Repeal & Replace petition 81,000 signatures

[The Derp]

That's true of every economic decision every consumer makes - every single one of our value decisions affects the prices we all pay for goods and services. That's the way a free market works. That's the way freedom works. You could, and people did, use the same shitty argument to prevent minorities from bringing down their property values.

It's adorable how you think health care costs are valued by a free market. They're not. Health care costs are determined by the chargemaster, which is basically a catalog that each provider determines on their own, in collusion with an insurance company, and has nothing to do with the free market. In fact, it's not free market at all, and if you pay cash you may think you're getting a discount, but you're not. You're paying the inflated price of health care that was determined by the provider and insurer whose motivations are to protect their bottom line, not your health. So basically, your provider is playing you for a sucker. Here's a very easy, funny video to follow that explains the problem clearly:



So you may think you're clever, but you're not. Instead, you're just a sucker. The prices via the chargemaster are already inflated, and then they're inflated more with insurance companies. So you may think you're getting a good deal, but you're not.

I was talking about myself, not 'anyone'.

Right, because you lack empathy. Which makes you a sociopath.

 

[The Derp]

Additionally, that sucker doesn't get 15% off like my doctor does for patients who pay their entire bill up front with credit or cash.

LOL! 15% of what? The MSRP? LOL! No. 15% off the amount in your provider's chargemaster. And chargemasters are documents that providers work with, in collusion with insurance companies, to inflate the price of health care in order for them to make profits. So for example, an IV bag costs less than $1 to produce, yet providers charge $137 for it. So you get a "discount" of $20, yet the provider is making $117 in profit off that.

Go to 3:00 in the below video. WARNING: You're about to get cold water thrown all over you:

 

[RodISHI]

Politicians and money grubs have screwed the medical system up so bad it is like the banking industry now (scattered and corrupt) it will take years to get it straightened out. In the meantime put out one standard policy that covers the basics for absolutely needed/required services to maintain life, maternity services for the females, provide for emergency services for accidents and emergency care for infectious diseases. The politicians should get the same medical basic that everyone else gets. If anyone wants to buy extra coverage modules on top of that standard that would be up to the free market to provide it. If an insurer in Marfa, Texas wants to insure people in New York or San Francisco and they qualify let them, if they don't want to they should not be forced to.

 

[The Derp]

Politicians and money grubs have screwed the medical system up so bad it is like the banking industry now (scattered and corrupt) it will take years to get it straightened out. In the meantime put out one standard policy that covers the basics for absolutely needed/required services to maintain life, maternity services for the females, provide for emergency services for accidents and emergency care for infectious diseases. The politicians should get the same medical basic that everyone else gets. If anyone wants to buy extra coverage modules on top of that standard that would be up to the free market to provide it. If an insurer in Marfa, Texas wants to insure people in New York or San Francisco and they qualify let them, if they don't want to they should not be forced to.

Watch the video...it's not the government, it's purely private interests that are fucking up the system:



And each state regulates health insurance differently, which is why it's rare for an insurer to offer plans across state lines. I live in Georgia, which does permit out-of-state insurers to sell policies in the state. Thing is, though, those insurers find because GA regulates insurance differently than DE, there are all these additional costs associated with the administration of having to work through various state-based levels of regulation. Letting insurers sell across state lines will have the same effect it did when we allowed banks to go from regional to national; too big to fail. So what will happen is that larger insurers will merge or swallow up smaller ones, or price them out by offering bare bones plans alongside comprehensive ones, which small insurers cannot do. All of that will result in a bailout of the insurance companies that remain because for-profit private health insurance is not sustainable if you're also guaranteeing universal coverage, which Trump and the Conservatives promised in 2016.

 

[RodISHI]

Watch the video...it's not the government, it's purely private interests that are fucking up the system:



And each state regulates health insurance differently, which is why it's rare for an insurer to offer plans across state lines. I live in Georgia, which does permit out-of-state insurers to sell policies in the state. Thing is, though, those insurers find because GA regulates insurance differently than DE, there are all these additional costs associated with the administration of having to work through various state-based levels of regulation. Letting insurers sell across state lines will have the same effect it did when we allowed banks to go from regional to national; too big to fail. So what will happen is that larger insurers will merge or swallow up smaller ones, or price them out by offering bare bones plans alongside comprehensive ones, which small insurers cannot do. All of that will result in a bailout of the insurance companies that remain because for-profit private health insurance is not sustainable if you're also guaranteeing universal coverage, which Trump and the Conservatives promised in 2016.

It is legislation that allowed and assisted private interest to create this mess.

 

[dblack]

Watch the video...it's not the government, it's purely private interests that are fucking up the system:



And each state regulates health insurance differently, which is why it's rare for an insurer to offer plans across state lines. I live in Georgia, which does permit out-of-state insurers to sell policies in the state. Thing is, though, those insurers find because GA regulates insurance differently than DE, there are all these additional costs associated with the administration of having to work through various state-based levels of regulation. Letting insurers sell across state lines will have the same effect it did when we allowed banks to go from regional to national; too big to fail. So what will happen is that larger insurers will merge or swallow up smaller ones, or price them out by offering bare bones plans alongside comprehensive ones, which small insurers cannot do. All of that will result in a bailout of the insurance companies that remain because for-profit private health insurance is not sustainable if you're also guaranteeing universal coverage, which Trump and the Conservatives promised in 2016.

