Robustian wrote:Ok, now how to correct things? First, the proper application of INSURANCE. Like any service, it should be retailed to you. That is, you pick someone, investigate whether you like them or not, inquire the price, and shop around if you don't like it.
This is the part of the argument that gets me. It sounds logical. But the whole process falls apart on one question: How do you know?
For instance, suppose you need to go to a dentist. If you incredibly disciplined, you'd have picked one out years in advance. But if you're like 90%+ of Americans, you don't even start looking until the toothache kicks in. So, how do you make a knowledgeable selection? Call 1-800-DENTIST? They'll give you a list of dentists in your area that have paid to be listed with 1-800-DENTIST. They'll tell you what school they graduated from (maybe). They'll tell you how long they've been in practice (maybe). And that's pretty much it. Nothing in all that to tell you if he's any good. Nor does it tell you how much the dentist charges for different procedures. You have to ask the dentist directly to get that info. Which he won't do unless you go in for an initial "consultation". Which is to say, $75 that will be knocked off the actual procedure -- provided it's done by _that_ dentist. And how do you know that all those ancillary problems he "finds" when he makes his exam are things that really, really need to be fixed right away? Or is he just mining your wallet? So, expand your search to the internet? Names and location, and at most, as much information as you got from 1-800-DENTIST, at best. Still nothing to tell you how good the dentist is. Check with friends and relatives? How much do you trust their judgment? And how well do they know about how their dentist stacks up compared to other dentists?
And after hours or days of "research", do you know if you've researched enough? What quality of info have you derived? Do you know if your choice is [i]good at what he does? Are his fees the lowest you could find? How do you _know_?
And you expect everyone to research the entire medical field -- in advance -- for every injury or disease that may require the services of a specialist? Like it's something so simple, any 12-year-old should be able to do a good job of it.
Something like .29% of Americans were doctors in 2004. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-percent-of ... mprise.htm) The large majority of the rest of us are perhaps competent enough to know 1) "I don't feel so good" and 2) "I want someone to make me feel better." Beyond that, we'd rather not have to "research" to guess at who should fix us. Ideally, it would be a matter of: Go to hospital/clinic. See/be seen by a medical professional. Get appropriate treatment/medication. Go home. The closer we get to that, the MUCH happier we'll be.
We see news reports, movies, and read articles of how well government-managed healthcare works in other countries. In balance, we hear rants from opponents to government-managed healthcare that amounts to, "Don't believe that! Why, I've heard stories...." And beyond that, what we hear is that "Our government can't be trusted to do as well. So we should stick with what we've got now until the right changes occur at some vague, nebulous, unspecified time in the (far distant) future."
[My, _that_ was cathartic!]
