history as fast as possible. Many people that get their insurance through their employers, or are young may never realize these plans existed and be able to compare them to today’s ACA ones..
what you say is 100% true.
Sadly, I’ve talked to a successful 50 something Health Insurance exec - he and his partner created a group health plan agency about 20 years ago - and he was even shocked to figure this out on his own....which he did about 2009 or 10.
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