OT: re health insurance, national

[Anderson Piano Care]

The national health-care idea has been tried in other countries to its 
fullest extent.  There are very real trade-offs to consider.  I was raised 
in Canada so I can relate some anecdotes regarding some of those nastier 
trade-offs.  I've compared what my brother has to pay for his medicare in 
British Columbia and what I pay for PPO health insurance here in New Mexico 
and as a per-centage of take-home-pay it is the same.  The quality of care 
isn't even similar.  The Canadian system is losing its best doctors to the 
U.S.  (One is my cousin, set the grade curve for the entire history of the 
school.)  The reasons are all related to the punative way the system treats 
successful, hard-working doctors.

Now I have a policy that at retirement will return unused premiums as a 
lump sum benefit.  You won't find that from any state run health care 
system.  HMOs were sold as a means of keeping prices down, the problems you 
have with them you will have with a national system but with less of a 
checks and balance protection.  Be careful what you wish for, you may get 
it and much more.

The cost problems we have in the US do vary from state to state, that 
should be a hint.  We have some house cleaning to do at the various levels 
of government.  What our insurance commissioners do that hurts our pocket 
books we should make sure hurts their re-election.  Here in NM good OBGYN 
doctors can no longer afford their mal-practice insurance (required to 
practice).  I know several well established practices that are closing 
because of this and not because of any liability they have garnered through 
actual mal-practice.
One of the biggest forces to drive up prices in medical care has been 
government paid care in the form of Medicare and Medicaid.  People don't 
realize how much this affects the market.  Bush recently got a drug-benefit 
added to medicare for poor seniors.  It did exactly what experts predicted 
it would do, drive up prescription costs, almost as much as the 
benefit.  Good intentions without an understanding of the economy of the 
whole system are quite damaging.  Democrats would have done even more harm 
here.  Politicians just don't seem to get it, government intervention of 
the type we have experienced and that has been tried elsewhere doesn't 
help.   Problem is, political quick fixes are seen as a way to garner 
votes.  It's time  we woke up and made our voices and votes heard.

Sincerely,
Andrew
At 04:53 PM 8/5/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>Fred,
>I for one, agree.  But I think your tirade is a moot point.  National 
>healthcare is coming, it's just a matter of how long before the current 
>system collapses.
>
>Jeff
>
>On Thursday, August 5, 2004, at 04:40 PM, Fred Sturm wrote:
>
>>I can't for the life of me see why public health doesn't belong with 
>>categories like these.
>
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