Republicans Trying One Last Time to Replace ObamaCare Before the 9.30.2017 Deadline.

originally posted by: Aazadan
a reply to: carewemust

Lots of that cost decrease you cite is due to even more people losing their health care and dropping out of the system. That's not a good thing,

But the CBO didn't take into account the millions of middle/upper-middle class people who would be coming back to the system when insurance underwriting is re-implemented, enabling premiums to drop significantly.

It's a dual-edge sword though. Without a plan for the SICK/POOR combined with one for the HEALTHY/NON-POOR, you'll always have a huge swath of America that gets screwed.

Congress is so mentally dense, that they can't see the simple solution.. A two-tiered system that enables every American citizen to be covered.

a reply to: carewemust

As I'm sure you're aware though, you can't have a system that both covers sick people and doesn't cost healthy people additional money. Either you have low/no costs for healthy people and tell the sick people they're on their own, or you average the costs out, which means healthy people pay out of pocket for something they aren't getting.

An insurance system is not going to work.

I'm all for health care reform, we desperately need it. Insurance isn't how we're going to fix that though, it simply cannot work as a concept as primary care. Insurance can only work as a system when catastrophic costs are rare. These days however, just about everyone lives long enough to develop a serious illness. Catastrophic costs are no longer rare, they're virtually guaranteed for everyone.

That's why I think the only path forward is single payer. Probably combined with some reforms for drug manufacturers to bring the cost of name brand medicines down. Alternatively, I think Japan has some good ideas... but I would still prefer an actual single payer system.