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“Any other system would fix these problems.… But here we are, stuck with a system that somehow manages to fail everybody for different reasons.”
Employer Provided Health Insurance Delenda Est, by @slatestarcodex https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/24/employer-provided-health-insurance-delenda-est/
Employer Provided Health Insurance Delenda Est, by @slatestarcodex https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/24/employer-provided-health-insurance-delenda-est/
The US health system is massively screwed up, and so much of it seems to come from:
1. The tax incentives that cause everyone to get health insurance through their employers
2. The tax incentives that cause us to use “insurance” for everything, including routine care
(cont.)
1. The tax incentives that cause everyone to get health insurance through their employers
2. The tax incentives that cause us to use “insurance” for everything, including routine care
(cont.)
3. Restrictions on what kinds of plans insurance companies can offer
4. Restrictions on insurance companies and doctors competing across state lines
4. Restrictions on insurance companies and doctors competing across state lines
If you got rid of all of those, you could have a simple, direct, fee-for-service system where insurance was used only for catastrophes / emergencies.
You know, like *every other market for any product or service*.
You know, like *every other market for any product or service*.
Instead we have neither the efficiency and innovation of free-market capitalism, nor even the coordination and simplicity of a socialized industry. (!)
Or as @bgurley put it:
“Despite widespread belief to the contrary, the U.S. healthcare system does not operate as a free marketplace with the type of open-competition that we often associate with capitalism.…
“Despite widespread belief to the contrary, the U.S. healthcare system does not operate as a free marketplace with the type of open-competition that we often associate with capitalism.…
“It is certainly not a single-payer system, but that fact alone does not make it a capitalistic system. There is no price evaluation during the purchase. The person paying is not the person consuming the service, and the majority of choices are made without comparative options.…
“In many ways, we have the worst of both worlds. Our system, which is the highest in the world as a % of GDP, has the illusion of a free market and the illusion of regulated market with the apparent benefit of neither.” http://abovethecrowd.com/2017/12/18/customer-first-healthcare/
