tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867127488416158679.post4542629056925548131..comments2023-09-28T06:33:11.190-07:00Comments on Chariot of Reaction: Insurance and the fundamental axiom of reactionJehuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483263667086303029noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867127488416158679.post-58839412664121934422011-04-16T16:18:46.201-07:002011-04-16T16:18:46.201-07:00Aratae,
I lean towards replacing pretty much all s...Aratae,<br />I lean towards replacing pretty much all social spending with a citizen's dividend similar to Murray's plan, which is similar to your proposal. There are really two futures looming large right now---either one of a Hansonian explosion in zero or negative marginal product workers or one of a painful contraction brought about by lower availability per capita of cheap liquid energy. Both scenarios become vastly more manageable with something like a citizen's dividend in place.<br />Coldequations,<br />Much of the haggling is necessitated by the agreements and laws regarding Medicare and the prices that it pays and the lack of transparency in that market. Also, there's the fact that you can pay medical expenses with pre-tax dollars if and only if you jump the requisite hoops. I'd prefer to see the personal exemptions jacked up (since they're intended to reflect the 'operating costs' of a worker anyway), and no special tax provisions beyond the catastrophic (what is it, medical costs over 5% AGI are deductible) made for health care. That'd bleed a fair bit of the irrationality out of that system. The areas of medicine that don't have 3rd party payers and have price transparency have experienced truly incredible improvements in price-performance (laser eye surgery comes to mind).Jehuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16483263667086303029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867127488416158679.post-34902407122701596792011-04-15T20:24:24.121-07:002011-04-15T20:24:24.121-07:00Another funny thing about medical insurance is tha...Another funny thing about medical insurance is that its main role is to haggle prices with health care providers and pharmacies. Example: I had a CT scan, for which the hospital tried to bill $1000. The insurance company said that it should cost $300, and that I should pay it all. The end result was that the insurance company paid nothing, but still saved me $700 compared to if I didn't have insurance.<br /><br />That's more or less typical for any service that is normally covered by insurance. So the uninsurable type 1 diabetic gets screwed, not just by nature, but by the pricing structure of the modern health care system.coldequationhttp://thecoldequations.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867127488416158679.post-44612768558303182582011-04-15T13:44:11.989-07:002011-04-15T13:44:11.989-07:00100% agreement.
Health insurance isn't insura...100% agreement.<br /><br />Health insurance isn't insurance. <br /><br />Negative Income tax & publicly funded catastrophic coverage are the only sane social redistribution systems.Aretaehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15850678936908894274noreply@blogger.com