Quote:
Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby
My solution would be a hybrid of commercial for-profit insurance and medicare.
BASIC health care would be covered 100%, no co-pay, no deductible, no max, courtesy of tax dollars. By basic I mean:
Annual physical and routine yearly bloodwork to support the physical and consultation with the patient to go over the results and make recommendations for treatments, if any are needed.
Minor wound care - cuts and scrapes, antibiotic ointments, bandages, and the like.
Prostate exam, mammography, pap smear, routine vaccines (flu, MMR for kids, for example), a full-body skin cancer exam every other year, routine eye test, routine hearing test, one regular dental cleaning per year, one fluoride treatment per year for kids. All of this would be covered - no one would be required to get all this done but if they chose to, it'd cost them nothing out of pocket with no insurance necessary.
Then everything else can be commercial, and people can pick how they pick now, with various types of coverage at various premiums, various deductibles and out of pocket limits, and so on. The 80/20 plans from before the ACA can return if the insurance companies want it again. Employers can benefit from group coverage for their employees, but they can pass on the premium costs to those employees and not have to pay for the coverage unless they want to (or negotiate it into a union contract if applicable).
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That doesn't sound particularly unreasonable to me. What are the forces working against such "hybrids". I remember reading gripes about a "two tier" health system decades ago. Never really understood the gripes.
Blueblaze's NHS story is scary and believable, but I coincidentally spoke with my western Canada peer last evening about his new, premature twin granddaughters. I was blown away both by what their system can still offer *and* by the amazing skill and expertise that *any* NICU can apparently pull off *anywhere*. Them's some sharp folks. Guess I don't really know if that level of "service" is available to the "average" Canadian. He *did* mention that the NICU in Red Deer would not accept a transfer of the babies from the apparently fancier place in Edmonton.
Really makes me wonder what kind of spread there is out there amongst "bad" doctors and the elite - and the likely "in between" majority. Reminds me that I had a cardiologist *lie* to me, apparently in order to justify additional, more "profitable" testing. I had enough "medical" background to be suspicious and to ultimately get to the bottom of it, but how does the guy on the street figure any of that kind of stuff out??
So, does a "doctor type", PA, NP and such come out and declare her "tier" level for such a system? Does the legal profession have too much to lose to allow such a system to exist in this country? After all, aren't a majority of legislators trained in said profession - the fox guarding the hen house?
And, why is it so rare in a forum such as this to see an offer of a reasonable suggestion for a "solution"? Guess it *does* sorta go against human nature - least from what *I's* observated. . .