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> How on earth can you think a free market solution is appropriate for emergency medical care? You could say the same thing about funeral services. Yet it is

by maratd 13y ago

> How on earth can you think a free market solution is appropriate for emergency medical care? You could say the same thing about funeral services. Yet it is a free market. And it works well. Because people buy plots ahead of time and negotiate services well in advance. Nothing is stopping you from walking into an emergency room at your local hospital and negotiating a fair hourly or daily rate for care. Well, nothing except them looking at you like you belong at a loony bin because why should anybody give a shit what things cost? Insurance pays for everything! Until it doesn't. What a wonderful world we live in, where we don't need to worry about what something costs ... until your premium is thousands per month and you run to some halfwit politician to fix it. I would laugh, but I know many are crying right now, trying to make Obama's website work for them.

techsupporter 13y ago
> You could say the same thing about funeral services. Yet it is a free market. And it works well. Because people buy plots ahead of time and negotiate services well in advance. Well, except that when I die, my corpse only goes one place: the ground or the incinerator. And, as an added bonus, I get to choose that destination in advance. Oh, for the joys of only ever potentially needing emergency (or even urgent) care in a single location. > Nothing is stopping you from walking into an emergency room at your local hospital and negotiating a fair hourly or daily rate for care. I'm pretty sure that this is called insurance. > until your premium is thousands per month and you run to some halfwit politician to fix it. Or until you buy insurance on the open, free market and then have that insurance canceled for some obscure reason usually related to your suddenly becoming too expensive for your insurance carrier. Or knowing in advance that actually going to the doctor for that pain in your side will mark you as having a preexisting condition (even if the insurance doesn't pay for it and never even sees a bill) thus previously making you uninsurable or only able to receive coverage for a staggeringly high premium. I could go on but I don't want to bore you with my real life tales of navigating our so-called health care system.
anigbrowl 13y ago
I would laugh, but I know many are crying right now, trying to make Obama's website work for them. It's not as if the private insurance system that existed before Obama came to office was working especially well. While I agree that Obamacare's rollout has been a big mess, from the way some people talk you'd think insurers had never raised premiums or dropped people from coverage until last October. I'm guessing that a few years from now the bumps in rolling out Obamacare are going to be no more memorable than the bumps in rolling out Medicare ~50 years ago.
- maratd 13y ago
  > I'm guessing that a few years from now the bumps in rolling out Obamacare are going to be no more memorable than the bumps in rolling out Medicare ~50 years ago. Yes, of course. By that point, they would have gotten used to the incompetence and stupidity, fully expecting it. Based on your reply, I can surmise that you haven't even tried to use the system and sign up for a plan.
  - anigbrowl 13y ago
    No, I'm happy to acknowledge it doesn't work well at the moment - which is why I mentioned the problems in the first place. However, I also expect it to improve in response to consumer demand.

by maratd 13y ago

techsupporter 13y ago

> You could say the same thing about funeral services. Yet it is a free market. And it works well. Because people buy plots ahead of time and negotiate services well in advance. Well, except that when I die, my corpse only goes one place: the ground or the incinerator. And, as an added bonus, I get to choose that destination in advance. Oh, for the joys of only ever potentially needing emergency (or even urgent) care in a single location. > Nothing is stopping you from walking into an emergency room at your local hospital and negotiating a fair hourly or daily rate for care. I'm pretty sure that this is called insurance. > until your premium is thousands per month and you run to some halfwit politician to fix it. Or until you buy insurance on the open, free market and then have that insurance canceled for some obscure reason usually related to your suddenly becoming too expensive for your insurance carrier. Or knowing in advance that actually going to the doctor for that pain in your side will mark you as having a preexisting condition (even if the insurance doesn't pay for it and never even sees a bill) thus previously making you uninsurable or only able to receive coverage for a staggeringly high premium. I could go on but I don't want to bore you with my real life tales of navigating our so-called health care system.

anigbrowl 13y ago

I would laugh, but I know many are crying right now, trying to make Obama's website work for them. It's not as if the private insurance system that existed before Obama came to office was working especially well. While I agree that Obamacare's rollout has been a big mess, from the way some people talk you'd think insurers had never raised premiums or dropped people from coverage until last October. I'm guessing that a few years from now the bumps in rolling out Obamacare are going to be no more memorable than the bumps in rolling out Medicare ~50 years ago.

maratd 13y ago
> I'm guessing that a few years from now the bumps in rolling out Obamacare are going to be no more memorable than the bumps in rolling out Medicare ~50 years ago. Yes, of course. By that point, they would have gotten used to the incompetence and stupidity, fully expecting it. Based on your reply, I can surmise that you haven't even tried to use the system and sign up for a plan.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  No, I'm happy to acknowledge it doesn't work well at the moment - which is why I mentioned the problems in the first place. However, I also expect it to improve in response to consumer demand.