Yesterday in the mail we got a bill from our local hospital for our copay for a late-night emergency room visit. Looking at the total amount billed, the portion covered by insurance, and our copay, really got me to thinking about the health care bill being debated in the Senate.
Providing health insurance to the uninsured so they can receive proper, adequate medical care is a wonderful thing. However, the bill doesn't really address any of the causes about why health care is so expensive -- it just further shifts the costs elsewhere.
Some of those places are insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device makers. I don't think anyone can pretend that cutting into the profits of these companies, as large as they may be, isn't going to have adverse effects. Decreases in profits are almost certainly going to be offset by increasing prices, slower increases in employee compensation, and so forth. For some companies, it might also mean moving jobs outside of the country. GE Healthcare employs a lot of people in Wisconsin -- how many of those jobs would be at risk?
Further, I don't really see how the bill could do anything but increase the cost of health care. The bill would prevent insurance companies from turning applicants away, which is good, but the way it plans on using certain risk factors for pricing premiums seems inadequate. Also, preventing the capping of annual benefits -- along with continuing to have no caps on malpractice claims -- could also ultimately increase costs.
Everyone should educate themselves on what the bill is seeking to accomplish, and the means by which it would accomplish it. Time has a good article about it.
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Led Zeppelin: "Black Dog"
