New at Reason

Julian Sanchez | July 25, 2005

Is Medicare a terminal case? Brian Doherty reviews two books that seek to make sense of America's health care system.

Comments

nmg|7.25.05 @ 7:12PM|#

There's no stopping it. We will be France in 20 years. We are all bound to this one fate, this one doom.

nmg

|7.25.05 @ 7:28PM|#

In my opinion, one of the most desirable changes in health insurance would be to get the employers out of the middle. Job-based insurance severely limits consumer choice in health care, discriminates against the self-employed, and ensures big gaps in health care coverage. It may have been a good thing back in the mythical hazy days of yesteryear, well before I entered the workforce, but now it's the source of more problems than it solves.

|7.26.05 @ 9:30AM|#

It's very, very rare that people paying out-of-pocket for health care get a lower cost than what the providers have negotiated with the insurers. In your friend's case, it's more likely that the $900 is the regular rate, which the provider discounted to $100 because she had insurance (even if her coverage didn't pick up the cost). Someone without insurance would have been charged the undiscounted cost ($900).

|7.26.05 @ 10:18AM|#

I am very afraid of what is going to happen in healthcare. With armies of voting old people who don't care about innovation at all on the horizon, we are hosed. The US consumer is the only animal on Earth paying for development and innovation right now, and the unwillingness of other countries to shoulder any portion of the burden so as to demonstrate how efficient their healthcare systems are will drive us to adopt those same systems.

Innovation is much, much more important than current access, even if you feel like those are the relevant tradeoffs.