Health Care Reform: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

[mijan]

The Good: 
- Private health insurance can't deny you for a pre-existing condition under this bill.
- You can't be dropped from a policy because you get sick.
- If you have insurance, they can't "cap" your coverage and say "you've been sick enough now, so we're not paying any more."

The Bad:
- It's not REAL universal health care.  YES, I am "one of those" who fully wants this backwards country to switch to a single-payer system like Canada's system.  I think anything less is a travesty - humiliating and ludicrous.  Time to join the modern world, people.
- Because it's not real UHC, this will do nothing to help the over-complicated network of insurers and the grossly high overhead costs of the health care system.
- Private insurance still rules our health care system.  I'm sorry, but for-profit health "insurance" is a crime against humanity, as far as I'm concerned.
- Nothing to attenuate costs of malpractice insurance, which is putting even GOOD doctors out of business, even if they've never been sued for malpractice.

The Ugly:
- Fining people for not having health insurance.  WTF?!?  I'm sorry, but for the self-employed to have to afford policies on their own when they're BARELY making ends meet... this is going to bankrupt many individuals.  That's STUPID.


Want to chime in with your thoughts?  Go for it, but no flaming.  Civil discourse, please.  Actual facts, please.  Insight from those who live in countries with UHC are welcomed and encouraged to share their experiences.

Comments

[gmonkey42.livejournal.com]

It's not logical at all, it's a sop to the insurance companies who are whining about not being allowed to screw their customers quite as much as they have been. The government actually forcing people to buy something from a private company: it blows my mind that they're getting away with this.

[ias.livejournal.com]

It's not revolutionary.

Surely you have to have insurance for your car? To drive without car insurance is illegal (at least it is here in the UK and the rest of the EU afaik) and you will be fined if caught, yet all car insurance is provided by private companies.

In many other European companies you have to buy health insurance (here in the UK we pay for the NHS through our taxes) as a legal requirement, sometimes through state owned companies, sometimes from private health insurers. It's not such an unusual requirement.

[tamerterra.livejournal.com]

But you don't have to have car insurance - you can choose to not have a car. (This may, in certain areas, be more hassle/expense than having the car and having to pay it's insurance.) We don't get a choice about having a body that needs maintainance.

[ias.livejournal.com]

The government actually forcing people to buy something from a private company: it blows my mind that they're getting away with this.

Was what gmonkey42 said. I was countering with the fact that actually governments the world over require citizens to buy insurance from private companies already, namely for car insurance.

It also happens that in several European countries with UHC, the model is that all citiziens have to buy health insurance either from state-owned companies or private, usually not-for-profit, companies (although here in the UK we pay for our healthcare within the tax system but that is never going to happen in the States).