4 Responses to “What She Said”

1. David in Cal Says:
   February 25th, 2010 at 1:37 pm

   Sorry I couldn’t bring myself to listen to Weiner’s entire talk, but here are two points to keep in mind

   1. Health insurance companies are making only moderate profits — something under 5%. I favor allowing interstate sales of health insurance in order to increase competition, but we shouldn’t expect large drops in cost to result.

   2. The biggest part of health insurance that isn’t working is Medicare and Medicaid. Of course, those programs are working now, but acuarial projections show that they will eventually grow so large as to eat up the entire federal budget. If we add a Medicare-like program for all Americans, the economic disaster will come that much more quickly. One need only follow what’s happening right now in Greece to see what America is in for. It isn’t pretty.

2. Shaun P. Says:
   February 25th, 2010 at 3:24 pm

   “The biggest part of health insurance that isn’t working is Medicare and Medicaid. Of course, those programs are working now, but acuarial projections show that they will eventually grow so large as to eat up the entire federal budget.”

   You left out a part - if we don’t cut costs, and if taxes stay at the same level they are today. Both things are going to have to change in the future, and the cost-cutting is going to have to be shared by all the players in the health industry: doctors, nurses, hospitals, medical device companies, billing companies, administrative people, insurance companies, drug companies. Because the money is absolutely going somewhere, and we pay more for less than anywhere in the civilized world.

   In any case, our patchwork of private-for-profit health insurance and care has its costs going up far faster than Medicare/Medicaid - and will bankrupt us far faster, too.

3. David in Cal Says:
   February 26th, 2010 at 12:04 pm

   Only government insurance is leading to bankruptcy. Here’s why:

   Federal and state governments have a legal obligation to pay certain benefits for Medicare and Medicaid. They are in the process of being bankrupted, because they cannot afford these obligations. Congress could cut the benefits to what what can be afforded, but they won’t.

   OTOH private insurance can and will remain solvent by simply not covering every possible medical treatment.

   (In fact, I know of one case where the federal government is reducing coverage in a sneaky way. An expensive medical device that will help my wife is no longer covered by Medicare, because they made a bogus finding that the device was not effective.)

4. Mike K Says:
   March 2nd, 2010 at 12:01 pm

   @David: Wow, that’s a maze of contradictions. I don’t understand: are you against public AND private insurance?

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