OT: re health insurance, national

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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Andrew
    Thanks well stated
  Dale

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


 

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