It is legislation that allowed and assisted private interest to create this mess.

Government actively promoted it. ShaklesOfBigGov summed it up nicely in another thread:

A little history of government's involvement in our healthcare program.


Congress created Medicare in 1965
making individual insurance for those over 65 obsolete. Subsidized, unrestricted health care for seniors lead to an unprecedented frenzy of spending by patients and doctors.

Costs went up, introducing an economic obstacle to individual health insurance.

As costs rose, those on the New Left, including then freshman Sen. Ted Kennedy, argued that government ought to pay for EVERYONE'S health care and promoted the idea of a Health Maintenance Organization, a term coined by a left-wing college professor.


Congress passed the HMO Act in 1973.
The law created new, supposedly "cheaper" health coverage (does that feel good slogan sound familiar?) with millions of dollars to HMOs, which, until then, constituted a small portion of the market. Kaiser Permanente was the only major HMO in the country by 1969 and most of its members were compelled to join through unions.

Result? The new managed care plans mushroomed with federal subsidies. Employers perceived managed care as less expensive than individual insurance and stopped offering a choice of plans, making insurance more expensive for the individual.


Combined with Medicare, the HMO Act eventually eliminated the market for affordable individual health insurance.

Since the passage of the HMO Act in 1973, the individual has become a prisoner of the tax code. Covered by an employer and herded into managed care, the individual patient is powerless. Under managed care, if the patient gets sick, he or she may wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, be treated, or, languish in pain awaiting treatment.

Premiums under managed care do not pay for an insured contract for medical care decided between the patient and the physician–premiums pay for the management of care, i.e., health maintenance, by a third party.


The Federal Government and Congress has created this health care mess all under the assumption "we can make it more affordable". Now democrats want to dump the whole thing into single payer, and you think (with the liberal democrats prior track record) they can make it all SO much better? Don't make me laugh.

 

[RodISHI]

Watch the video...it's not the government, it's purely private interests that are fucking up the system:



And each state regulates health insurance differently, which is why it's rare for an insurer to offer plans across state lines. I live in Georgia, which does permit out-of-state insurers to sell policies in the state. Thing is, though, those insurers find because GA regulates insurance differently than DE, there are all these additional costs associated with the administration of having to work through various state-based levels of regulation. Letting insurers sell across state lines will have the same effect it did when we allowed banks to go from regional to national; too big to fail. So what will happen is that larger insurers will merge or swallow up smaller ones, or price them out by offering bare bones plans alongside comprehensive ones, which small insurers cannot do. All of that will result in a bailout of the insurance companies that remain because for-profit private health insurance is not sustainable if you're also guaranteeing universal coverage, which Trump and the Conservatives promised in 2016.

It is legislation that allowed and assisted private interest to create this mess.

Government actively promoted it. ShaklesOfBigGov summed it up nicely in another thread:

A little history of government's involvement in our healthcare program.


Congress created Medicare in 1965
making individual insurance for those over 65 obsolete. Subsidized, unrestricted health care for seniors lead to an unprecedented frenzy of spending by patients and doctors.

Costs went up, introducing an economic obstacle to individual health insurance.

As costs rose, those on the New Left, including then freshman Sen. Ted Kennedy, argued that government ought to pay for EVERYONE'S health care and promoted the idea of a Health Maintenance Organization, a term coined by a left-wing college professor.


Congress passed the HMO Act in 1973.
The law created new, supposedly "cheaper" health coverage (does that feel good slogan sound familiar?) with millions of dollars to HMOs, which, until then, constituted a small portion of the market. Kaiser Permanente was the only major HMO in the country by 1969 and most of its members were compelled to join through unions.

Result? The new managed care plans mushroomed with federal subsidies. Employers perceived managed care as less expensive than individual insurance and stopped offering a choice of plans, making insurance more expensive for the individual.


Combined with Medicare, the HMO Act eventually eliminated the market for affordable individual health insurance.

Since the passage of the HMO Act in 1973, the individual has become a prisoner of the tax code. Covered by an employer and herded into managed care, the individual patient is powerless. Under managed care, if the patient gets sick, he or she may wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, be treated, or, languish in pain awaiting treatment.

Premiums under managed care do not pay for an insured contract for medical care decided between the patient and the physician–premiums pay for the management of care, i.e., health maintenance, by a third party.


The Federal Government and Congress has created this health care mess all under the assumption "we can make it more affordable". Now democrats want to dump the whole thing into single payer, and you think (with the liberal democrats prior track record) they can make it all SO much better? Don't make me laugh.

Yep, you nailed it right on the head and that beast believes it can actually keep on growing.