Stossel on Health Insurance and my reply
Friend of mine sent me an article written by John Stossel about the health care or health insurance system in the US.
In response to Mr. Stossel's article, I shall suggest that he's both right and wrong. He's right on the subject of single payer not being such a good idea:
- How is that working for people who rely on the Veteran's Administration?
- If traditional Medicare was so good, why do so many people buy Medicare Advantage HMO coverage?
- Most State Medicaid agencies contract with private HMOs because the States did such a crappy job managing the system themselves, doctors were leaving the networks in droves, people were turning to the ER for primary care services
- UK has state run health and everyone who has money buys private insurance
- Australia has state run health and everyone who has money buys private insurance
- Canada has State run health but not only do people come to the US for elective care, their Supreme Court ruled that the Government cannot prevent people from buying health insurance. Canada is a growing health insurance market
He's wrong about consumers choosing. People still rely on their doctors to recommend things and then people do whatever the doctor says. I don't see consumer choice having much play in today's world of healthcare. The better argument to make is that Government regulation needs to refocus itself on making sure consumers get what they pay for, both from insurers and doctors.
For those of you living in PA, there is a reason PA insurance rates are (or were before Obamacare) lower than rates in CT, NY, NJ, DE, and MD. It had everything to do with less government regulation in PA.
Government is very big on making health insurers fill out a lot of paperwork before a policy is issued but they are pathetic on handling consumer complaints about not getting the insurer is supposed to cover.
On the medical side, government agencies are cowards about regulating medical providers. They shift that work to insurance companies. For example - carriers are penalized if the percentage of members receiving immunizations or mammograms falls below a certain number. But the insurance companies aren't the ones who administer immunization shots or perform mammograms, that's the doctors. However, Government does not want to tell doctors what to do so they make the insurers tell the doctors what to do.
As you know, adding a middleman to anything is the same as adding cost. And sure enough, those requirements drive up the cost of health insurance
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