ManusJustus said:
HappySqurriel said:
Unless the trigger mechanism is set far into the future it is just an excuse to switch to a public system ...
Being that almost nothing is going to be done to impact the bulk of costs within the system (medical malpractice lawsuits, drug costs, preventable illnesses, and bureaucracy) because private insurance companies act as good scapegoats it may take several years for the insurance companies to find ways to reduce costs; if they even can reduce costs under the restrictions they’re going to be under (like the elimination of pre-existing conditions). It is unlikely that (without a miracle) the insurance companies would be able to produce the kinds of cost reductions that would be required to prevent the trigger mechanism from being enacted for at least 5 to 10 years.
If this goes through, the US will basically have a public system based on the model of Medicare and Medicade which are systems that already cost the United States a similar amount to the healthcare systems in other countries (on a per-capita basis) while only covering a small fraction of the population; and are two systems which are projected to be bankrupt within 5 to 10 years.
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I don't believe an actual bill has been proposed, just talk about what would be in a bill, but I agree that there is a lot more to be done for America's healthcare system than just who provides healthcare. Something like Medicare will always be costly if doctors can use it as a cash cow by subjecting patients to unnecessary tests (which can be fixed by making doctors wage's salary based), and doctors will always have to charge patients more if they pay $50,000 a year in malpractice insurance (which can be fixed with tort reform).
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Of all the bills going through both houses none have involved tort reform, and expecting tort reform from the Democrats is a lot like expecting an assault weapon ban from the Republicans. On top of that, there are several reasons why so many unnecessary tests and procedures are performed besides greedy doctors (like malpractice lawsuits, doctors treating symptoms of preventable disorders like obesity rather than the problem, and doctors who are too dependant on technology to diagnose illnesses)
