Sunday Musings on Health Care

I was struck by two stories this weekend on how broken our health care system is and how the Affordable Health Care Act is a step in the right direction, but needs improvement.  Yet the GOP fails to describe what they will do to fix it beyond simply saying the private sector can do it if people are free to choose.  Of course, it is precisely that part of the health care system that is most dysfunctional.

High deductible plans are good because they force the individual to pay attention to costs.  Yet, it is very difficult for even a intelligent person to know if costs are accurate and what or where alternatives might be in non-crisis events.  This Saturday article describes the problems and what are the broad spectrum of undereducated to do when the educated have such problems.

Hospital billing errors and difficulty discovering and correcting


Here is an article on how the uninsured costs enter the system and introduces us to how a failure to be able to obtain health insurance due to pre-existing conditions is a direct cause of higher insurance premiums for everyone who has health insurance.  We pay for their care with our insurance premiums.

Uninsured Get Treated in ER and more

So what would I do?  Well I for one would just as soon have a single payer plan with premiums means tested and allow for those who can afford it to buy supplemental policies. But we don't have that and will not with whatever the Supreme Court decides this week.  We need for the GOP to put forth some actual health care policies that consider how we will cover the uninsured's costs in a non-ER setting.