I've created my own political party and have a healthcare plan, looking for feedback

Discussion in 'Health Care' started by Cody Good, Apr 5, 2019.

  1. Cody Good

    Cody Good Newly Registered

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    Democracy 2.0 is my political party. www.dem2.io

    My plan is called: The Balanced Healthcare Plan

    The political left is generally in favor of free healthcare provided by the government. The political right is generally in favor of free market healthcare without government intervention. The following proposal is intended to be a compromise solution between right and left.

    The Problem on the Right


    Health insurance companies providing healthcare, while technically free market, is not actually free market. This is a delusion of the political right. Health insurance distorts free market mechanisms because a consumer does not directly pay for healthcare, but rather pays indirectly through insurance. Does a consumer really care if a hospital overbills their insurance company? No, most people don't. Hence the distortion to the free market and the higher costs through expensive insurance. If a consumer is directly overbilled, they're going to raise hell with the doctor or hospital that overbilled them, holding them accountable in a way an insurance company cannot.


    For example, I didn't have health insurance and went to a local clinic for strep throat. The doctor said it looked like strep throat and that he'd normally perform a throat culture that would cost $75 billed to my insurance, but since I didn't have insurance, he'd skip the test to save me money. He also only charged $50 for the visit, but mentioned if I'd had insurance the normal fee was $150. Thus the difference in billing was $50 versus $225 if I'd paid for it indirectly through insurance.

    The point is that doctors try to bill insurance companies as much as they can get away with. While insurance companies do their best to negotiate prices down, they're not good at it. A smart consumer shopping for the best price is always going to be more effective at controlling costs than an insurance company.

    I recall seeing a chiropractor when I was 20 years old and covered under my mother's health insurance. I didn't think I needed continued treatment, but the doctor was almost giving me a wink, wink, like you might as well keep returning for treatment because it's free and your insurance pays for 100% of the costs. That's economic distortion. Distortion equals higher costs.

    The Problem on the Left

    The problem on the left is that government is just as incompetent as insurance companies for controlling costs. Maybe insurance is slightly more efficient, but insurance also needs to make a profit, whereas the government does not. Thus I think both options are equally inefficient to consumers.

    The Proposed Solution: Balanced Healthcare Plan

    Everyone would get free government health insurance if they simply work out twice a week at the gym. However, the insurance will only pay for 50 percent of the costs. Consumers will have to pay the rest. Thus people still have incentive to shop around for the best prices. Smart consumers shopping around is the most effective way to control costs.

    Medical Loans

    Let's say you get diagnosed with cancer. The estimated treatment will cost $100,000. The government insurance will pay for half or $50,000. You don't have enough money to cover the remaining $50,000. What do you do?

    The government will loan you $50,000 that will eventually have to be paid back like student loan debt. Look, I'm not a fan of student loans or putting people in debt. The point is that it encourages people to shop around for the best prices. Maybe one cancer facility has treatment for $125k, another offers treatment for $100k, and a third offers treatment for $75k. If you have to cover 50% of the costs, even if it's in the form of a government loan, you're going to be inclined to shop around for the best deal.

    If government or private insurance pays for 100% of the cancer treatment, then a person has no incentive to shop around for the best deal. Without a mechanism to control costs, the price of cancer treatment skyrockets along with the cost of healthcare overall.

    Now let's say you are unfortunate and get saddled with $50,000 in cancer treatment debt that you have to pay $500 a month towards. At least you don't have to pay $500 a month for health insurance anymore, because that's covered by the government.

    This proposal involves destroying the trillion dollar private health insurance industry. This industry has a large influence over congress. Getting it passed will not be easy. But part of the fun of being a revolutionary is trying to destroy powerful institutions that are failing and need to go.
     
  2. DennisTate

    DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Can you use the following information in some way?

     
  3. Kode

    Kode Well-Known Member

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    Did you do a study to estimate how many people would remain uninsured with your plan?

    At this point in the world of medical coverage, no plan that immediately eliminates an entire industry like the health insurance industry in one sweep will ever be passed. Any end to the insurance industry, like any other industry of any size, will only happen gradually over years. Otherwise the national economic disruption would be excessive.

    I prefer the inclusion of a public option. This would make the transition gradual and would depend on the public option being superior to what's offered by the insurance industry.
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2019
  4. Old Man Fred

    Old Man Fred Well-Known Member

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    I'd support a public option, on the grounds that it was managed by the individual states, Federal Medicaid funding was frozen at it's baseline plus inflation/population growth, Medicaid was eliminated, and that current Medicaid funding was the sole subsidy of the new public option.

    I would find it hilarious to see it attempt to compete and prove itself
     
  5. Old Man Fred

    Old Man Fred Well-Known Member

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    Cody, while your plan seems a little silly, of those currently being proposed it's the best one I've heard, is actually based upon free market mechanisms, and at least presumably requires no massive tax increases
     
  6. Kode

    Kode Well-Known Member

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    Management by individual states presents too many problems. Patients who could afford to would either flock to that state to obtain the benefits, or would leave the state for medical treatments where they prefer to get them. It would produce uneven and therefore unfair distribution of healthcare leaving some with poor systems and some with great ones. And it could lead to best care for the rich and poor care for others. Etc. etc. etc.
     
  7. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Can I opt out? As in: can I avoid paying any extra by not using it?

    I do like your idea of encentiving exercise. I think it would be difficult to enforce (I see gyms adding rec areas with video games and nachos to cater to a certain crowd suddenly encentivised to hang out there a couple times a week), but the concept warrants further exploration.
     
  8. Old Man Fred

    Old Man Fred Well-Known Member

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    Is that the case in Canada, or currently the case for Medicaid today?
     

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