←back to thread

167 points ceejayoz | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
CamperBob2 ◴[] No.43665080[source]
There is basically no way to make progress here, as far as I can see. If the insurance companies weren't running open-loop before, they certainly are now.
replies(1): >>43665119 #
candiddevmike ◴[] No.43665119[source]
Stop having employer provided insurance and make health insurance like buying car insurance ("free market") or do single payer ("communism"). The current status quo of insurance cartels is terrible for everyone involved--employers/employees get fleeced, providers get stiffed, and America gets more unhealthy.
replies(7): >>43665156 #>>43665202 #>>43665214 #>>43665248 #>>43665288 #>>43665360 #>>43665474 #
mjevans ◴[] No.43665248[source]
Almost.

Stop having employer provided insurance / benefits; just tax and then provide services. No more billing department. Just single payer (we the people) get what a patient needs healthcare.

replies(1): >>43665317 #
gsibble[dead post] ◴[] No.43665317[source]
[flagged]
TheDong ◴[] No.43665418[source]
Let me give a small anecdotal story of american wait times.

My doctor wanted to give me an MRI for a pain near the heart, and insurance told them they wouldn't cover it until they did various other forms of cheaper treatment, including taking antacids for one month, and 5 months of physical therapy. Which of course didn't work. The waiting time for the first appointment was 3 months.

It took over 9 months for my doctor, the only person to actually properly know the details of my case, to be able to give an MRI that he thought was necessary because someone at the insurance company, who I never met, who had less medical expertise than my doctor, wanted to save the insurance company money.

Anecdotally, all the people I know who live in countries with socialized medicine haven't ever had a wait time as long as that, and haven't ever had a simple MRI be delayed by their socialized insurance.

replies(1): >>43665529 #
1. gafferongames ◴[] No.43665529{3}[source]
I grew up in Australia. You need an MRI your doctor simply refers you, you hand your medicare card over, and you get that MRI. No private health insurance is involved at any point.

Australia has a combination of public and private health insurance, and they both work well together. The public health options provide the safety net, while the private health insurance is optional.

Where the private option makes sense is if you want to go to specific private hospitals, or if you have elective surgery (the classic example being a knee reconstruction for sports injury) and you don't want to be in a queue behind people waiting for public hospital beds for more serious conditions like heart surgery and so on.

My dad in Australia had open heart surgery 2 years ago, and is doing very well. His cost for the entire procedure? $0 and this was done by one of the very best heart surgeons in the country. He has private health insurance, but elects to go to public hospitals, which have excellent surgeons committed to the best care, because he's a patriotic sort and he's paid into the public health system through taxes for his entire life.

Meanwhile I pay > $3k per-month for not even top tier care in Upstate New York for myself, my wife and my 10 year old daughter, with no serious pre-existing conditions, and I have absolutely no guarantee that any surgery or anything that any of us need in the future will be even covered, even if my primary physician says it's medically necessary.

The rest of the world would do well to study how the combination of public and private health insurance is done in Australia.