To get past the WSJ paywall, simply google the name of the article instead of using the link.
Says who? And don't give me any BS about a "compassionate society." I'm at my compassion limit with all the Welfare and other transfer payments that I support.
If my premiums don't cover me, I'll change insurance companies.
I still get the paywall....hmmmmm.
The overhead in Obamacare is nuts...and non-value added.
As usual, democrats are conflating several issues.
Yes, catastrophic coverage is expensive when something goes wrong. I’d love to have insurance covering just that situation, but they banned it. Catastrophic illness is rare, and the cost of that coverage is not insanely high.
What costs far more is elective medical care. When we say that some service is “free”, there is no incentive not to use that service, even if it’s not needed. I remember noticing that it was cheaper to take my kids to the doctor for the sniffles and get a prescription than it was to pay for over the counter medicines. There is something wrong with that. If we get rid of the “free” items, unnecessary utilization will go down, costs will drop, and we won’t need the unreasonable deductibles and copayments on real services.
I think the healthcare companies that pushed ACA on us should be forced to subsidize those patients for lets say the next 5 years regardless of profit or loss to the company. Let them crash and burn ,, the infrastructure will still be around ,, it’ll just be bought cheaply by someone else and run under a new name.
Who says someone has to pay? We are told by socialists its all free!
Just crank up the presses and issue more fiat money. You know the stuff backed up by good feelings and unicorn farts.
The addicted, those seeking a disability of "convenience" and those selecting nonessential but very expensive procedures like sexual reassignment surgery are all in the top 5% category.
Well, gee. How in the world were we able to survive as a people for centuries before government, er, taxpayer paid health insurance?
I was warning everyone about this.
And I was laughed at, mocked, made fun of and called a racist and worse.
The people I warned sat there with big smirks on their faces and voted for this anyway.
So now they’re discovering (to their horror) that I was right.
All I can say now is F**K YOU!
I pay for everyone else. I dont go to doctors. I pay for all my supplements and vitamins and exercise gear. I get zero for the money that goes out the door for insurance every year.
I think I see the infamous 80-20 rule in effect.
(Okay, 82-20, to be precise.)
Wrong. Let the free market handle health insurance. Pre-existing conditions can be managed by waiting periods as policies did pre-Obama. The actuaries can figure out the math, companies can sell attractive policies anywhere in America, and Obamacare will forever be the emblem for big government failure.
Handwringing liberal, socialist horse feathers. What a crock. When you distill Obamacare down to its root purpose, it is the Marxist redistribution of wealth FOR DEMOCRAT POWER AND CONTROL over society. Social engineering. Controlling 20% of the nations’ industry.
Pound sand liberal Democrats...
After his insurance was given to him by the huckster he voted for his share of the employer subsidized premium went up to $404 within two years and his deductible rose to $8,500. For all practical purposes, he now has no insurance, since with two young boys always catching schoolborne diseases and breaking or pulling things playing the games boys play, he has to pay out of pocket for every visit, every pill, every shot and every x-ray he needs.
By 2012 he no longer loved the huckster and his dream of buying a home was gone while he paid an ever rising rent and covered every medical expense hi family encountered.
Doctors and Nurses can offer their services for free in on-site free clinics (like they do in soap operas).
Plenty of ways to take care of those in need.
I thought this was an excellent article which summarizes the issues well. The sick don’t want to pay for their own medical care (or they can’t), and the well don’t want to pay for medical care for the sick.
Therefore, few will be happy with any plan or program.
" It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it." Thomas Sowell
“Almost half of health care spending is consumed by 5% of patients. “
My dad was comatose after a heart attack. While still alert, he demanded that the doctors not use extreme care. He had all the paperwork in place and a copy of it in his records. Only my sister could make decisions. He wanted to go without having his chest caved in. It was a constant fight with the hospital and the doctor in charge not to use extreme measures. As each family member arrived they again made a play for bypass surgery, despite them not having the POA. All we can figure is that his insurance was willing to pay so they wanted to do the work. We finally had an 18 hour a day vigil to prevent the hospital from performing procedures.
Most likely, this is not a problem of the insurance industry. It is some B school graduate who is optimizing he hospital’s income.
I know somebody on Medicaid. (Is that the free one for indigents?) He has had numerous MRI’s and cat scans. In my whole life (62) I have had one MRI (for blinding headaches.) When I had a shoulder problem the doc just manipulated it and then hit the right spot with a shot. Not the guy I know. Same problem, cured with a shot, but two MRI’s.
I don't think that the shocking disparities in consumption of health care by tiny slices of the population surprises anyone. What surprises me is that this information, or information where the subsides under ACA go, has not been forthcoming. When the GOP replaces this miss, they need to directly address data gathering, reporting and disclosure. One of the most cynical aspects of Obamacare has been the shell game nature of it - the opaque complexity that prevents taxpayers and citizens from assessing how well it works and how fair it is, by whatever criteria you wish to apply.