Herein lies the problem with this debate :
“...if Obama were to take that approach or even if he were to simply focus on helping the 8-10 million Americans who want health insurance but can’t afford it, ...”
“health insurance” ... but can’t afford it VERSUS health care but can’t afford it.
INSURANCE is a substitute for cash covered by someone else deciding how much your risk is worth. i.e., can they cover the risks of providing you service and not lose money on that risk. INSURANCE makes a profit on covering risks. When it comes to health care, the RISKS of covering you may be quite high, so your PREMIUMS AND DEDUCTIBLES MUST be high to make the business proposition work. So one cannot reform health care by asking insurers to accept unacceptable risks. OR, you are telling them to go out of business.
*IF* you MUST (or choose to) consume a lot of health care, or expensive aspects of health care, you indeed may not be able to afford health care. Regardless of whether you are insured or not. Sometimes you just don’t have the money for ‘care’. If you own five cars and money is tight, you might have to forgo the oil change at the right interval, or let that falling headliner repair wait. Health care is the same way. If that car breaks down and you cannot afford health care or towing, then sadly, you cannot afford car care.
As a nation we ought to be having a debate about whether or not health CARE is publicly subsidized or not; ie should SOCIETY bear the burden of collective health care. THAT is a rational debate. It is just fundamentally absurd to discuss whether or not insurance companies (risk coverers) MUST or MUST NOT provide all health care at an affordable price.
harrumph. flame suit on. ;-)
I don’t think the question is really whether insurance companies are a for profit business (it’s gambling actually), but whether health care and the drug industries are and/or should be the same. One doesn’t always choose to “consume a lot of health care”, as if we were consuming bon bons.. things happen, people get sick, so sick that they have no choice. For instance.. I cannot afford health care, so I forego it, but what happens one night if suddenly I get acute appendicitis, a life threatening event, and am forced to choose between death or going to the emergency room.. this one event can bankrupt some people...what is your suggestion there?