Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Perhaps We Should do away with Medical Insurance

   Tonight, I will wonder if we ought to do away with insurance. In medical care.
   As it stands, insurance is the only way we can afford to pay for our health care. If you don't have it, the only other option is indigent care -- getting taken care of and having the hospital write the expense off as a loss.
  So, if insurance is now the key to paying the bill, why am I suggesting we consider doing away with it?
  I'm just mulling on the principles of economics. We believe in something called supply and demand. And, well, insurance companies increase the supply of money that is available to pay for medical care. While the average person has little supply of money, the insurance companies pump up the supply tremendously.
   So, the medical providers demand more. They can see more money is available, so they require more money.
   What if there were no insurance? What if no one could afford to pay $40,000 for a surgery? The law of supply and demand says the price would come down. Whatever people could afford to pay, that is where the price would settle.
   I know there are other considerations here. We also need to have a system where everyone can afford health care. Without insurance, would that happen? How would we get care to the indigent? I know this question needs to be addressed, as well. But, as for lowering medical costs, I can only wonder if exiting the insurance business is the answer. I think if we studied the rise in the cost of medicine going back a couple centuries. We might find a connection to the advent of insurance and the spread of insurance.

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