[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Progressive Health Care

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Progressive Health Care
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1245453501.shtml


   I put "Flo" on my banner for a reason. The idea of people coming into
   her "store" to buy various insurance packages is exactly what we
   should be doing for health care. Technology reached the point a few
   years ago where health care coverage can be tailored, purchased, paid
   for, and used, one client at a time.
   Even twenty years ago, insurance companies and health care providers
   could not afford to offer the bureaucracy of a la carte pricing.
   Instead, demand was channeled into a few comprehensive programs. The
   rise in legal mandates, like requiring circumspect bachelors to buy
   maternity coverage cut the options further, built on a now more
   expensive base set of coverages.
   Technology can now make this model obsolete, making a la carte pricing
   little more difficult than online grocery shopping. But of course, the
   government doesn't want to go here, for they would have no direct
   role, just the basic enforcement of the voluntary contracts struck.
   The Obama Administration wants just the opposite in fact, total
   control. Since that cannot possibly function at the individual level,
   this will be done at the group level, in fact, a layering of groups.
   They'll start with some seemingly generous base coverage. Then what
   I'll call political layers will be added, like for breast cancer and
   AIDS. By political I mean that the size of the programs will be
   disproportionate to their medical probabilities, severity and costs,
   based on public sympathies and special interests that politicians will
   respond to as always.
   The rationing will begin day one of course, so you'll never truly get
   what you think you are entitled to, especially if you're old, you
   know, not worth the "investment." That's happening now, in those
   "civilized" countries the liberals always point to as having superior
   medical care.
   That's not to say there won't be a safety net. The government will no
   doubt fund some percent of the population. But they need not and
   should not get into the business of providing the care.