GOP Wants CHOICE in health care. It's seductive... but what are the best agruments against "Choice"?

[eniwetok]

The GOP sells "choice" in health care as if it's "freedom" and no one can dare object to "freedom".. can they?

Of course the GOP sweeps under the carpet all that administrative overhead for all these "choices"

So how should we counter this seductive argument?

This might not be not the best argument... but here goes. States often have a simple gas tax collected at the pump which covers road maintenance... but an alternative is to have privately owned road with toll booths. You're free to pay or find the free roads. This offers plenty of CHOICE... but included in all those tolls is immense overhead... all the salaries/admin costs/profits etc needed to administer a system(s) of private roads.

Sometimes CHOICE is nothing but a needlessly expensive alternative to a simple plan that covers everything.

[LonePirate]

1. What choice? Millions will lose insurance coverage & plenty of doctors require it before seeing you.

[eniwetok]

8. the real choice will be how one can one not get ripped off...

that is if one can afford insurance.

[Ms. Toad]

2. Their "Choice" argument is a strawman.

People have choice now - at least as much as they had before the ACA.

Virtually all insurance plans (ACA or not) have in-network and out-of-network doctors and drug formularies. They have since at least the 80s. If you want to see a doctor out-of-network, you pay more (or perhaps all). Same thing for drugs. I've had to switch doctors when my employer changed insurance companies because my old doctor was not in-network for the new plan. I've had to either switch drugs - or go through lengthy appeal processes to obtain the drug that worked.

This is not new under the ACA - but people who haven't had insurance before haven't necessarily had enough exposure to insurance plans to know how it works.

[Warpy]

3. This one:

Illness is not a consumer decision.

Choice, my ass. The only plan should be one that covers everything, should everything happen and stop short of killing us. None of this lifetime cap bullshit, only a tiny percentage of people will ever come near it and making it non transferable makes certain families will be watching people they love be neglected to death. None of the preexisting condition stuff is valid and none of the increased premiums for older people because they're likelier to have chronic health conditions is valid. To insist on either blames the patient for being sick as if s/he had chosen it rather than sticking with the mild cold s/he could afford.

I'm sick of these cretins with their damned actuarial tables, playing the blame game and making sure no rich guy has to be inconvenienced by contributing chump change to the well being of the country.

[LAS14]

4. We've moved into a world where...

... we have such power to cure disease and it's SO EXPENSIVE that no one can shoulder the burden alone, so we need insurance. And insurance can't work unless the pool of insured includes a whole bunch of people who won't need it. It's like asking people to choose whether or not to build themselves a highway for their car. Some things are just too big for individuals.

[still_one]

5. If they really wanted to help people they would do Medicare for all, of course the key

part is IF they really wanted to help people.


They don't

[progree]

6. Choice - is that where I (a male) can get a cheaper plan that doesn't include maternity benefits

sounds great .... for me anyway ....

except that a reproductive age woman will have to pay a higher premium as a result.

Another choice issue: yeah, I should be able to buy a cheap insurance plan with a $500,000 lifetime cap....

see the problem? after I've blown through the cap, then all the rest of you will have to pony up to pay for my care that I get from emergency rooms, perhaps from hospital's charity care (partly paid through higher premiums from the rest of you, partly paid for by your taxes) etc. etc.

[eniwetok]

9. maternity has always been a red herring... yet many have bought into it...

Of course an insurance policy could be written... it covers everything.

[Lotusflower70]

7. Clever catch phrases

That are empty and meaningless. They use choice and access. But it doesn't matter to the people that can't afford it. But since you are talking about Trump humpers, you have to keep it simple.

[Worktodo]

10. oh it's a total ripoff

401k is another example. Sure you can choose "Fund A" or "Fund B" but your employer is likely to lock you in with the management company with higher fees.

A "choice" is Coke or Pepsi. Pick which one you think tastes better (or none at all).

A "choice" is not "Firing Squad versus Lethal Injection". That's a "decision".

Picking between 17 different health insurance plans that all cover different illnesses (some you didn't know even existed) and still makes you have to call the hospital and the insurance company because the bill is messed up and they're all trying to screw you over... that's not a "choice", that's a "system". And ordinary folks don't beat the "system", ever.

It's like being forced to play at the roulette table-- you can choose what number to bet but the house will always win.

[The empressof all]

11. I can certainly go to Tiffanys

I can choose between a 5 caret round cut diamond or a 5 caret square cut...But if I don't have the money to make a purchase..That choice is really just an illusion.

[pansypoo53219]

12. there is a lot of different cheerios, but if you CANNOT AFFORD THEM how is that a good thing?

[lindysalsagal]

13. Choice between what? No low income people will be able to afford it.

[Orsino]

14. It's one of their weasel words used to undercut collectivism.

They love rugged individualism (for us) because it leaves us defenseless againt their biggest donors.

[eniwetok]

15. Choice between inferior insurance is not a real choice...

Missing from our "choices" is a plan that covers everything and is accepted everywhere in the nation. Have a choice to pick a sleazy insurance company with bad coverage IS NOT A CHOICE WORTH HAVING.