FecalFace said:
GDaddy said:
I support the idea of more competition in the market.
I think that if people want the government to compete in the market then let's try that , but as a GSE (Government Sponsored Enterprise) not as a taxpayer-funded agency. As in, compete on a level playing field. If a Health Care GSE can outperform private enterprise then that's great. If not, it is what it is.
The notion that the vendors and insurers will magically bring their prices down if there's a competition is naive at best.
Unless there's government regulation in place, nothing will change.
And yes, public option needs to exist but cannot have the profit as a motivating factor.
That's why we have the expensive, unaffordable mess of a healthcare that we have.
I think prices will come down, at least for healthy 20-30 somethings, if one of these things happen:
We can tell people with expensive conditions to FOAD. (pre-existing conditions, and lifetime maximums)
We can tell old people they can be charged much, much more than 3x what a healthy 18 year old pays.
We can all buy ripoff plans that cover basically nothing, from whatever the shittiest state is. My money is on Alabama or Mississippi.
Seems pretty clear that the ACA is great if you're not worth keeping alive (in the income/actuarial sense) or you have no money, and utterly worthless everywhere else.