the end of the world as we know it

[dr_memory]

So is this the end of America as we know it, and the dawn of a new socialist dark ages?

God, if only.  But it’s a nice step in the right direction.

(To my occasional readers who came here by way of Dr. Landsburg and/or Dr. Kling: believe it or not, I’d be equally happy with a bill that simply outlawed health insurance entirely in much the same way

Comments

[tssandwich]

When you read about companies like this, you begin to realize that real health insurance reform involves gallows.

[lightcastle]

Or Madame Guillotine.
I'm flexible.

[lightcastle]

*smirk*

[lil_brown_bat]

the status quo was the worst of all possible options

That's more or less true, but as my granddad would have said, "This is not a competition to see who can come in last," and not sucking the worst is a piss-poor standard. The insurance companies are waking up to some very private, very gleeful champagne breakfasts this morning at the thought of millions of captive new customers and no meaningful limits on what they can charge them. As a resident of Massachusetts, I am once again exasperated by public officials and media talking heads who either don't know or can't be bothered to make the distinction between health insurance and health care. As long as that's the case, the insurance companies will end up as winners, and a lot of people will be crushed in the cracks. Again.

[dr_memory]

Well, by and large no argument, to be sure. It was painful to watch the Obama administration learn on their feet here, and it's clear to me that they gave up far too much up-front in search of a compromise that was never going to happen. (Really, universal health care is a tripwire on the right in the same way as social security privatization is for the the "left" -- nobody was ever going to cross that line.)

That said, I'd happy to let the bloodsuckers"insurance" companies continue to take their cut a la the British or German systems, where you can buy insurance to cover upgrades like private rooms or cosmetic procedures. But obviously that's not what's happening here.

This isn't victory and the fight isn't over. It's just nice to see the ball finally in motion.

[ratphooey]

I would be HAPPIER with a bill that outlawed health insurance like Ponzi schemes. :-)

[fenicedautun]

Out of curiosity, what do you see as the proper alternative to health insurance (if it was outlawed)? [I'm assuming you see state provided health care as the alternative, economically I see that as government provided health insurance, so I'm curious whether you prefer an alternative I'm not thinking of...]

[dr_memory]

Actually, in the scenario I was parenthetically envisioning, medical care would be entirely fee-for-service, with no middle-men.

"Insurance" is really, fundamentally, the wrong model for paying your doctor. You buy insurance to hedge against the risk of something that might or might not happen, but which on an individual level will probably not happen, like crashing your car or having your house burn down. But if there's one thing that's a near 100% certainty in our society, it's that sooner or later you're going to need medical care, probably of a major nature. There's something to be said for the point of view that what you need at that point isn't an insurance policy but a savings account, and I don't think that it's a coincidence that optional medical procedures which are not covered by insurance (laser eye surgery being a particularly good example) quickly become reasonably priced.

(This isn't my preferred scenario -- I'm personally pretty enamored of the British and German systems -- it's just the only "free market"

[fenicedautun]

Well, shouldn't there therefore be health insurance for emergency services? (for example, you burn your hand on the stove or fall down the stairs and break your leg) And then where do you draw the line between what is insurance and what isn't? Some proportion of the population will get cancer, and your risk is determined by genetics, behavior, and probably location/age/sex etc., so should there be cancer insurance? Is it just that you should get insurance for each different type of health emergency? (I've been thinking about this one quite a bit, since insurance shouldn't be about routine care, it's then the wrong word to call it health insurance. On the other hand, some of what it covers/is supposed to cover, should be called insurance.)

[lil_brown_bat]

Well, shouldn't there therefore be health insurance for emergency services? (for example, you burn your hand on the stove or fall down the stairs and break your leg)The last time I burned my hand on the stove, I treated it myself. And a broken leg isn't, or shouldn't be, all that expensive to treat: in most cases of trauma, all a doctor does is stabilize it (if that) and leave it alone