Quote:
Originally Posted by MS Fowler
I'd support removing all (State-imposed) restrictions on competition between the insurance companies. Let every company offer policies in every state.
|
I can't think of a good reason not to do this.
Quote:
|
I think I'd like to see them use a single pool of all members rather than so many groups for policies--but I can be swayed on that. Using a single pool would seem to make the rates a lot more transparent--we collected this much--we paid out this much, and our executives, investors and sales staff got this much.
|
Ok, I'll admit I'm something of an insurance dummy. What does "single pool" mean?
Quote:
|
I think I'd like to see some sort of two-tier coverage where individuals would pay, out-of-pocket for routine vists, ( maybe with a tax credit below a certain income), and then catastrophic coverage for the big expenses. Again, I am willing to listen to arguments on both sides of this.
|
That sounds good. I'm accustomed to thinking of insurance as something to protect you from a large and unexpected "Oh s---" type event. Preventive maintenance simple doctor visits for relatively minor ailments and injuries don't fall into that category. I think something along the lines of a plan where you pick your deductible and your premium comes down the higher your deductible is would be a good idea, especially for people like me who seldom go to doctors, but want coverage in the event of a bad car wreck or something like that.
Quote:
|
There is nothing wrong with medical savings accounts where employers pay a % of income into a fund, and whatever the employee doesn't spend, they get to keep. You'd have to structure it so that people would not be tempted to ignore legitimate HC expenses so that they might get the cash back.
|
Sounds reasonable to me, but why bother? If we went over to a national sales tax instead of an income tax (as has been brought up here), then all savings are tax free money until you spend it. Saving up for any kind of unexpected expense, and not just medical expenses would be encouraged.
Edit: Oops, national sales tax came up on the Coffee Party thread. These political threads are starting to look alike.