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  • Current Events & Politics Moderators: deficiT | tryptakid | Foreigner

Healthcare Isn't A Free Market: It's A Giant Economic Scam

23536 said:
I don't think they'll enforce those penalties the first few years. The economy would collapse.
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It already happens in Massachusetts. You get a tax penalty if you can't provide proof of health insurance. I think this is ridiculous considering how outrageously inflated the health care industry's costs have become. Either you buy into a system that is known to have highly inflated costs or you pay a tax penalty? What the hell? This does not look like the government is looking out for my best interests.
 
BK Bonkey Kong said:
It already happens in Massachusetts. You get a tax penalty if you can't provide proof of health insurance. I think this is ridiculous considering how outrageously inflated the health care industry's costs have become. Either you buy into a system that is known to have highly inflated costs or you pay a tax penalty? What the hell? This does not look like the government is looking out for my best interests.
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Well, the solution to this probably is probably universal healthcare, but that would be socialist, and a free-market solution would be a brutal depiction that the free market has no problem with letting people die, so we have a heavily regulated system that's problematic to say the least. Since even the heavy regulated system has some pretty massive issues (in part due to regulations about not letting people die), we're trying this "force you to buy health insurance" compromise that Democrats don't tend to like because it's not universal, and Republicans don't like because Obama is behind it*.

*Obamacare is just Romneycare with the serial numbers filed off of it, and Romneycare is just a reimagining of the Republican counterproposal to Nixon's healthcare plans, which has deeper roots in a Nixon proposal for healthcare. So yep, the idea has a lengthy Republican pedigree. Yet the Republicans hate it. Either they are idiots, or they hate Obama.
 
23536 said:
In Massachusetts 25 year olds already pay $200 a month for mandatory health insurance?
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You are forced to own health insurance. If you have a qualifying income, you can get it for a reduced cost or even completely free. When you file your taxes at the end of the year, you have to prove that you had insurance for all twelve months of the year or you get a large tax penalty (I am not sure of the exact amount).

I'm 26 and work, but I'm a full-time student too, and according to law I must have full health coverage to attend the university (everyone lawfully must have it, but to get into the university you must prove it). However, the state considers going to college to constitute ability to pay for insurance (by way of grants and loans), and therefore I am unqualified for income-based insurance through the state. The end result is that I take out loans to help pay for a tuition that is bundled with health insurance for like $2500 additional per year. So yes, about $200 a month for me for mandatory insurance.
 
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The whole mandate system in general never made a whole lot of sense to me. It reeks of corporatism, still puts the market price burden on individuals and is still less efficient than a scenario where both private and public health services are available.
 
The royal birth cost $15,000. The average American birth is billed at $30,000.

Also, when you look at just the cost of delivery:

birth-costs.png
 
^ Stuff like this is why it is inexcusable to implement something like Obamacare currently. Why on earth should we institutionalize such inflated costs?
 
My moms three back surgeries and all associated tests, etc, probably close to 50 grand. Pretty ridiculous.
 
I fell 16 ft on to pavement back at the end of April; shattered my heel into 9 pieces, and my femoral neck into 4. I had two surgeries about two weeks apart, and spent about 6 days in the hospital total. I've also been given a myriad of prescription drugs, along with nursing visits to my apartment, and quite a few physical therapy appointments. The hospital reported the total cost of all this to be approximately $95,000. My insurance company gave their own estimate of about $48,000, and that's what they paid. The hospital ended up with about half of what they wanted to charge, and they just had to eat it.

Besides the fact that without insurance, I would have probably overpaid for my healthcare expenses, it seems obvious to me that no one should have to be bankrupted in order to stay healthy. We have the ability to make high quality health care a basic human right, just like fresh water, food and education. We can make the world a better place, but in order to do that, we're going to have to make personal sacrifices and take leaps of faith. We need to be optimistic and patient.
 
Obamacare is a poorly structured, but it's still a step in the right direction. It could definitely be streamlined and made more efficient.

I think a lot of Americans are still afraid of socialist policies. People need to realize that we can have socialist programs like universal health care, and still remain capitalist. That's the real beauty of capitalism, it evolves just like we do, which is why it will always beat communism, which promotes stagnation. There's a huge difference between having socialist policies, and being a socialist state.
 
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