Why Private Auto Insurance Works for Everybody and Private Health Insurance Does Not

Healthcare reform proposed by the Federal Government may actually eliminate affordable medical insurance from the private sector entirely.
While publicly funded healthcare may seem to create affordable medical insurance for more Americans, it may actually create a bigger problem.

There's also the issue of elasticity of demand. With normal goods, one can simply decide not to purchase. The same is not true of health care. Dying is not a viable economic choice. As a result, those companies involved in providing or facilitating health care can charge as much, often even more, than the market will bear.

Many people defer preventive care because they can't afford it. Even with a copay, it's too expensive for some folks to be able to pay for the doctor and the medical tests involved. When I had my first preventive colonoscopy, it cost me over $500 out of pocket. And I had good health insurance. But for a secretary making $33000 a year, $500 is a great deal of money.

Now, since I was laid off last year, I have no health insurance. I've been deferring doctor visits and bloodwork until the doctor wouldn't refill my meds anymore.

In the meantime, private insurance companies are making record profits.

I agree something needs to be done. The existing system does not work but the government has proved to be incompetent at EVERYTHING, even those things that government is supposed to be good at. It looks like a no win situation to me. Where's Captain Kirk when we need him.

As a Canadian who only has lived in a single payer system, I wonder if the US has the kind of societal consensus necessary to make the tough decisions that a single payer system must. American society seems polarized on many issues that are central in a single payer system - contraception, abortion, "futile" care, assisted reproduction, etc.

South Korea is not a communist/marxist nation. Actually I don't think there are any real communist countries left. China clearly is not really communist, and the healthcare system there is sorely lacking.
Since communism/marxism has proven to fail into simple feudalism, it will probably be as unable to provide decent health insurance as the Corporate feudalism which masquerades as capitalism in America today. The countries which have the best healthcare systems as evidenced by low infant mortality rates, long lifespans, and low levels of untreated epidemic and endemic diseases seem to be the ones with capitalist-based highly democratic semi-socialist governments.
I don't trust governments to do anything right, but I trust Corporations even less. At least government as practiced now in America is somewhat transparent and must eventually answer to the folks who elect the politicians. Corporations are entities which are legally created to shield their directors from liability for their actions, and whose goals are specifically the merciless creation of maximum profits. Either capitalism or communism, when not regulated by a self-interested and self-serving electorate, will fall quickly into feudalism, in which a few overlords hold control over most property, and everyone else winds up serving them.
No matter the name of the governing system, the core of getting good healthcare will be weeding the parasites and predators out of the system.
Sadly, it seems many of our politicians have their hands in the pockets of the parasites and predators.
Thermal

New Age Cowboy said;
June 30, 2009 10:32 PM
Gus, I lived in South Korea. I was an English teacher there. I thought I had testicular cancer and had to access the government health care via my employer. It was awesome: cheap and thorough. I didn't even need any appointments or referrals.
I dunno. Americans are suckers for capitalism. I'm starting to think that I'm a Communist/Marxist. I do enjoy benefits of marketed technologies, but at what cost to necessities?

Franco is right - as health insurance demonstrates. What keeps it from happening with autos and such is genuine competition and genuinely big pools.

I notice that even the libertarians that occasionally comment on this blog have done nothing to challenge the logic of this post! Nor have they in other venues where I've challenged them. Ignoring an argument you can't defeat is the best approach if purity trumps truth.

As to conservative opponents - they abandoned any concern with truth a long time ago.