What annoys me the most about the Health Care debate (and I'm probably repeating myself) is that WE'RE ALREADY PAYING FOR THESE PEOPLE'S HEALTH CARE. Seriously. When someone goes into a hospital and cannot afford to pay the bill, do you think that the costs magically disappear?!? No, in the real world, which is where I live, I don't know about you, my insurance company is mandated by the law to pay hospitals to treat those who cannot pay. And since those people ONLY go to the doctor when they are, well, dying (or at least they feel like they're dying), there is no such thing as preventative medicine (like having a doctor tell you that your cholestoral is too high BEFORE you have a massive heart attack--last I heard, Lipitor is cheaper than a quadruple bi-pass).
So, the question is--do we keep the status quo and keep paying for the dying people, or do we, gasp, mandate health insurance so that everyone will see a family doctor at least once a year, dealing with problems WHILE THEY ARE SMALL AND THEREFORE CHEAP, and who knows, maybe making progress with the obesity epidimic, too.
And if you think like one of my Uncles, and that mandating health insurance will increase everyone's premiums, then let us look at this LOGICALLY:
1. Part of your premium is ALREADY paying for these people's health coverage. This is money that can be moved from the hospitals and into a fund for said BASIC mandated insurance (for those who cannot afford insurance and whose employers do not offer coverage).
2. When people who CAN afford health insurance, but CHOOSE not to have it, will no longer be able to mooch off the hospitals, which will reduce costs to insurance companies and the hospitals (any money not funding the basic insurance, can be invested like insurance companies and hospitals would like to do. This will also increase the monitary base that the insurance coverage pools from.
3. I've already talked about how identifying and treating illnesses while they are small is cheaper than waiting for all the shit to hit the fan.
And finally 4. If after all this analysis your premium does increase, then we need to look at the insurance company and see how their profits are doing compared to their expenses. I understand that the gut reaction is that "if it's mandated, they can charge whatever they want," but car insurance is mandated--do THEY charge whatever they want? And also, we pretend to live in a capitalist society: doesn't that mean that companies CAN and SHOULD charge whatever they want? Because we all have the freedom to start a competing company which charges less, but makes up for it in total number of customers. When we start complaining about companies charging whatever arbitrary amount that we want, we need to start really fearing Socialism.
So, the question is--do we keep the status quo and keep paying for the dying people, or do we, gasp, mandate health insurance so that everyone will see a family doctor at least once a year, dealing with problems WHILE THEY ARE SMALL AND THEREFORE CHEAP, and who knows, maybe making progress with the obesity epidimic, too.
And if you think like one of my Uncles, and that mandating health insurance will increase everyone's premiums, then let us look at this LOGICALLY:
1. Part of your premium is ALREADY paying for these people's health coverage. This is money that can be moved from the hospitals and into a fund for said BASIC mandated insurance (for those who cannot afford insurance and whose employers do not offer coverage).
2. When people who CAN afford health insurance, but CHOOSE not to have it, will no longer be able to mooch off the hospitals, which will reduce costs to insurance companies and the hospitals (any money not funding the basic insurance, can be invested like insurance companies and hospitals would like to do. This will also increase the monitary base that the insurance coverage pools from.
3. I've already talked about how identifying and treating illnesses while they are small is cheaper than waiting for all the shit to hit the fan.
And finally 4. If after all this analysis your premium does increase, then we need to look at the insurance company and see how their profits are doing compared to their expenses. I understand that the gut reaction is that "if it's mandated, they can charge whatever they want," but car insurance is mandated--do THEY charge whatever they want? And also, we pretend to live in a capitalist society: doesn't that mean that companies CAN and SHOULD charge whatever they want? Because we all have the freedom to start a competing company which charges less, but makes up for it in total number of customers. When we start complaining about companies charging whatever arbitrary amount that we want, we need to start really fearing Socialism.
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