bigdog, we already have waits, bad service, and no accountability with our present non-system. Try and get rid of an insurance company CEO. We can vote our members of Congress out.
We need the competition a single-payer system will bring. All doctors will have to compete for our business under such a system. Maybe then they will learn to think in terms of customer service.
Now, we don't have choice of providers. We are stuck with the ones who are on insurers' list of providers. The present competition between insurance companies is meaningless to the consumer. They all stink because they are in business to make a profit, nothing else. Making a profit and providing good health care are mutually exclusive.
As for innovation, we do not have a monopoly on it. Many of the large pharmaceutical companies with a presence in the US that are practically household names (think Bayer aspirin) are actually European. Also, it has been shown that more innovation occurs in areas where HMOs are less prevalent.
Hashing out health care
bigdog, we already have waits, bad service, and no accountability with our present non-system. Try and get rid of an insurance company CEO. We can vote our members of Congress out.
We need the competition a single-payer system will bring. All doctors will have to compete for our business under such a system. Maybe then they will learn to think in terms of customer service.
Now, we don't have choice of providers. We are stuck with the ones who are on insurers' list of providers. The present competition between insurance companies is meaningless to the consumer. They all stink because they are in business to make a profit, nothing else. Making a profit and providing good health care are mutually exclusive.
As for innovation, we do not have a monopoly on it. Many of the large pharmaceutical companies with a presence in the US that are practically household names (think Bayer aspirin) are actually European. Also, it has been shown that more innovation occurs in areas where HMOs are less prevalent.
July 14, 2008 at 5:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )