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Bellingham Bill
2012 Apr 12, 5:14pm
I would prefer a system where the government gets out of insurance regulation and we have a system of private contracts. It is better for a few folks to go BK than to have any of the horrible problems that modern healthcare and insurance regulations have bought us.
How about we stop doing what we're doing and start doing what the rest of the civilized world is doing wrt health insurance -- heavy government involvement.
The system works well all throughout Europe, Japan, Canada, Oz, NZ.
Your preferred solution works exactly nowhere in the real world; it's perplexing to me why you even think you have proposed a serious idea and not just the typical libertarian reality-challenged bullshit that is so common on the internet.
American in Japan
2012 Apr 13, 1:46am
bankr
Bankruptcy is not the end of the world. I would prefer a system where the government gets out of insurance regulation and we have a system of private contracts. It is better for a few folks to go BK than to have any of the horrible problems....
Actually it is more than just a few bankrupcies... Some estimates are around 60% of all bankrupcies in the US.
The sick and the elderly must become gladiators for our amusement. Have them fight it out in a modern day coliseum. Since our pie is apparently fixed in size, the winner will get treated while the loser will be incinerated in the ocean beach bonfire. This is sure to stimulate the economy. And after a 3 month reprieve, the winner must fight again to remain so.
freak80
2012 Apr 13, 6:40am
The sick and the elderly must become gladiators for our amusement. Have them fight it out in a modern day coliseum. Since our pie is apparently fixed in size, the winner will get treated while the loser will be incinerated in the ocean beach bonfire. This is sure to stimulate the economy. And after a 3 month reprieve, the winner must fight again to remain so.
Apocalpysfuck, you are hilarious.
Whoa whoa...that's not Apocalpysefuck...oops...
freak80
2012 Apr 13, 7:44am
No, they must remain profit centers for the medical industrial complex and captive constituencies for politicians. They must neither get well nor die, they must remain on as many pills as possible for as long as possible.
God Bless America.
In the old economy, Americans used to make things. Then, in the new economy, Americans made dot-cons and sold stock to gullible "investors" (speculators). Then, in the housing bubble, Americans sold each other houses with money borrowed from the Chinese.
That's the best summary of the last 30 years I've seen so far.
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Several years in, it seems to me that the net effect of Obamacare so far has been to do nothing but raise premium costs dramatically.
The core idea of Obamacare is that everyone will be required by law to pay private health insurance companies unlimited premiums.
Sure, health insurers now have to spend 80% of the premiums on medical care, but that just means they have a compelling motive to raise both premiums and medical care payments, so that their 20% profit is 20% of a much bigger number.
Insurers can no longer deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions, but that also means that insurers will both pay out more on medical costs, and raise premiums again to get back to 20% of an even larger premium amount. Their not going to reduce their profits voluntarily.
Insurers have to keep children on their parents' plans to a later age, but yet again, that will raise their payments and therefore raise premiums even more.
So premiums will be too high to pay, and yet we will all be required by law to pay.
Am I misunderstanding something here?
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