editorial to read if you’re concerned about healthcare
Great editorial on medical care (“healthcare”) and insurance here in the States. Editorial is very long, but worth reading, regardless of what side of the healthcare war you’re on (and, apparently, there are only two sides, both diametrically opposed to the other).
My summary of editorial (basically corresponding with my existing opinion):
The current system of medical care in this country is already broken. Notwithstanding all of the hyperbolic debate, the government is already deeply entrenched in medical care, from arbitrary regulations defined at the federal and state levels, to insurance regulations, to the government-operated medical insurance behemoths Medicaid and Medicare. The government-sponsored market distortions would be worse with “ObamaCare” (to use the admittedly more pejorative title), but the market distorting mechanisms already exist in our current system, hence reducing innovation and greatly driving up costs to consumers.
The system is broken, and the government-sponsored initiatives (namely a “public option”) would cement our broken system rather than reform it.
Read the article for more insight, including his proposed solution, which he admits would have to be phased in over a period of many years (decades, really). I’m personally very skeptical that his (reasonable) solution will get adopted. I don’t think fears of “socialist-style medicine” will happen either, at least in the short or intermediate term. I think there are too many people tied to the status quo for any substantial reform, so for now we’ll have our current (awful) system, only to be replaced with a more socialized system (a la Britain) in the years ahead, as people really reject personal accountability (“developed world complacency,” I call it) in favor of nanny-statism. So, enjoy the current system while it still exists, and stuff money into that HSA; you’ll need it.