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I've often heard/personally espoused the belief that health shouldn't be treated like a commodity. Interesting argument here that if health were only "truly" tr

I've often heard/personally espoused the belief that health shouldn't be treated like a commodity. Interesting argument here that if health were only "truly" treated like a commodity, we'd have much fairer pricing. Capitalism has many faces, of which the free market is only one aspect. The healthcare industry in the US functions a lot more like other examples of what Naomi Klein might call "disaster capitalism": preying on the fact that health is by its very nature un-commodity-like to extort the sick. The problem with this whole line of reasoning may be that health just can't be fairly priced according to free market principles, and that acting like it can be will just continue to enable the status quo.

djsumdog 10y ago
I worked for a health care insurance company during the 2008 debates on the cost and quality web applications. Like people have mentioned, they only gave a range, and a useless one at that. This was during the big push to HSAs and how healthy people could save using them and roll that money over to an IRA later in life to aid in retirement, or kept in the HSA for medicare costs. We read Redefining Health care at work and there was a lot of talk, but always with the for-profit ends (even through we were a non-for-profit, not to be confused with a non-profit). I left the US for a while and I found it interesting that in other countries, doctors could always tell me a price. An office visit was never more than $70 and when I got better work visas, the doctors offices even worked with me to get a better rate (even though I didn't have a full residence visa needed for Medicare). Every lab I went to for imagination told me the price on the phone. The Affordable Care Act is terrible. I does help the very poor, but everyone in the middle still struggles between many terrible options. Contractors often get the worst plans that have little to no substantiation. I have not seen a doctor for a year and only have minimal effective coverage ($17). Full plans from my employer start at $400/month. I've open enrolled in an ACA plan for next year, but it's still $200 a month and I plan on quitting my job and travelling. Because it's based on last year's income, I can't switch to a low income plan until the following year. Employers should have been banned from offering plans at all, or at the very least, giving any discounts. But really, we should have a single payer system. The current state of health care under the ACA is still not good, and far from our European counterparts.

djsumdog 10y ago

I worked for a health care insurance company during the 2008 debates on the cost and quality web applications. Like people have mentioned, they only gave a range, and a useless one at that. This was during the big push to HSAs and how healthy people could save using them and roll that money over to an IRA later in life to aid in retirement, or kept in the HSA for medicare costs. We read Redefining Health care at work and there was a lot of talk, but always with the for-profit ends (even through we were a non-for-profit, not to be confused with a non-profit). I left the US for a while and I found it interesting that in other countries, doctors could always tell me a price. An office visit was never more than $70 and when I got better work visas, the doctors offices even worked with me to get a better rate (even though I didn't have a full residence visa needed for Medicare). Every lab I went to for imagination told me the price on the phone. The Affordable Care Act is terrible. I does help the very poor, but everyone in the middle still struggles between many terrible options. Contractors often get the worst plans that have little to no substantiation. I have not seen a doctor for a year and only have minimal effective coverage ($17). Full plans from my employer start at $400/month. I've open enrolled in an ACA plan for next year, but it's still $200 a month and I plan on quitting my job and travelling. Because it's based on last year's income, I can't switch to a low income plan until the following year. Employers should have been banned from offering plans at all, or at the very least, giving any discounts. But really, we should have a single payer system. The current state of health care under the ACA is still not good, and far from our European counterparts.