Our system most certainly does
not do a "good job" taking care of 85% of our population. This country sees millions of bankruptcies every year, around
half of which are caused by illness or medical expenses.
Here's an
article about a more recent study, and here are there numbers:
-"According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, 2,039,214 personal bankruptcies were filed in 2005, up nearly five-fold from the 412,510 bankruptcies filed in 1985."
-"The UC Davis study looked at all personal bankruptcy filings in Delaware in 2003, because the state was among the first to make its bankruptcy filings available through the Public Access to Court Electronic Record system and its demographics closely resemble those nationwide...Overall, Zhu concluded that debt accounted for more than 50 percent of recent bankruptcies, while medical problems caused just 5 percent and unemployment led to only 13 percent."
The real picture is probably somewhere in between. Not as bright as I paint it, but not as bleak as yours either.Obviously those numbers will be expected to rise in the current economic climate, but there's a definite disparity between the numbers above and the ones you provided.
I know you get your 85% figure by subtracting the 15% of the population who don't have insurance, but you are ignoring the tens of millions who are underinsured.
The increased regulation on insurance companies I mentioned earlier would address this.
In addition, you ignore the fact that the US is ranked
72nd in overall health and healthcare premiums rising as high as
14% per year. You were saying?
I was saying; I do not ignore those facts. They are not acceptable. However, I don't think our health system is the major problem; our lifestyle is.
Here's a paper that talks very briefly about the impact of obesity on our mortality(page 5),in addition to other factors. Additionally,
here's an article about another study I'm too tired to find the original source for that reaches a similar conclusion
It would certainly solve the "access" problem, but my instinct tells me that that doesn't concern you since you are one of society's winners. I don't like a caste system, but I guess some people are fine with it as long as they come out on top.
Hey hey easy...It's a common misconception that all conservatives are Richy-rich types. I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I'm not against change. I talk very passionately about change in our healthcare system. We have to find a balance between effectiveness and efficiency that we can all be satisfied with. But, I just disagree about how to get there. Let's try to keep this a little more civil.
So in effect you want the government to subsidize a for-profit industry when it isn't profitable. Does that really make sense to you?
Yes, and yes.
Like I said, we have to strike a balance, and this is my idea for doing it. This country was built on compromise, and it's worked out pretty well so far.
How much would you charge for a yearly physical with full H&P and labs? Do you think that everyone can afford to swing $200+ whenever they want for no discernible reason? All this would do is stand as a barrier for people to get their yearly check up. Precisely something we should not do if we want to increase preventive care.
$200 might be right for you average primary care practice bowing at the feet of third party payers. Here's a
primary care practice in North Carolina that's cut out the middleman. They would charge $45 for thy physical, and $25 for the labwork. The current cut off for qualifying for medicaid in North Carolina for a family of 4 is 31,800/year. Let's say the just missed it by a dollar. Physicals/Labs for 2 adults, and 2 kids would be less than 1% of their annual pre-tax income. That seems fair to me.
Well, heck! I'm glad we agreed on something! This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
Ok so this was written post half-marathon. If anythign seems incoherent, give me the benefit of the doubt for a day or two, and I'll address it again.