The Daily Show Nails Why Health Care Will Never Work As A Free Market

Gary is completely right on having access to healthcare. My fiancée makes about 20% over the median household income for my area-so basically average. I made 5X that last year. Her employer provided coverage blows mine out of the water. Mine was also much worse compared to hers years ago when we were both making less-and she was making $10/hr at the time.

Her Pentasa would have run $10 per month (we checked) while I was paying $70-and she made 10 bucks an hour, ~$20,000/year.


And we live in a very rural area.

"Shaz, my father owns a business and up until last year our family had an individual plan. It wasn't that expensive."

How much is not that expensive?

"The fact is, if you have any decent amount of money or a good job our healthcare system is one of the best in the world. Despite the flaws- If you're sick, the United States is the place you want to be."

Not if you care how much it costs. We pay at least 50% more than any other country and 2.6 times the first world average for healthcare and we are not in first place by any other measure. Isn't the point of "free" markets (less regulation) supposed to be that business is more efficient and product/services less costly? We have the least regulated system and it's the most expensive. Some benefit greatly from our overpriced system and are willing to pay lots of money to keep it that way. Guess who?

AZYooper said...
There is absolutely no question that higher earners are more able to pay for healthcare, have better insurance on average, better access to the best doctors and get better medical outcomes. There are actual studies that prove that.

You need a study to tell you that?

"I'm just commenting that low wage earners can have access to darn good healthcare even without Medicaid. That's all."

Like any boy can be a NFL quarterback, or that most or all low wage earners have access to darn good healthcare? You haven't shown anything with regard to medcaid. We have millions of low income people without medicaid that have very poor access to healthcare. Fact is that almost every low income person ends up on medicaid if they live past age 65.Nursing homes and assisted living would be empty without it. Most people don't know this but thought I would throw that in there.

"Yes, 'richer' people will get 'better' 'things' and ..."

In the case of healthcare, that isn't necessarily true. Wealthier people have better outcomes for many reasons. They are probably more educated and will see a doctor earlier. They might live near a better hospital/doctor than somebody on the health plan on the other side of town that charges the same. Rich Americans pay more for healthcare than rich people in other countries and aren't getting a better thing.

Levi, IMHO your ideology simply doesn't work for healthcare or your own health circumstances. I am sort of a practical person that looks at what we have and what politically possible things we can do to improve healthcare. Medicare and medicaid are not going to be repealed. Laws mandating that hospitals treat all emergency patients aren't going to be repealed either. Absent regulation, insurance would not cover preexisting conditions and companies would price most people over 50 off their policies. The individual policy market did this for years and it was because it was less regulated.


The system we have is basically insane. Most people that are happy with their care don't even know what it costs. If you choose not to buy insurance and plainly can't pay for treatment, you still get care. The cost of drugs and treatments is not published and varies by who pays the bill. The health industry is expanding services and infrastructure to cure a cost problem.Is that nuts or what? You can not change this without government. You need deregulation and more regulation at the same time. Unfortunately only one of the two parties seems interested in changing anything. Defending the current system ,let alone claiming your defense is to save free enterprise, is really despicable which is what the opposition is doing.

You do agree that absent major change the system will collapse within 20 years?

Hayden said...

AZYooper said...
There is absolutely no question that higher earners are more able to pay for healthcare, have better insurance on average, better access to the best doctors and get better medical outcomes. There are actual studies that prove that.

You need a study to tell you that?

Gary does.

"I was not only telling my personal story but the stories from all of the thousands and thousands if not tens of thousands of people with whom I have worked with over those 40 years."

But that's only a small percentage of the billions and billions of people from the lower to upper middle class. The population is 300 something million and you told one story.

Levi said...
My fiancée makes about 20% over the median household income for my area-so basically average. I made 5X that last year. Her employer provided coverage blows mine out of the water. Mine was also much worse compared to hers years ago when we were both making less-and she was making $10/hr at the time.

All that tells me is that your fiancee was lucky enough to have the right employer when it came to health insurance. But what happens if you are made redundant or if you simply want to change jobs?

I just cannot understand a healthcare system in which payment is so tied in to your place of employment. Why can't you at least have a different way of paying insurance, one that doesn't depend on your employer being benevolent?

Post Edited (NiceCupOfTea) : 1/22/2014 4:17:39 PM (GMT-7)

I dunno; never had these problems on the NHS.

"AZ, I don't think one can be on both Medicaid AND Medicare. The way I understand it is Medicaid is low income younger than 65. Medicare is for everyone 65 and older."

Then you have thought wrong. Most people on medcaid are over 65. Pretty sure most of medcaid spending goes for them also. Google " "medcaid pay down" to see how working/middle class families preserve wealth with a parent in long term care. Medicare doesn't cover long term care, and premiums, copays and drug benefit run $300+ a month or so. Medicaid pays the difference. Lots of seniors on food stamps and other welfare in addition to social security.

Medicaid before Obamacare generally covered those in poverty only if they were over 65,disabled or have minor children at home. Still true in many states due party insanity.

Post Edited (AZYooper) : 1/22/2014 7:04:29 PM (GMT-7)

NCOT-I agree the current method of having insurance tied to employment and provided through employers is ridiculous.

It really narrows my options for one thing and it is way too easy to be held hostage by the will of the majority because we do have to standardize our plans each year to a large extent with all employees.

AZ-yes I do agree the current system (ACA or pre ACA) is/was unsustainable and will collapse.

AZYooper said...
Yeah but you have to live with being a commie.

Yeah, well, I have loads of other character flaws; might as well add being a pinko liberal to the list :p

Levi said...
NCOT-I agree the current method of having insurance tied to employment and provided through employers is ridiculous.

It really narrows my options for one thing and it is way too easy to be held hostage by the will of the majority because we do have to standardize our plans each year to a large extent with all employees.

From the point of view of an outsider, it just looks like a baffling system. I know some people do well from it (as gary is at pains to keep reminding us all), but it also seems so arbitrary: as though having good insurance is literally pot luck.

I also wouldn't feel comfortable with a healthcare system that relied on employers being benevolent, since, if there is anything the industrial revolution has taught us, it's that most employers can't even bear to pay their employees a living wage without being compelled to by various government laws. #socialism#commiethinking

Anyway, I don't know how to fix our healthcare system. It works great for most people.

All I know is Obamacare is making everything worse. Ask anyone in the healthcare field. It hurts the large majority of people and helps a very small percentage.

Gary, why is universal coverage for everyone "not for us". Do citizens of the USA deserve less than other countries? The USA is still the richest country in the world, do corporations like Exxon/Mobil deserve your tax dollars more than sick fellow citizens? Obamacare may not be perfect, but it's a step towards equality for all, sick people included!