I'm afraid the only way to cut costs to health care is sadly to cap prices....I just see no other way....
If we all individually bought our own health insurance and businesses did not pay for 60%-80% of the price of it as a benefit, then there would be resistance from the market place of individuals that could essentially cap the prices and profits made, but this would be a very long, painful process....
so, does the gvt come in and just cap the price increases on Medical care? And IF this were done, would it really slow research and development when it is our government that subsidizes R&D by the tune of 40% of the cost?
Should we be charged with letting the private sector profit, when we, ourselves, paid with taxes, for the research and development of the procedure or technology or medical product?
I could not agree more, but then again, this would mean the Government actually doing it's job by Governing the matter in a uniform intermediary fashion. That's most likely out of the question.
With respect to the "Christian" commentary, I certainly don't believe it's immoral to expect people to take responsibility for themselves. How is that unethical?
Insurance is an illusion. People view it as some type of personal "entitlement" only because of the political spin that has been placed on it. It's literally the greed within the tug of war between the medical profession and the insurance companies that is used to reinforce the public perception of this illusion. That's wrong.
Insurance isn't welfare nor is it charity, it's an extremely powerful and down right deceitful business practice based on the law of averages. It's the oldest racket in the game. It's the "protection" business. No matter how you loophole the context, there is absolutely no such thing as "non-profit" insurance. These companies like Blue Cross are making untold money in each and every case. How else do you think the CEOs or business heads of those "non-profit" corporations can make 6 and 9 digit annual incomes?
If we remove the illusion that is the role that insurance plays in the health care equation, the market will regulate itself accordingly. Yes, there will be tremendous growth pains to be certain. How could there not be seeings what a MESS this whole situation has been allowed to become. There is however, NO other alternative unless our government will honestly and ethically do it's job by governing the existing health care system apart from direct involvement.
Doctors and hospitals want to stay in business. They can only collect what the market can bear. The medical community would cut their overhead by most likely as much as 70% if insurance and the bloody sharks (lawyers) could be removed from the practice equation's direct cost and risk assessment cost analysis.
No one "deserves" health care other than the elderly or handicapped. That's because the law should ALWAYS and ONLY in this case be designed to protect those who cannot protect (or take responsibility for) themselves. Everyone else should be responsible for themselves.
Want to focus on the most important health care reform possible? I suggest putting the health of our ill government back on track first and foremost. Make that the ultimate priority in terms of reform.
In an effort to effectively heal the system, we need to eliminate professional private practice lawyers, all forms of insurance and sever all possible connections between government and special interest.
Then we need to do as swift and efficient a job as is possible with respect to changing the current form of monetary tender that we use. Whereby we could in one year's time account for all legitimate monies wherein the black market would collapse.
We NEED a great deal of reform with emphasis on the US Treasury Dept. as well as removing the entire good ol' boy system that's deeply entrenched and infecting our government presently.
