The Latest BS Argument Against A Public Health Care Option
Posted by supercynic on June 24, 2009
It will run the current insurance companies out of business.
Really? You mean a government plan, which we’ve all learned, and now know as sacred mantra, can’t be good, somehow will be good enough to run our current plans out of business? Our current plans that are so good they don’t need fixing???
Let me go over this again, so maybe I can understand.
Our current insurance company-run health care system is just fine.
The government can’t be trusted with health care. There will be delays in treatment and a lessening of the quality of treatment.
So. If the government is allowed to provide a public option, it’ll be so good that the current insurance companies won’t be able to compete and they’ll be run out of business.
Sorry. That still sounds like a crock of crapola. Can someone please explain this one to me?
nirumi said
Good blog! I
supercynic said
Thanks, Nirumi.
dwoti said
Lowering the price of health care does nothing to lower the costs, which will be reflected in the quality of care we find ourselves with if this farce is passed…
supercynic said
Dwoti, the current plan is horrific and morally unconscionable. I’m not wed to Obama’s plan or anyone else’s. I simply know that the current state of things is untenable.
So, what’s your answer?
Yack said
Let me give this a shot……
Insurance companies have to negotiate reimbursement amounts with medical providers which provide care to their members. The government doesn’t negotiate fees with medical providers rather they mandate the fees and they are much lower rates…see Medicare and Medicaid. Most insurance companies pay on the order of 130-200% of Medicare to doctors and hospitals. Medicaid is even lower than Medicare.
The reason insurance companies and larger self-insured employers pay much higher rates is because so many medical providers lose money on Medicare, Medicaid and the uninsured, thus they have to recoup that money from the private plans. It’s a hidden tax in our healthcare system without question.
Because of the much lower cost of claims the government would have to pay for medical claims, they woudl be able to charge much lower premiums to consumers. Insurance companies simply cannot mandate fees to medical providers, so it’s an uneven playing field.
Sounds all good right? Goverment can dictate fees, thus charge lower premiums and save us all a bunch of money right? Rates will be cheaper, but you will see a major decline in the quality and availability of healthcare because so many quality hospitals, physicians and other medical professional will get out of the system because their income will be drastically cut. I don’t think many orthopaedic surgeons go to school and training for ten years to earn $50,000 a year. Many medical providers don’t accept Medicare for the reasons stated above (lower reimbursment).
This is a very generalized answer…there are many many details that I am not including becuase it’s too much to type. I will submit the system needs changing and there are some good ideas being thrown around by both parties to fix the system. A government option is not the solution.
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