Thursday, July 25, 2013

Replace ObamaCare with a better system

But that leads to a lot of arguments.  ObamaCare isn't popular.  Never has been.  I think the reason for it is pretty simple.  It doesn't delivers the benefits promised and it costs too much.

I had a discussion with my doctor about ObamaCare.  My doctor doesn't like it.  I discussed my own ideas on the subject, and I'll repeat that here.

ObamaCare isn't insurance.  Insurance is a way to protect yourself against financial risk.  Health risks are not the same thing, but are being conflated with financial risks.  An insurance company that is considering coverage for you will assess your health risks, and then determine a premium that will allow them to assume the risk; and pay claims while making for themselves a reasonable profit.  That's how it should work.  In a real world system, it could work like auto insurance.  With auto insurance, the insurance company considers your driving record, and then makes an estimate of its risk in covering you.  Your premium is based upon those risk factors.

Health insurance is a complicated thing, though.  There are many, many different things to cover.  It is really not feasible to cover every possibility and keep the system manageable.

My idea is to simplify it and cover only those things that the individual can afford on their own.  Let's say you want to cover yourself for heart attacks.  Here's a way to assess your risk for a heart attack.  No doubt, there are more sophisticated ways than this.  But it gives the general idea.

I figured out my own risk and the amount of coverage that I wanted and what I could afford.  It's definitely cheaper than trying to cover everything.

This way, you could make priorities and apportion your budget to what you could realistically afford.  This is a better way than anything I heard discussed.


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