But I'm curious to know if your mental image of some kind of national catastrophic insurance plan would be one administered by the governement (maybe as a branch of Medicare) or would be a private insurance plan.
Its not really my plan, I'm just talking in broad general details. Either method would be possible. If the movement was toward the idea, than the politicians and other poltical forces would hash out how it was implemented.
Second, no matter which entity provides and administer the plan, would it be available to everyone or just something folks could obtain after they came down with a "catastrophic" illness?
It would presumably be available to everyone, in the sense that you would be covered from catastrophic medical problems, but the payouts would only start when the catastrophic problem is diagnosed and treated.
If its available only after the illness, what would be the source of funds for paying the medical costs as they occur?
What type of costs? Ordinary costs for the non-poor, would be treated like they are today, you would pay with ordinary insurance, or out of pocket, just like they are for people without these medical conditions. The catastrophic costs would be covered by this plan.
If it's available to everyone...young, old, healthy, or sick....wouldn't this work to hollow out the private insurance industry over time as more and more people opted for only catastrophic coverage?
It would be available for everyone, but it would only cover costs related to catastrophic conditions.
If people decided to shift to such coverage and many dropped ordinary "insurance"/medical pre-payment plans, than that isn't something I'd have a problem with. It would be their own free choice, and it would tend to help contain costs, by making people more directly responsible for their ordinary costs. |
