![]() We could save our whole system if we just capped malpractice awards. It's the one that Republicans trot out to prove they're "reformers," too. OK, if you really press me, I'm for one change. Fee-for-service is why the medical care at that doc-in-a-box at my mall is so superior to the Mayo Clinic or Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where the doctors are on salary. You know what part of the status quo I like best? It's a longstanding system for paying doctors called "fee for service." That's where doctors get paid for each procedure they perform, as if my auto dealer got paid separately for the steering wheel, brakes, and horn instead of for the car. You'd be messing with the handiwork of some fine lobbyists. ![]() Through a wonderful program called Medicare Advantage, the insurance companies receive hundreds of billions of dollars in fees to administer a program that the government is already running. Corporate welfare's what we've got, and it's a damn good system. I prefer the status quo, where the for-profit insurance companies suck at the teat of the federal government. If they believed in capitalism, the insurance companies would join the fray and compete. Postal Service, CNN versus PBS-just because it's government-backed doesn't mean you can't compete against it. The sourpusses who want health-care reform say that's "unsustainable." Au contraire.Īnd how could the supporters of these reform bills believe in anything as stupid as a "public option"? Do they really believe that the health-insurance cartel deserves a little competition to keep them honest? Back in the day, they had a word for competition. The good news is that the $8,000 a year per family that Americans pay for their employer-based health insurance is heading up! According to the Council of Economic Advisers, it will hit $25,000 per family by 2025. According to a University of Minnesota study, up to 47 percent of all the money going into the health-insurance system is consumed in "loading fees." Even good insurance companies spend close to 30 percent on nonmedical stuff. That's how much of every health-care dollar gets spent by insurance companies on things other than the medical care-paperwork, marketing, profits, etc. I learned recently about something called the "loading fees" of insurance companies. Yes, the insurance company status quo rocks. After all, the insurance companies know best. Speaking of fair, it seems fair to me that cost-cutting bureaucrats at the insurance companies-not doctors-decide what's reimbursable. Missed the fine print on that one, did you? It means that after you exceed a certain amount of reimbursement, you don't get anything more from the insurance company. I like the "lifetime limits" that many policies have today. That's as it should be-face cancer and shell out huge amounts of money at the same time. It meant that my health-insurance plan (one of the better ones, by the way) only covered about 75 percent of the cost of my cutting-edge treatment. I like the absence of catastrophic insurance today. That's what you call a "post-existing condition." I like the choice I'd face if, God forbid, the cancer recurs-sell my house to pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in treatment, or die. It reminds me of my homeowners' insurance, which gets canceled after a break-in. ![]() I like the fact that if I lose my job, I won't be able to get any insurance because of my illness. I'm just a regular guy and definitely deserve less. Why should I be entitled to the same insurance that members of Congress get? Blue Dogs need a lot of medical attention to treat their blueness. I'm with that woman who wrote the president complaining about "socialized medicine" and added: "Now keep your hands off my Medicare." That's the spirit! No bill! I'm better off the way things are. ![]() I've got health insurance and I don't give a damn about the 47 million suckers who don't. I like the status quo on health care in the United States. ![]()
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