Health Care’s Uneven Path to Better Insurance

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

Consider what it would be like to have a health insurance plan that capped annual benefits at $2,000. For any medical care costing more than that, you would have to pay out of pocket.

Examples of care that costs more than $2,000 — and often a lot more — include virtually any cancer treatment, any heart surgery, a year’s worth of diabetes treatment and care for many broken bones. Even a single M.R.I. exam can cost more than $2,000. A typical hospital stay runs thousands of dollars more.

* * *
This episode was only the latest disruption that the health law seems to be causing. Also last week, the Principal Financial Group said it was getting out of the health insurance business, while other insurers have said they might stop offering certain types of coverage. With each new disruption come loud claims — some from insurance executives — that the health overhaul is damaging American health care.

On the surface, these claims can sound credible. But when you dig a little deeper, you often discover the same lesson that the McDonald’s case provides: the real problem was the status quo.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/business/economy/06leonhardt.html?ref=business

[midnight]

1. I'm not sure I understand the reason for capping benefits, but ..... I did

talk with a man from Norway, and I remarked how healthy and thin he was compared to us Americans.... He did indicated that meal portions at the restaurants he was eating at were large..... Then he indicated that he was a cancer survivor... He was treated for the whole disease for a few hundred dollars.... I was shocked... How can other counties treat their patients with success for less? I think the answer is in removing the administrators from areas like insurance companies.... Status quo,is the problem, is right.....

[ramapo]

2. Pretty simple actually

All the civilized countries in the world have decided that morality dictates that all citizens have equal access to health care. Only the good old USA maintains a clearly immoral position on this basic human need.

So how do they do it?

Everybody is in the pool.

Private insurance in those countries that maintained it is non-profit as are hospitals.

Administrative costs are very low, 2-5%

Costs are controlled by the strict price schedules.

Preventive care becomes a priority.

There is no cost- shifting, denials, bankruptcies, and all the other aberrations thatvwe suffer with.

Everybody pays.