Well, if you want to read Kristen Gerencher's article hailing a warning that there are similarities between the subprime issues and health care go to her blog. Kristen Gerencher too.http://blogs.marketwatch.com/healthmatters/2007/12/11/lessons-for-health-care-in-subprime-woes/ I think she may be onto something, but not like she thinks. She explains that as people opt to save their premium dollars by choosing high deductible insurance coverage that the "poor" employers, hospitals, doctors, and insurance companies, may find that more and more people are "defaulting" as it were on their medical payments. As I sighed in sympathy for the corporate criminals who continue to erode the possibility of health care coverage for any but the healthy individuals capable of paying them, (in other words, those unlikely to make claims) I realized that her pro corporate nonsense might be a good idea.
Why is the federal government able to act on the subprime mess? Is it really to save the consumers being destroyed by mortgage payments they can't handle for whatever reason? Or is it the corporate fallout that has piqued the interest of our government? Perhaps we should all get the high deductible plans, I mean let's face it, the insurance game has gotten to be a cost competition only in part because the complications of each plan are ignored until a real life event gives us each the wisdom we should have had to begin with in examining our "coverage." So, let's go. Purely on a "cost" basis, get the cheapest plan available and yes, that's high deductible (note, this recommendation is made somewhat sarcastically). Cool, now if you get sick, and you will, good luck. Once enough of us start being unable to pay our medical bills like many of the sickest among us already know, we'll all be in the same boat and then...then the corporations will begin whining. Hospitals won't be getting paid, doctors won't be getting paid, and perhaps the federal government will swoop into action that it has shown it is capable of like the subprime mess. And perhaps some of those ill people who have been marginalized by their illnesses will actually benefit as our government scrambles to save money for our commercial organizations. My response to the comparison made by Ms. Gerencher follows:
This article misses the point: Healthcare needs federal attention more than the subprime market–in numbers of people affected (100% of even those I never get sick types) will need some sort of care, maybe sooner than they think. The subprime market is being addressed because of the corporate impact of these bad loans—so maybe, using that reasoning, you should be encouraging everyone to get the cheapest health insurance (vis a vis high deductible) and only then will the feds jump into action to “save” the corporate insurers, hospitals, doctors and perhaps those bankrupted by health care might get a little benefit.
