Friday, February 3, 2012

My Thoughts on Health Care

2/3/12.

The current health care system is an inefficient mix of private and public bureaucracies. Some say we need more government intervention to reduce costs, and cover the uninsured. Some say we need less government intervention, and more market-based reform to reduce costs, and increase the number of the insured.
Many people distrust corporations, abhor the for profit system of health care, and point to wealthy insurance executives as a symptom of a larger problem.

It is hard to be against helping those who can’t afford health insurance, and making sure people, who need medical help, get the best care available.

We hear that government health care programs are more efficient than private medicine --- yet many people from other countries with government run medical care come to the United States for care.

 Studies of Medicare indicate a waste of about $1.00 for every $3.00 the program spends. Of course, some will cite studies showing the waste of private insurance companies.

 At least with private insurance companies --- when people are allowed to purchase insurance across state lines --- may compete for our business, which may lower insurance costs. With the Internet, we could search out the best price for insurance, with benefits tailored to our needs. This may require a loosening of the tax benefits for employers to provide health care, and giving individuals the tax benefits of purchasing their own medical insurance. Of course, some will say corporations should be obligated to pay medical benefits for their employees.

Every year psychologists --- along with physicians, fight to stop decreases in Medicare payments. Does anyone think that when we have a government run system --- the fight to maintain our fees will get easier?

There is ongoing controversy about how many uninsured people there are in America. Many people who are eligible for government run services, never sign up for these benefits. Of course, there are still people who are uninsured. Why not supply those people without insurance an opportunity to buy government subsidized insurance, rather than overhaul the whole system? You may recall it took President Obama one year to convince a Democratic Congress to pass his health care bill --- and he needed to provide many exceptions and deals to unions and corporations

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