Why Not Pie-in-the sky?

I know there is a lot to complain about in my pie-in-the-sky plan.  Individuals could have
to pay out up to $7,500 dollars a year in medical expenses.  Damn, that's a lot!

Of course, most of us will never reach that amount in a year.  And the maximum
that almost all of us will have to pay in our lives is only 15% of the cost of our
medical bills...and far lower than that if we ever reach the catastrophic stage where
the state and federal government help kicks in.  So, maybe it's not such a bad deal
for the individual.

And doctors and medical services will scream and complain about having to give one
free service for each twenty for-fee services they deliver.  Damn, that's positively
un-American!




Of course, they're only giving away less than 5% of their services...and they can
make a lot of money off the twenty for-fee services they deliver.  So, maybe
it's not such a bad deal for the doctor and the hospital.

The states will moan that they have to pay hospitals to care for the
uninsured, plus, they have to pay for catastrophic care.  My God, how can they
afford it?

Of course, they can collect some of the money back by billing those uninsured
that can afford to pay for some, or all, of their medical bills...and, they will
probably be paying less under this plan than under the existing health services
they are providing.  So, who knows, maybe it's not such a bad deal for the
state, either.

The Feds will whine about providing catastrophic coverage, but, hey, whining and
spending money is what the Feds do best.

Besides, if people are signed into such a health insurance program at a very young
age, by the time they reach 65 it might be possible to modify the program to
replace (or supplement) the Medicare program with some coverage from private
insurance companies and states.  Maybe there is a financial future for Medicare.

But, there is no free lunch in life.  Even though the cost of medical care
is split between the individual, the insurance company, state government, the
Feds, and charities, in the end, the individual is the one who pays the insurance
premiums and taxes that fund the insurance companies and the government.

What all these programs are designed to do is shift the risk of catastrophic medical
care and improve the odds for the individual to survive the cost of unusual
medical emergencies.

Even with this program, there will be situations where the medical co-pay will
place a hardship on an individual.  There will be situations where the money for
the catastrophic situation runs out and an individual is left destitute.  It is sad,
but it is life.

This program is designed to protect the vast, vast, majority of people from a
medical disaster.  It is designed to protect society from contagious diseases borne
by uninsured individuals.  It is designed with dollar limits in order to keep the
cost affordable, and is designed to spread the cost between different entities
in order to minimize the risk of financial failure.

As I said in the beginning, I'm not sure if I have the correct price points or
not.  Maybe the co-pay should be 10% or 20% instead of 15%.  Maybe the
feds, or state governments, or the medical establishment should cover more,
or less.  I just think that a sweet spot could be found, where all the numbers
work out.

I know it would be tremendously difficult to get coordination between the federal
government, state governments, private insurance companies, doctors, medical
groups, etc, to work this all out.  Is it hard?  Yes.  Is it impossible?  I don't think so.

But then, that's the advantage of sitting in the basement in my shorts writing a
blog.  I don't have to do it, I can just dream about it.  Somehow, somewhere,
someone will have the access and the knowledge to pull it off.