Why do People Want to keep Private Insurance over Govt

1. No
2. Not sure
3. Yes
4. I feel that there are dramatic flaws. Quality & efficiency per dollar expended are very poor. Profit-driven healthcare seems to proliferate inhumane, illogical solutions. The amount of paperwork in filing claims and fighting for these claims over months and years seems unsustainable, and that's just from the patient side.
5. Don't really care too much about that, as Kaiser P is already like that.
6. If you look at the sum expended currently, by employers and individuals and hospitals... it would take a monumental effort to actually make that less efficient. Perhaps the US of A is up to the task.

edit: love the Kaiser P ad with the idiot-ridden rock band image.

 

A timely thread for me, as I get ready to be discharged from the hospital three weeks after having two ankle bones broken in a hit and run, traveling home from Amsterdam, waiting two weeks and then having my ankle surgically repaired with a plate and two screws before lying in ortho trauma for four days. As I leave here, they've done very little to resolve my pain management issues and they are prescribing me something that has never worked to dull my pain at all. Tonight is going to suck.

No.

I don't know. I expect if the sky is the limit money-wise then definitely gov't could do better.

Of course I do. Though I sort of feel like one of them. I have full coverage and I'm still being billed $4,500.

I think a hell of a lot is wrong, with insurance, hospitals, doctors, the entire industry.

My "choice" of doctors sucks already.

I think it already does. They're taking a chunk out of my check every week and they told me they wouldn't even do my surgery unless I paid them half of the $4,500 up front. I don't carry around $2200 just in case I get run over in a hit and run.

I don't know what the answer is, but the current system is a gigantic bowl of suck.

 

I loves me some B-bob. I agree with the post above.

 

Are you that satisfied with your insurance company?Yes
Do you just think the government can't do better?
Not a chance
Do you not want to help provide for the uninsured?
on top of every other social program we're taxed for?
Do you feel nothing is wrong with our current system, overall?
Obviously, hardly any money is spent on prevention and education--only treatment. If any administration wanted to do something about this, teach a real health and nutrition classes to elementary school aged kids.
Are you afraid you will lose your choices of doctors?not an issue
Do you think it will cost too much?absolutely
Other reasons?
Cost, cost, and more cost. If the government could balance its budget, this wouldn't be an issue. I think it's insane to try to fund this thing with the looming social security that also has to be paid for and we're what, $12 trillion in the hole already?

 

True that. I have supposedly "great" insurance. My wife's two pregnancies have been nothing but pain and agony. I pay an exorbitant fee up front, have to check and re-check to make sure my deductible is not being charged twice - I feel like a lot of the check-ups and visits are based on monetary incentives, and the claim paperwork is abominally obtuse. I have a file folder that weighs about as much as my head just for the first pregnancy. It's insane.

My dad tells me that when my older sister was born he paid $300. And he had no insurance. My two kids births are going to run me about 9 grand total. And again, I have supposedly "great" insurance.

The best part? I get to take solace (haha hoho ) in knowing that 7% of my rate is being eaten by "administration". What a crock. I understand how insurance companies makes money, and I think that is a horrible way to provide healthcare. It's the antithesis of "care". I can't stand these monotone yells of "the government is so ineffecient" from the right. They're pretty much baseless; wrt healthcare they're just completely wrong.

 

The same government that ran up an unfunded liability in the $40 trillion dollar range on Medicare is now going to be entrusted to handle MORE of the health care system?

What rational mind would think that this is a good idea? Seriously.

 

The biggest problem is medical cost. How can you reduce the cost as a percentage of GDP? You can have government or private insurance, but as long as the cost run twice the rate of inflation, nothing will work.

 

Yes

The government does very little to nothing better than the private. They are "better" at providing "free" stuff but my medical is not free so they are just swallowing industry.

Yes, and my doctors office will become crowded.

Yes, 1.6 trillion is to much and that has not been looked at by the CBO yet, so it may be more.

 

They bit off more than they could chew with medicare so now they need to save that dumb move by taking over the entire thing and delay the massive failure. Although the bad thing is it makes the massive failure larger.

 

How is medicare any more of a massive failure than private insurance?

 

I have not complaints about my insurer other than cost.

No. Medicaid has caused all sorts of problems for my son & wife.

I want every American to get any medical attention they need.

There are numerous problems with the system, and there are tons of people to blame, but ultimately it is a supply and demand system.

No, but I am afraid it will be more difficult to schedule with a particular doctor. I'm sorry that I also prefer being at a Doctor's office that isn't filled with bums or thrashy people.

It will cost a lot, but not any more than it does now. The government will place more price controls on medical services.

The biggest complaint is wait time. It already takes weeks sometimes to see a good doctor unless you have connections. Wait times in some offices/emergency room are awful and will only get worse as more people have equal access to the system.

 

because it is billions in debt and is subsidized by private health care

 

Medicare faces the same challenges as private health insurance - skyrocketing costs. Private health care just raises rates at absurd annual rates. Neither is sustainable. Overall, Medicare is actually more efficient than private health care in terms of % of money/revenues actually being spent on care as opposed to administration.

For those of you against gov't involvement with health care - how do you propose to fix the system? I think everyone agrees that the current system of costs rising 10-15% annually is unsustainable.

 

No, the problem is offering to many services that the .gov cannot afford to pay for to a very large population. In order to fix this they are taking over the entire system instead of killing medicar which would be politcal suicide since seniors are the most likely to vote.

 

If that were true, then private insurance wouldn't be facing the same exact problems with skyrocketing costs. But they are.

 

I spend tons of cash to be healthy and it is part of my disposable income. I guess I could buy a BMW and skip the dentist and I would make that number go down but screw that.

 

part of the problem with private is the strains that medicare has placed on the system.

 

The counterpoint is that it is impossible to get private medical coverage here if you are over 65.