Does the current healthcare system work for you?
If you can pay, your health is likely to improve or at least not get worse.
Otherwise, premiums, deductibles, and costs of drugs and care are so high that many people put off care until they are eligible for Medicare, or they go into medical debt.
To help make the case for change, Solutions for the Underaffiliated explored three reasons our healthcare costs will continue to rise without government intervention:
The healthcare system is focused on reducing utilization, not prices, which are what is driving excessive costs.
The focus on usage leads insurance companies and healthcare providers to invest in staff, activities, consultants, technology, and communications to manage doctors’ and our care and behavior. All that is expensive, and both providers and insurance companies pass those costs to us in the form of higher prices, premiums, and deductibles.
Health insurance, drug, health care, and medical device companies have consolidated, eliminating the competition that would drive down prices.
Since, there is limited evidence that the current system leads to better health quality and outcomes, let’s focus on the financial part of healthcare.
Would paying for insurance coverage through taxes each year for s single-payer that provided universal coverage be less expensive than the premiums, co-pays, and deductibles we pay today with private insurance?
Of course it depends on a household’s individual needs, so do we believe we should all pitch in for the greater good, knowing one day it could be us that needs it?