Comments on: The Real Fight is Just Beginning (Limiting Individual Prerogatives, Part 1)

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:51:19 +0000

Sorry to spam, but I just wanted to point out that I think the car insurance (aka “cat health”) model would be a really good one for health insurance to follow. If I don’t change my oil then my car will be destroyed, but that doesn’t mean State Farm pays me to get my oil changed. They do pay for me to get my windshield fixed–but a shattering windshield is more immediately fatal than an unlubricated engine, and the “fix” is to squirt glue in the crack as opposed to replacing the entire windshield.

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:49:22 +0000

Fair enough; I’ll buy the book and see what the story is.

By: DrRich

DrRich — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:24:43 +0000

Density,

You are misinterpreting my plan, which actually addresses your concern explicitly. You read all about it if you buy my book (which, for a policy book, is quite a fun read) on Kindle for only $5. Or, if that’s too steep, you can read a summary of my plan, for free, here: http://guthealthcare.com/fixing-it/upper_quadrant_healthcare.html

The guy that cut his finger and got sepsis would be covered under my plan, whether he chose to go the doctor before he became septic or not.

Rich

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:37:12 +0000

“In his book, DrRich proposed a kind of universal healthcare system in which each American would be provided with catastrophic universal health insurance (which would operate under a system of open and transparent rationing), and in which Americans would then be expected to buy their more routine healthcare, as well as any non-covered healthcare they might want, themselves.”

So it would work like car insurance, then–the “insurance” is to cover an actual emergency, whereas everything else, including vital routine maintenance, is done on my own dime.

Except not, really, because it doesn’t solve the free-rider problem unless we’re willing to say “it’s your own fault” and make that stick unto death. If I cut myself, and it gets infected, and I don’t want to pay for the doctor, and I let it get so bad that I wind up in the ED with sepsis…who pays? It’s certainly a catastrophic situation but it’s also my own fault for not getting it handled earlier.

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:33:58 +0000

On the one hand, I see your point.

On the other hand, people get food stamps, and yet I can buy many more kinds of food than the stamps can purchase (and I can buy more food overall.)

But on the other other hand, nobody’s saying that beer and shrimp are necessary for survival, whereas very few would be willing to look at a medical service that would improve their quality of life and say “meh, I guess I can do without that”.

By: There Are Only Four Ways To Reduce Healthcare Spending - Better Health

There Are Only Four Ways To Reduce Healthcare Spending - Better Health — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:03:19 +0000

[...] to pay for at least some of their own healthcare with their own money. For reasons DrRich has laid out previously, it is imperative under Method Two that all healthcare decisions and all healthcare spending be [...]

By: Morris The Grey

Morris The Grey — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:29:19 +0000

But I don’t want those ugly Obamacare glasses I want those funny cool glasses. All my previous glasses I use the medicare for and when I finally got my $8 per hour job at a landscaping company I bought my funny cool glasses. Does this mean the government’s think I’m rich now? I work hard for those glasses.

People need to understand that healthcare is a luxury. If somebody wants added peace of mind then its their money. Now I’m afraid I might get punish for buying glasses and be resciss and rationed by obamacare for my medical history of taking allergy medicine. Aw geez, maybe some med detective is reading this. Cool website it’s just its making me paranoid.