GOP To Use Previously Unheard Of Tactic To Slam Dunk Trump Agenda

[DB]

I suspect, behind closed doors, Trump knows you have to have the mandate in order to keep the pre existing coverage.

Remember when he told Anderson Cooper he liked the mandate in ObamaCare?

Yes I do. And shortly after it was Trumpsplained that that was what he meant... Never mind what he actually said...

[DB]

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.

Yes, and you use to be able to buy policies only for catastrophic care without coverage for the little things which was great for generally healthy people. But that was made illegal under Obamacare. One size fits all government top down run healthcare is the only thing on the menu now...

[Smokin Joe]

Yes, and you use to be able to buy policies only for catastrophic care without coverage for the little things which was great for generally healthy people. But that was made illegal under Obamacare. One size fits all government top down run healthcare is the only thing on the menu now...

I had one, and it worked. The difference in policy prices went into a Health Savings Account, then any spillover went to a SEPP. The HSA was used to cover the small stuff, paid with pre-tax dollars. The high deductible was there for a major event. The middle came out of the HSA or out of pocket. With two dependent children, the HSA max contribution was done first, and eventually, we needed that. But after Obamacare, my insurance carrier quit offering health policies.