My proposal to slash medicare and medicaid programs. Hopefully not too simplistic.
Everyone hates how medicare and medicaid costs are rising so fast. The way to eliminate them is to shift the risk to *private* insurers - and to spread it out over a larger pool of people. That way insurance can act like insurance.
1 in 6 americans doesn't have health insurance. This may be their "choice", but if they get really sick - who are they going to turn to? The american taxpayer.
One solution is to have armed guards at emergency rooms preventing heart attack patients who cannot pay from entering. But there is a better alternative.
The key question is: why should taxpayers shoulder the risk without also getting the benefit?
It is in our own financial interest to have universal *private* health insurance. This way the taxpayers are not shouldering the risk. Insurance can act like insurance. The pool is large enough to handle the risk and the taxpayers are not on the hook for the bill.
Then medicare and medicaid stop being medical reimbursement agencies altogether. Now, they would however need to be premium payers for the poor and indigent. Paying premiums only - and not shouldering the risk - would be an incredible cost reduction on the current system.
Politically this is probably a non-starter. Seniors vote in numbers that would prevent anyone from changing medicare. They enjoy their socialized medicine and consistently vote to keep it that way. We could do this for medicaid however.
Everyone hates how medicare and medicaid costs are rising so fast. The way to eliminate them is to shift the risk to *private* insurers - and to spread it out over a larger pool of people. That way insurance can act like insurance.
1 in 6 americans doesn't have health insurance. This may be their "choice", but if they get really sick - who are they going to turn to? The american taxpayer.
One solution is to have armed guards at emergency rooms preventing heart attack patients who cannot pay from entering. But there is a better alternative.
The key question is: why should taxpayers shoulder the risk without also getting the benefit?
It is in our own financial interest to have universal *private* health insurance. This way the taxpayers are not shouldering the risk. Insurance can act like insurance. The pool is large enough to handle the risk and the taxpayers are not on the hook for the bill.
Then medicare and medicaid stop being medical reimbursement agencies altogether. Now, they would however need to be premium payers for the poor and indigent. Paying premiums only - and not shouldering the risk - would be an incredible cost reduction on the current system.
Politically this is probably a non-starter. Seniors vote in numbers that would prevent anyone from changing medicare. They enjoy their socialized medicine and consistently vote to keep it that way. We could do this for medicaid however.