Let’s hear some ideas. That’s what this forum is for.
I say coverage does not begin for any pre-existing condition until 6-12 months after policy begins. That may help keep people from not getting insurance until after they are diagnosed with a “significant” chronic illness.
Also, if you already have coverage through work and you lose your job you should be allowed to keep that coverage as long as you want, but you need to cover full cost (your share and the portion your job was covering). But I am not sure how the pooling would work, it probably isn’t fair to keep you in employer’s pool, so there may need a separate pool (but then probably only the high cost holders would stick around).
Somehow most of these uninsured and still getting the medical treatment they need (i.e. charities, hospitals waiving charges, the government). There should be savings elsewhere than can be channeled to these pools. Companies may be willing to contribute to a general fund for high risk unemployed if it means savings elsewhere. And hospital/docs may be willing to contribute if tort reform lowers malpractice costs.
I’d probably also jack up co-pays and deductibles to keep people from going to doctor for every minor ailment (like me).
Let’s hear some ideas. That’s what this forum is for.
It is all about the math. Sadly, liberals tend to emote rather than deal with the math in an honest manner. By definition, insurance can only offer protection at reasonable rates when it covers rare, unpredictable events spread over a population where the likelihood of collecting is slim. Think of homeowners' insurance covering loss by fire.
Health insurance worked originally because it covered only catastrophic conditions that were rare. As technology improved, more care became possible and expensive and people expected to actually need payment. It ceased to become "insurance" but a prepayment plan. All this has been exacerbated by "cost shifting" to pay for health care for the "poor" who do not contribute to the system. Without some kind of cap on payments or much higher premiums based upon true actuarial risk, the system will simply collapse.
The inconvenient truth is that health care expenditures have grown at a rate that is far greater than the growth of national production, wages, or tax receipts (the last three are taken as some kind of measure of ability to pay.) These are rapidly diverging exponential functions and any system based on such mathematical divergence cannot continue. The question is not if it will fail, but when.
To make matters worse, within the few days since the passage of ObamaCare, insurance companies have already announced significant rate hikes and ATT has already announced a $1B charge for 1Q10 to pay for the costs. This suggests that the "great sucking sound" of jobs leaving the US because of ObamaCare will make NAFTA look like a non-event.
1) Deport the illegals. I don't think it is mere coincidence that the government cites 45M "uninsured" while there are close to 25M illegals here. 2) Get back to fundamentals. Structure insurance policies so that people can chose between coverage for catastrophic events while leaving the frills as options ("mental health" coverage, cosmetic coverage, etc.). Use the government "safety net" ONLY for the truly needy and ONLY for catastrophic events.