Need Help Understanding Health Care

[Banry29]

Well I was doing some thinking and I feel like I need all your help.

I just cant seem to grip this health care thing. My initial reaction was firmly against everyone being forced to pay for healthcare. That idea seemed to completely contradict freedom. As I thought about it more I begin to sympathize with people who may not be in a position to provide healthcare for themselves.

I think this is yet another issue where we are being forced to pick between the lesser of two evils. If the right to choose to support healthcare is left free then people who are in poverty just live life without healthcare. If we are forced to have it then people who are capable of providing themselves with healthcare but are not self motivated enough to achieve it end up dragging down the rest of us.

So then it occurred to me that healthcare is big business and it is expensive. As it should be we want our doctors to be paid well. We want to attract motivated and talented people into this work force. Not to mention the amount of money being spent by the individual to get educated in medicine. I also wonder why we don't make our teaching jobs more lucrative.

Next I considered the actual problem. This is what came to me. If you are hurt and need help other people want to help you. I can think of no greater honor than to come to someones aid in a time of need. Whether that be medical aid or just simply pulling somebody out of the snow. The desire to help is human nature.

So to sum this up. We all want healthcare. We all want to have someone coming to help us when we need it. The stress of worrying about how you will pay for an emergency in the event of an emergency is not a helpful scenario. The issue is the insurance company. If 1,000,000 people all pay for healthcare and only 10 people get hurt in a year then we have all paid way to much for healthcare. Why cant we just take care of the issues as they occur and at the end of the year add it all up and divide it evenly among ourselves. If we want to be regulated as a team then we must act as a team. It makes no sense to pay someone to come up with a number for each person individually. The math is already done for us. We will end up paying for a middle man to sit there and collect a check.

Excuse me if my thoughts are scrambled. Im trying to highlight points in my own head. Thank you for your time and I look forward to your help.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

If the right to choose to support healthcare is left free then people who are in poverty just live life without healthcare. If we are forced to have it then people who are capable of providing themselves with healthcare but are not self motivated enough to achieve it end up dragging down the rest of us.

That is the SOCIALIST system we currently have with Reagan's EMTALA. The entire society is forced to pay for the care of those who do not pay for themselves. This includes illegals delivering their babies and getting abortions.

The issue is the insurance company. If 1,000,000 people all pay for healthcare and only 10 people get hurt in a year then we have all paid way to much for healthcare. Why cant we just take care of the issues as they occur and at the end of the year add it all up and divide it evenly among ourselves. If we want to be regulated as a team then we must act as a team. It makes no sense to pay someone to come up with a number for each person individually. The math is already done for us. We will end up paying for a middle man to sit there and collect a check.

The insurance and pharma companies have long been the middle man who gets paid for some rather dubious "services". They have been able to decide who gets care/drugs and who does not. Try reading up on the exchanges and the mandates of ACA.

Dividing the costs evenly is a ridiculous idea. Just as in the thread on smokers/obese, why should the healthy pay for the sick?

You'll find a link in my sig to a site that explains the ACA.

If that's not enough, there are gazillions more sites you can google.

 

[Banry29]

So my point is to pay for the sum of all medical bills that have accumulated over the year. I feel that under this reform we will be paying a huge excess to the insurance company. They will factor in profit for each contract. They have overhead and an infrastructure to provide this service.

I haven't been able to find the numbers. I am wondering if you took the sum of every medical bill that occurred in 2012 and compared it to the sum that was paid to insurance companies you would find that we payed far more to insurance than the actual cost to perform the medical procedures.

They have been able to decide who gets care/drugs and who does not

Shouldn't this be at the discretion of the doctor? Would we be better off if we made this the civil duty of a doctor to recognize that this person is living an unhealthy lifestyle based on his professional opinion. For instance a smoker comes in with a broken bone. Should the smoker pay more for the medical treatment? If a doctor finds that a person is unwilling to take the steps to correct there mistake then a recommendation could be made to suspend this persons healthcare. I just feel that it should be handled on a case by case basis as it occurs. We as the people could demand that certain standards must be met in a persons own health in order for healthcare to be provided. You cannot just hand this support out or it will be taken advantage of. Its like giving your friend who is a drug addict 100 dollars every time he comes and asks for it and having him go and spend that 100 on his fix. You both loose.

The insurance company is not necessary! Great points thanks for the reply.

 

[dblack]

So my point is to pay for the sum of all medical bills that have accumulated over the year. I feel that under this reform we will be paying a huge excess to the insurance company...

This is the overriding purpose of PPACA. The insurance industry wants to cement itself as a permanent middleman in every single health care transaction.

Shouldn't this be at the discretion of the doctor?

Value judgments about which services are "worth it" and which aren't will, ultimately, always be up to whomever is paying this bill. This is another reason why it behooves us to pay for us much of our own health care as we can. Letting someone else pay for it (whether it's by insurance or government) means someone else controls it.

Would we be better off if we made this the civil duty of a doctor to recognize that this person is living an unhealthy lifestyle based on his professional opinion. For instance a smoker comes in with a broken bone. Should the smoker pay more for the medical treatment? If a doctor finds that a person is unwilling to take the steps to correct there mistake then a recommendation could be made to suspend this persons healthcare.

Wow.... are you trying to paint a nightmare scenario? There's another thread on this, but this kind of intrusive government is exactly why I don't want them anywhere near my health care.

 

[Banry29]

I think you may have misunderstood me. I don't mean putting this in the hands of the government. I'm simply talking about the total cost of medical treatment for all person in the united states being split among the people of the united states. The government has no role in this issue other than to aid the people in there desires. That is where this country seems to have gotten far of track. What happened to a government ran by the people for the people? The objective of the federal government should be to provide aid and clarity when states have to work together on something. We seem to be so caught up in the fine details of government that we completely over shoot the simplicity of the issues. Why cant we identify with the fact that everyone wakes up in the morning and wants to be happy. They are the sole dictator in what that happiness looks like. We have no right to make any decision for anyone else until there decision making infringes on our right to choose. Whats even more of a nightmare scenario is a world in which our media highlights issues to reinforce a battle between the right and the left. This is them putting us against each other. The government has become a business. Where people make lots of money based on decisions that put a company or product in an advantageous position over another. Have you seen what kind of returns lobbyists are getting on there investments in DC? How have we gotten here. Why are things so complicated? Life is simple and very rarely does it present you with a scenario that you have no choice but to come to a compromise with a complete stranger. Corner a tiger and you have a problem. Corner a pride of lions and you have an impossible problem. There is no greater goal by the people making money deals right now than to keep the Pride divided. I just hope we can all wake up and do something to change it.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

dblack - I see you still have not read on FACTUAL word concerning the ACA.

 

[Mad Scientist]

dblack - I see you still have not read on FACTUAL word concerning the ACA.

Luddite - I see you still have not read on FACTUAL word concerning the ACA.

 

[dblack]

dblack - I see you still have not read on FACTUAL word concerning the ACA.

What have I got wrong? Just typing the word 'facts', even if its caplocked, doesn't prove squat.