Well I am thinking the GOP House will need to tell Trump "You're Fired" before he declares that he is actually a Democrat... :-) Thoughts?
MP After Obamacare
CNN Trump Says Fast Congress Says Slow
WP Insurance for All
BBC Trump Pledges Health Insurance for All
MP After Obamacare
CNN Trump Says Fast Congress Says Slow
WP Insurance for All
BBC Trump Pledges Health Insurance for All
16 comments:
We know three things about Trump Care:
1. It will be cheaper than Obamacare.
2. It will cover more than Obamacare.
3. You will be able to keep your doctor.
Why didn't we Democrats think of that?
--Hiram
The basic assumption that underlies the Republican approach to health care is that a freer market will lower health care costs. As someone who has thought about and been involved with markets for years, this has always struck me as naive. Markets are simply places where things are bought and sold. Markets don't really tell people what the price of things that they are buying or selling should be. In markets, sometimes prices go up, sometimes they go down. Markets can increase transparency, but just because you can see something more clearly, doesn't mean it's price goes down.
--Hiram
Hiram, the essential of a free market is competition. Obamacare stifles competition. Therefore any Republican plan will be better.
I don't know. Probably the same reason that armed robberies at convenience stores and liquor stores ended immediately once those "no guns allowed on these premises" signs went up. Why didn't us Republicans think of that?
the essential of a free market is competition.
No, not really. A free market is one where there are relatively low barriers to entry. But that doesn't mean that the people who use it are competitive. That depends on a lot of extraneous factors. Lots of things you find in a free market are produced in very competitive industries and lots of things are not. Products of monopolies appear on market shelves all the time and in a free market you are free to buy them or not.
--Hiram
It's conventional wisdom among economists that markets don't work very well in the health care field. Is the CW right?
Let's think about the old model of health care. You have a doctor with whom you have a long term relationship. You pretty much rely on his or her judgment about medical care. But does it have to be this way? In this internet age, are people willing to approach health care differently? Are they, for example, willing to shop on line in a free market like eBay for their next doctor's visit? How would this work? One thing it would mean is that medical records must be put in a form that makes them portable so you could move your records seamlessly from doctor to doctor, right? How would we go about doing this? Is it politically possible? Doctors are very powerful politically. Would they accept this?
--Hiram
Supporters of a market based approach to health care talk about how well it works for lasik surgery. Would you like to extend the model that really does serve that business very well, to health care generally?
--Hiram
On March 8th, 2017 Trump will officially break from the GOP and declare himself a Whig. Remember, you heard it here first.
~ Fred
Lasik surgery, and cosmetic surgeries are actually a wonderful example, Hiram. I hadn't considered that and congratulate you for bringing it to our attention.
No one goes in for elective medical procedures without shopping around. And providers of those services list their prices quite as a matter of course. I see absolutely no reason it cannot be the status quo among all medical service providers.\
~ Fred
Actually, the biggest driver of health care costs are government mandates. Other things, like technology and drugs that keep an aging population alive and healthy longer, are secondary but are beneficial.
Lasik surgery, and cosmetic surgeries are actually a wonderful example, Hiram.
I think they are certainly a relevant comparison, and of course it's not original with me.
The fact is, this is a model that I am fairly comfortable with. When Obamacare was being discussed, a big issue was made about whether you could keep your family doctor. I have never had a family doctor, and so for me personally that was a non issue, although I could see how it could be an issue for others. I would be not uncomfortable doctor shopping every time I needed or wanted. Do others feel the same way?
Doctor shopping makes sense for elective surgeries. But for myself, that isn't an issue. It's the cost of non elective surgeries that worry me. The way I look at it, elective surgery is free, because my election is never to have one.
Actually, the biggest driver of health care costs are government mandates.
Is it the mandate that is expensive, or what the mandates require?
==Hiram
Hiram, isn't that a distinction without a difference? The existence of a mandate is harmless so long as everyone ignores it, but then it isn't really a mandate. If you want to say the mandates are expensive because people follow them, that's fine. The result is the same. To lower costs dramatically, eliminate the mandates.
The existence of a mandate is harmless so long as everyone ignores it, but then it isn't really a mandate.
If it is, then less talk about in specific terms, about what is mandated. This is actually a battle that gets fought a lot. A lot of people want to talk about things in relatively abstract terms. They want to talk about costs instead of what money buys. Let's reduce a city budget by 10%, not let's reduce police by 10%. It's the same policy, it is a distinction without a difference. Nevertheless people do choose to frame the argument in different ways.
A problem with this that I see, is that while we are arguing about the framing of the issue, the issue doesn't go away. Whether the 10% cut is in money or in police officers, the need for police is still the same. How an issue is framed doesn't change the underlying reality.
--Hiram
Well I have made it back to Seattle...
So I can add this...
Jerry please provide a source supporting your opinion that government is greatly increasing the cost of healthcare in America!!!
Mayo clinic.
Was there supposed to be a link there?
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