Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Obamacare and your Wallet
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2013/12/health-reform?zid=318&ah=ac379c09c1c3fb67e0e8fd1964d5247f
A website entitled "healthcare.gov" was set up by the government for people in 36 states to compare health insurance rates and policies. Many are complaining about to major downsides to these health insurance plans. One of which, being the biggest negative, is the increased co-pay that is required to "activate" insurance. As healthcare increases in price, so does insurance. Another negative people are disagreeing on is the narrowing coverage of insurance. Health care companies are doing this because of the constant increase in health care as well.
I see Obamacare and health care prices as being the biggest contradiction. Clearly, Obamacare isn't going to continue to be as effective as healthcare prices rise. I think the government needs to put a limit on healthcare costs rather than just trying to make it more available to everyone at one time. Many people don't understand that health care is constantly rising. It's shady in a way. It's constantly rising because people don't really have a choice as to what they pay; they also don't have knowledge as to why it's rising.
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The problem is not the insurance but the costs of the care itself. There needs to be some way for the health care system to become more efficient so that they can reduce costs and stop making it so hard for average people to afford decent coverage.
ReplyDeleteObamacare isn't a great program. So many people were expected to sign up for this insurance but not very many have. It does have high costs and it's making other cost even higher. People should have the right to choose if they want health insurance and how much coverage to get not be told. That's not the freedom we pride our country on.
ReplyDeleteYou say that costs are constantly rising. This is true, as it technically is with any product. But I think the problem is that the healthcare industry is not nearly as competitive as it could be. Instead of the government trying to simulate only the parts of capitalism that it likes, it should allow the free market to do its job. That way, people would have a wide range of options from a variety of providers at a huge range of prices.
ReplyDeleteAs a market, healthcare providers must keep in competition with one another, and as one raises their prices, another also raises theirs to earn an equal, if not greater, profit. Or, as one increases their prices, a competitor decreases theres to incentivize new customers. A large part of the ObamaCare plan goes over my head, I don't really know that much about the nitty gritty details to completely reject or accept anything about it.
ReplyDeleteWhile many of you have probably seen this video already, I think it does a fantastic job of describing the issues with healthcare we have in the United States and why costs are so high. John Green paints a picture better than I ever could:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjGouBmo0M
Part of the struggle with healthcare is that demand tends to be very inelastic. People are willing to pay almost anything to keep themselves alive and well. With that in mind, price gouging is a possibility, both on the service and insurance level. That's why I think it is hard for many to justify a completely free-market approach for healthcare.
ReplyDelete