[rollei_list] Re: OT: Health Care Costs
- From: Gene Johnson <genej2ster@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:29:57 -0700
I think we're talking about 2 different things. The insurance companies'
"cost" runs around 30 cents on the dollar, their profits are some fraction
of that. This system is a mess. For-profit healthcare has a lot of built-in
problems. Single-payer goverment-run plans would have theirs too, I'm sure,
but we have the European systems to look at, and compare to, and from what
I've been reading, they are often a lot more efficient in terms of care per
dollar.
On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 3:21 PM, Douglas Nygren <dnygr@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Sorry, Marc,
> Your facts are, well, wrong. Your statement that "US Health Care insurance
> companies average around 3% net profits" doesn't hold up.
>
> When Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example, proposed healthcare reform for
> California, his plan, called "Arnoldcare," required that healthcare
> insurance companies spend at least 85 cents from every premium dollar on
> medical bills. The insurance companies reacted storngly calling the
> proposal "socialism," and the proposal died.
>
> The point is that a lot of the cost of our health insurance lies in our for
> profit health insurance companies. Other countries have recognized this and
> have removed profit from healthcare insurance.
>
> If there weren't such a big profit, insurance companies wouldn't pursue it
> here. If it were only 3% they wouldn't be spending the money they do to stop
> reform, meager as it is.
>
> On their own, insurance companies for profit won't be able to change their
> practice because they have to answer to stock holders. If their profit to
> loss (medical claims are called losses in the insurance industry) ration
> drops, their stock values will go down and the execs will lose their jobs.
>
> I personally like the German and Swiss models. You seem to like the VA
> model which is government run. You have more choice than the rest of us. You
> can go anywhere in the country and get treatment. If I leave the Northeast,
> I had better stay healthy because in-network doctors in my plan become fewer
> and fewer the further west you go.
>
> Doug
>
>
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