I think there should be only one plan, similar to Medicare. You would not shop for health insurance but you would shop healthcare providers. The savings are there. With single payer, your premiums do not include the insurance company profits, which has averaged nearly 10%. Unlike a single payer system, the insurance companies offer a variety of plans, PPO, HMO, EPO, POS, PPS, etc. These plans are then modified with riders tailored to the group policy holder. The cost of claim processing and customer support is very high at 10% compared to CMS at 2%. Single payer also has no marketing costs, CEO bonuses, or reserve requirements. Unlike insurance companies, the big cost of handling enrollment and unenrollment of members is not there. Once you enroll for single payer, it’s for life. Also, healthcare is no longer a cost to businesses. I think there is easily a 20% reduction in premium plus savings for businesses and healthcare providers.
You can't bend rules of economics Flopper. You are removing the financial responsibility of paying for services from those receiving said services and shifting it to an organization (government) that doesn't really care what things cost. And you expect cost to go down and quality to go up? Government has more options for dealing with expenses than the private sector. They can go into perpetual debt and/or they can raise taxes. Because they have more options for dealing with expenses costs will go UP not down.
The reason why providers don’t know the amount of insurance reimbursement at time of service is there are so many different policies with different deductibles, different co-insurance, and different exclusions plus many patients have multiple policies. To determine reimbursement, a claim(s) has to be submitted. That’s why providers bill the patient after the service is rendered unless you have an HMO type policy. The patient typically pays only after they receive their explanation of benefits, which can take months. The whole process leads to slow pays and no pays, which drives up the providers cost. With a single payer system, the benefits are the same for everyone and everyone knows what those benefits are. The provider can collect the charges that are the patient responsible at the time of service.
But what if I don't want to pay what you're paying for. I may not need the same coverage you do. Yet you're admitting now that no one will have any choices. Again you can not be in such denial about basic principles of economics. Lack of choice and tighter government control over an industry has NEVER worked out well for the consumer.
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