Healthcare Revisited
OK, there is a lot of debate about the public option specifically. So why do I think the public option is a good idea? It’s not because it will be cheaper – actually, I don’t really care whether it’s cheaper or not. The biggest issue for me is about trust. Do you trust a for-profit company to do what’s best for you? I don’t. They are obligated to do whatever they can get away with to improve their profit margin. The public insurance company would not be so obligated. I think they would be more accountable and provide better care. The government is also pretty expert at weeding out fraudsters, so I don’t think fraud would be a huge issue.
The other issue under debate is the cost. I don’t really see why this has to be a recurring cost to the taxpayer. It will cost a bit to start it up, but I think after that it should be run like any other insurance company – keep adjusting the premiums (basing them on individual risk) in order to keep the program self-sustaining. I don’t envision the public option as a government-subsidized health care plan and I don’t think Obama does either. It will actually LOWER the cost to the taxpayer and to hospitals because they won’t have to absorb the costs of people who don’t have health care.
So what is the real argument against the public option? Conservatives are worried that everyone will jump ship to the public option and the private insurance companies will get fucked. And this might be true – however, you can’t deny that they have 100% brought it on themselves. Insurance companies have a terrible reputation because they fight tooth and nail to find any excuse to avoid paying for what they should. It’s no surprise that people don’t trust them, and that people will move to an option they can trust.
Which means that the private insurance companies won’t be able to just compete on price (which, given their enormous profit margins, they could certainly afford to do). They will have to compete on honesty and customer service. They will have to rebuild their reputations and make up for all the times they have fucked Americans in time of greatest need. They will have to discard their unconscionable greed and provide an actual service instead of just taking people’s money and refusing to follow through on their end of the bargain. And that is the point of the public option. It’s not an attempt to socialize American healthcare. It’s the only way to force the insurance companies to be good for us – because you can’t regulate greed.
And as a final thought – why can’t we let the free market take care of the insurance corruption? Surely Americans can vote with their wallet and pick the honest guys on their own? Unfortunately, this is impossible – by the time you’ve realized your insurance company isn’t going to be fair to you, it’s too late. Because by this time, you are already sick. No other insurance company will have you. You’re stuck with who you picked, and you have to bend over and take whatever they give you. This is not a free market. So don’t treat it like one. You can either try to regulate the hell out of it (not a free market solution) or you can create a highly accountable public option to regulate by competition (free market solution). No matter what your political orientation is, the public option is the best way to fix the corruption and make America healthier.