Aug 29
I don’t agree with socialized health care or single payer system or any system which involves more government.
Here are some things that should be done in order to make health care more affordable.
- Allow competition between states.
- Remove all state mandates for health insurance (example: require all insurance to cover breast exams)
- Remove tax incentive for employees to have a more expensive plan (pre-tax dollars). By having low cost or no deductible you remove free market forces that keep prices in check.
- We need to bring heath insurance back to the way it was when it was meant for catastrophic events. We should get used to paying out of pocket for every day services again so that free market forces can work and bring down prices and improve quality. When a third party pays for services these forces are not used.
If I remember correctly there was and example given where an insurance salesman used to sell plans for $15 a year and it would cover anything from $500 to $5000. During his entire career he couldn’t think of one time where someone breached the $5000 limit.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
You forgot the big one– tort reform. Given the fact the Trial Lawyers’ Association is a top DNC contributor, you won’t see Obama do anything to limit outrageous lawsuits, or the fees lawyers collect, but tort reform would be a fast, fair, painless way to greatly reduce medical costs in this country, without limiting healthcare access to anyone.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:15 am
Yes I agree that something should be done about this issue but I don’t know the best way to address it.
August 31st, 2009 at 11:04 am
Well, since the current President is all in favor of capping the pay of business executives, how about limiting how much lawyers can make on contingency fees? When I see guys like John Edwards “defending” people against doctors and hospitals, because he cares so much about them, and then he pockets a third of the multi-million dollar settlement, I’m seeing an opportunity to save the system some real money.
Notice how Obama will bash insurance companies all day long, but not say a word about these lawyers making millions with all these (often frivolous) lawsuits?
At least insurance companies provide a product. Lawyers just redistribute money, while taking a huge cut for themselves of course.
September 1st, 2009 at 8:13 am
I don’t really agree with capping pay from a free market point of view. If a cheaper lawyer can win the case I don’t see why he can’t be used. That is the choice of the plaintiff.
I think maybe the laws should change so that only gross neglect can be awarded or something a long those lines. A clearer definition that would automatically disqualify frivolous lawsuits.
Any other thoughts that might work?
There might be too many barriers to entry as far as lawyers go. If there were more lawyers that would increase the supply and reduce the cost per lawyer.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I agree, salaries and compensation agreements should not be regulated by government. I guess I was just trying to point out the hypocrisy of the current administration, with their hands-off approach to doing or saying anything against lawyers and the way some of them make millions while producing nothing, at the same time going after Wall Street, insurance companies, executives in general, and so on.
I also agree with you, that gross neglect should be the higher threshhold, and I think it should apply to other types of lawsuits as well. For instance, if you fall and hurt yourself in a supermarket, you should have to prove the supermarket was somehow negligent… you shouldn’t be able to collect damages from them simply because that’s where you got hurt, and they have the deep pockets.
We need an attorney to answer this question, I think. I’ll bet, seeing the system from the inside, they know where the system is geared to benefit them while driving up insurance costs for all of us.