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  Ethan commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  The Cost of a Health Reform Fail

  Following up on B. Spoon's comments, there are 50 sets of laws governing insurance in the U.S., because a law passed in the 1970s forbids federal regulation of insurance (nice, huh?). In that context, insurance companies will just set up in whatever states have the least regulation & it'll just be a race to the bottom. The issue, in other words, is not whether one can shop for a better insurance plan in the current framework; rather, it's a matter of changing the framework so insurance companies have to lower their costs & can no longer engage in practices such as recission & denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

  
  

  In re tort reform, that's one of the GOP's main talking points of long standing. Two things:

  
  

  1. Malpractice lawsuits account for a miniscule percentage of health care costs; eliminating all malpractice suits right now wouldn't put a dent in the rising costs of health care.

  
  

  2. Tort reform is pursued by the GOP because lawyers are a major funding source for the Dems.

  
  

  If you really want to contain health care costs, read Atul Gawande's article in The New Yorker. In it he asks why a small city in Texas has the highest health care costs in the country while El Paso, nearby & with virtually identical demographics, has far less expensive health care, and other places, such as those served by the Mayo Clinic & the Cleveland Clinic, have the lowest health care costs in the country & the best outcomes. The answer is fee-for-service. Contrary to economic libertarians & other free market absolutists, building health care on a market model is the worst possible approach--and the one we have. Until doctors are made employees, working across disciplinary lines in a consultative mode oriented around preventive medicine & evaluated on outcomes rather than profits, health care costs will continue to rise faster than wages & the consumer price index. Obama's approach is a start, but not a solution; the GOP, by contrast, has no plan whatsoever and, as in the case of their so-called economic plan, no numbers, no nothing. It would be great if we had an intelligent, thoughtful, constructive opposition party. Such a party could probably improve the health care reform plan significantly. Unfortunately, the GOP has mutated into an insane asylum with flags. The whole country is the loser for it.

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  Ethan commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  The Cost of a Health Reform Fail

  Great post, Tim. You really nailed it.

  
  

  Thanks!