One reason that makes a government run option frighteningly unattractive is the flip side of the profit coin; waste, fraud and abuse. The budgeting philosophy of the federal government, spend it or you don't get it next year, would make certain that a government health insurance option would bankrupt the country in a very short period of time. The sheer size of the bureaucracy would be staggering. The waste and inefficiency of the government run system, if it were run like all other government agencies, would make insurance company profits look like pocket change.
Let me put this delicately, anyone that believes that a government run health insurance option would make more competition must be smoking crack! (I am sure that at some point crack might be covered under a government run plan like "medicinal" marijuana) Can you think of a single other industry, association, organization or anything where allowing the entity that makes the rules, play in the game, creates fair competition? What if the NFL allowed the referees to form their own team. Would anyone want to play them if they kept switching the officials of the game from team referee's own bench? What if each team got to hire their own officials and when you came to play the Dallas Cowboys the referees were on Jerry Jones' payroll? Would that be fair competition? I think we have forgotten what free market competition is. There will be no "additional" competition" if the government becomes one of the players in the health insurance game. There are thousands of insurance carriers playing in the game now! Maybe we should keep the main point the main point, getting the uninsured insured!
There are far simpler and less costly alternatives that could be put into place immediately if this were really about getting Americans health insurance coverage. Bringing more people into the private health insurance system would reduce the premiums for everyone if everyone were paying them. Tax credits and other monetary incentives would get more people into the system without destroying it. The latest "co-op' idea from Washington already exists to some degree. Professional Employer Organizations already group employees together to mitigate the rise in health insurance premiums. PEO's offer cost savings on administration because they enjoy economies of scale when purchasing health insurance, workers compensation, compliance services and payroll. Depending on which number of "uninsured" you subscribe to, simply buying an individual policy for the "so called 15 million uninsured" citizens at $2000 annual premium would cost $30 billion per year. That is a large number in my pocketbook, but not for Uncle Sam! Is this discussion really about getting Americans health care coverage, or could it be something else? The folks in Washington only have our best interest at heart, right????
Look around, all of the innovations that have made our lives better in every way have been a result of free enterprise. No problem we have ever faced has been greater than the capacity of our free enterprise system's ability to solve. The government can help solve the problem, but government is not the THE solution.
Have a winning day!
Steve
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You make some interesting points with some quite colorful language. I have been using socialized health care for the last 20+ years. I live in the United States and that system is called “The U. S. Army.” Without this medical care, all of my family would be dead. I have never smoked crack, but even crack addicts need counseling and help with their addictions. You seem interested in the monetary bottom line, my interest lies in saving lives. Why do the wealthy deserve medical care over the rest of us? Continue on with your winning days while others suffer and die.
ReplyDeleteJohyn,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. The reason that my comments may seem more slanted toward the monetary bottom line can be summed up with a quote from Margaret Thatcher. "The main problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money." People are not dying in the streets from a lack of medical treatment. They may suffer financially, but they get medical treatment. As I pointed out in my post I don't suggest that we do nothing. I don't believe that government control is the answer. I do wish as a civilian I had the same medical care that you have, but what the government will wind up implementing is nothing like what you have. As far as your "socialized medicine" you signed up for that as a volunteer. That is a well deserved "benefit" you receive for your service to this country. It is not a plan that you receive as a right and it is not something you receive for nothing. The plan that this government would like to implement will eventually eliminate private health insurance and reduce the overall quality of care.
Thank you for your service to our country.
Steve