Imagine an America in which medical insurance/HMOs were banned

[Amused]

Do you think the cost of health care would drop dramatically as doctors are forced to bill only what customers can reasonably pay? For those who don't know, medical insurance on a wide scale is a fairly new thing.

I dunno, I'm interested in seeing what everyone thinks.

 

[RichardE]

You would see a huge drop in the number of people with the intelligence who can become competent doctors applying for medical school. As malpractice insurance would still exist and doctors would not have the income to cover it.

 

[Sluggo]

Massive death, complete chaos, the streets running deep with the blood of the non-believers.

Not to mention the whining from the senior citizens about their now uncurable maladies.

 

[Slew Foot]

Its not the $100 doctors fee that's unaffordable(or whatever), it's the $200/month for life for a prescription drug, the $8000 Johnson and Johnson charges for a hip implant, the $300 Stryker charges for a spine screw, the $25,000 MedTronic charges for a pacemaker, etc...

 

[AbAbber2k]

There's a big problem in this country with people who use their insurance to go into the doctor (or worse the EMERGENCY ROOM) for EVERY... LITTLE... THING. People like that disrupt the system that otherwise would probably work well with significantly less cash flow. It's called insurance for a reason. To insure you against emergencies. Not a fvcking cold. If you've got a tickle in your throat, we don't need you crowding the emergency rooms. Go down to the store and get some fvcking NyQuil.

That said, if people were financially responsible or at least competent we might be able to get away without needing medical insurance... at least for general emergencies like broken bones, wounds, etc etc. Assuming no DRASTIC cost decrease (some is to be expected, but lets be realistic) only the very very wealthy could ever afford on-going treatment for things like cancer or genetic disorders.

That's all IMHO though... and I don't exactly have a PhD when it comes to discussing things of this nature. 😛

 

[flashbacck]

hard to say, but I think it likely that banks would make a killing from loaning people money to pay for their medical bills.

 

[Mo0o]

seems like too complicated of a system to merely conjecture on what would happen. but i wonder how people would be able to afford the super expensive procedures that usually insurance would pay for. insurance works (or atelast it use to work) under the assumption that the healthy would collectively help pay for the needs of the sick. when you do every man for himself, a lot of poor sick people wont be abel to afford treatment. it wont simply be a matter of doctors choosing to charge less. certain procedures require advanced equipment that are expensive. without charging a high price a hospital would simply go belly up. obviously if insurance was banned, prices would fall but i dont think it would fall to a level where people can alwaysp ay for care out of pocket. what would most likely happen is a sky rocketing in personal debt. making medical costs reigning #1 cause of bankrupcy (which i alraedy think it is)

 

[JS80]

AMA would limit supply of doctors and only rich people would be able to afford healthcare.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: JS80
AMA would limit supply of doctors and only rich people would be able to afford healthcare.

But that's not how it was before insurance was in wide use.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

People in severe conditions without insurance would be in a tough situation, peace of mind is also going to be missing in terms of healthcare.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: JS80
AMA would limit supply of doctors and only rich people would be able to afford healthcare.

But that's not how it was before insurance was in wide use.

AMA figured out they can control the supply of doctors and at the same time promote medical insurance (increase demand) and artificially raise prices. Very similar to what OPEC did.

Human beings have lived fine throughout history without medical insurance.

 

[LOFBenson]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: JS80
AMA would limit supply of doctors and only rich people would be able to afford healthcare.

But that's not how it was before insurance was in wide use.

AMA figured out they can control the supply of doctors and at the same time promote medical insurance (increase demand) and artificially raise prices. Very similar to what OPEC did.

Human beings have lived fine throughout history without medical insurance.

Doctors in hospitals don't have any choice in what they charge. The government plans dictate payments. All the rest of the insurance providers follow suit afterwards. The federal government mandates doctors charge specific fees. Current case law states that doctors can be liable if they give discounts to some and not to others. But noone is actually forced to pay what doctors bill - not the client, not the insurance, and not the government.

Nonpayment for ER visits in 1993 was 50% in Michigan. In California it was 67%. The numbers are better for the O.R. but not by much. The O.R. is usually the only deparment making enough profit to keep the rest of the hospital afloat.

The only way to add some sanity back into the system is to realize that the only ones who should be making the decisions about when, if, and how doctors donate their time should be the doctors themselves. As much as you might care about strangers dying because they can not afford their pills you still do not have the right to make slaves out of others.