Obama care is going in the wrong direction. Those public workers could get health insurance if (1) it had a deductible of $2000 or so and (2) it was only for catastrophic illness and (3) they had to pay 25% of the cost. There's no reason for anyone to have more insurance than that, unless it's their choice...and they pay for it. JMHO
There is one other factor--what I've called "club pricing." The deductible shouldn't be eaten up by outrageous, cost-shifted overpricing. If the catastrophic insurance you buy also gets you a much-better than list price, I'm in agreement with you.
It is a shame that the cash market for medical tests, supplies, and services is so distorted that no one knows what anything really costs.
“...eventually HMOs...”
I hate to admit we partook in the money-saving benefits of an HMO, but it saved us a ton of $$$ with our first-born. She was a premmie, several weeks in the neo-natal ICU, otherwise healthy child.
We eventually got a bill for $28...only because the hospital mistakenly put the wife-unit in an upgraded room for a night by mistake. $28 was the differential.
That was the ONLY bill we ever received. I could’ve fought it because it was the hospital’s mistake. But hey, I’m a generous guy. I wrote them a check.
The funny thing is, we’d actually changed policies during open enrollment (to an 80/20 plan), but the kid got here early, just before the HMO expired. The HMO covered it all.