Vanity: Infrastructure for Civil Disobedience in Health Care

March 23, 2010 | ModelBreaker

[ModelBreaker]

I want to open a discussion about how to set up an infrastructure for civil disobedience in refusing to pay the extortionate policy increases coming.

One model I have become acquainted with during some family history research is the Italian Fraternal Societies in Colorado in the 1890's. Members paid dues; and when one got sick, the society helped with medical expenses.

Successful experiments in this regard typically involve a fairly tight knit community who knows most everyone and can tell when someone is taking advantage.

My suggestion would be to start talking Dr's into becoming contracted providers to a coop. That is, a primary care physician would work mostly for the coop members. Members would pay regular fees and would be entitled to some level of care. This would be for-cash work, so prices would stay reasonable.

The big issue is catastrophic coverage. I'm not sure how to work that (and that is what Obama wants to get rid of).

The idea is very ill formed to date. But it seems to me we ought to be able to create local private structures that are fraternal organizations, not insurance companies. Then when we tell the IRS to buzz off, we don't have health insurance, we have a fallback.

Anyone have any thoughts or experience in this regard?

[sometime lurker]

My suggestion would be to start talking Dr's into becoming contracted providers to a coop. That is, a primary care physician would work mostly for the coop members. Members would pay regular fees and would be entitled to some level of care. This would be for-cash work, so prices would stay reasonable.

The big issue is catastrophic coverage. I'm not sure how to work that (and that is what Obama wants to get rid of).

A very interesting idea. Some physicians already do something like this, the "concierge practice" physicians. I was surprised when I found their fees weren't that bad compared to what one would think. They vary with the services offered, but the low end ones were $1000 - $2000 per year. (High end ones can go really high, but that involves the doc traveling with you, or accompanying you to every test, etc.) The big problem would indeed be catastrophic coverage. Physician fees are not the biggest piece of the pie, rather hospitalizations, treatments and drugs for expensive illnesses. If someone can figure out how to work that one, they'd earn undying thanks of many.

[Paine in the Neck]

Another idea - why don’t Indians open cash-only hospitals or health insurance businesses on their land? They are sovereign nations outside of US taxation, are they not?

This is a superb idea and has the beneficial selling point to the Indians that it will vastly improve health care on the reservations for the Indians themselves.