dmallord
Humble Hobbit
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2020
- Posts
- 5,208
For a fellow who has had his share of illnesses and degenerative issues, you shouldn't be one to complain about how the healthcare system has worked to support you.The real problem with insurance is that it's billed as being a "cost sharing" program. Unfortunately, what's happened is that the sickest are spreading the cost of their care onto the healthy in a greater proportion than the rest of the insureds are receiving from the programs. It has, in effect, become a bail out system for the least productive of society at the expense of the productive.
I have no solution. Going back to cash only isn't going to work because the pharmaceutical and medical research companies can't operate under the model. Mandating coverage like Obamacare tried to do only results in higher costs to the consumer as more bloat and greed take over the system.
Framing the sick as “the least productive” isn’t analysis — it’s contempt. Nobody chooses to get cancer, break their back, or be born with a chronic illness. Insurance exists because sooner or later every one of us will end up in that hospital bed, and when that day comes, we’ll be thankful others were paying in while they were healthy. That’s not a bailout — that’s how risk-sharing works.
The real bailout is happening at the top. Insurers, drug companies, and private equity outfits rake in billions while patients argue among themselves over who’s “productive” enough to deserve care. That’s the cost-shifting worth calling out. If we’re serious about fixing healthcare, the focus should be on breaking the stranglehold of profiteers, not blaming people who got sick.