I agree. Its a train wreck that should have been avoided. Part of my point is I don't think there's any way to put the genie back in the bottle and if Republicans make changes without really fixing the root issues they're going to own the Democrat's train wreck from there on.
What irritates me is that it probably would have been cheaper to leave the old system in place and just pay for those who didn't have insurance or couldn't afford care--which we did to a point, anyway.
What was sold to the American people (or used as a suppository) wasn't health CARE...
it was universal health INSURANCE.
Anyone who does the math, who is healthy, will tell you in a heartbeat that the cost of insurance will far outstrip the cost of actual health CARE.
Those were the calculations we made when insurance for my family of four would have cost 18K a year (plus deductibles and copays), and actual health care over five years had been under 7K a year, paying out of pocket all the way.
Beyond that factoring, though, comes the unexpected misfortune, injury, or illness, and these are the reason people carry insurance--effectively 'betting' the worst will happen, and that their costs for care would have exceeded the cost of the insurance, much the same as carrying full coverage on a vehicle, betting it will be damaged, or hedging the investment in case of theft or destruction.
For those who did not have insurance under that system, it likely would have been cheaper to establish a base rate which covered the expenses of the hospitals or doctors, equipment, etc. at a reduced but not nonprofit rate, which paid for the costs of services plus a small profit for the hospitals or medical facilities. It is profit which provides for maintenance and the next upgrade in equipment or facilities, and if it isn't there, care will be stuck in a rut or degrade.
But no, by its nature, providing health insurance to the masses adds in another layer of expense (and profit) instead of just paying the bill. After all, the insurance people need to be paid, too, and their equipment will need to be upgraded, maintained, and replaced as well. So the option of paying for insurance is going to be more exoensive than paying for care at the onset, because there is another layer of middlemen to take a cut.
