Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (110304)	12/28/2007 9:02:12 PM
From: Freedom Fighter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

KT, >Most of Rudy's cures are straight from Mussolini's playbook. He will make the trains run on time.< I think there are some obvious ways to lower health care costs by changing the private insurance industry. Removing the administrative costs for insurance companies (plus their profits) and health care providers for things that many people would and should be paying for out of pocket would lower the cost of health care and actually free up resources to help more patients. Catastrophic events, hospitalization, expensive tests and procedures etc... are the types of things the typical person needs insurance for. Basic health care should be out of pocket for most people. It would be cheaper, simpler, and better. There needs to be much greater flexibility. In addition, one could argue it would add some incentives that would reduce waste. For example, I recently got an premium increase on my health insurance. It went from a little over 600 per month to 831 per month. The first thing I did was look at a list of every test someone my age could take that made some sense. I figure if I am going to pay 10K annually for insurance, I am going to get my money's worth. If I had to pay out of pocket, I would make some "value oriented judgements" about which tests were actually worth the time and money. I will have no problem getting any of my doctors to go along with my plan DESPITE the fact that it is an HMO plan where they are tougher. That's a total joke. My mother (who has no understanding of these issues at all) recently was telling me how much better and easier things were when I was a child and she paid for almost everything out of pocket (and we were dirt poor). She spends half her life just dealing with medicare, medicaid (yes medicaid), insurance companies, doctors, etc.. before and after getting the actual health care she, my father, and my brother need. Dealing with the uninsured and very poor is another issue, but we can't even get the basics right. We certainly can't afford to be this dumb on a much wider scale.