re: Why do moderate dems claim a public option health plan could coexist with private plans?

quote:

---

Australia has a hybrid system. Everyone has a basic public plan and most working class and higher have an additional private plan that gives more benefits.

---

It's not just Australia, it's many countries

It works sort of like public and private schools here.

If you want the lowest common denominator service you go public.

If you want the good stuff, you go private.

quote:

---

Why do moderate dems claim a public option health plan could coexist with private plans?

---

Because they think we, the general public, are stupid.

quote:

---

Because we, the general public, are stupid.

---

FIFY

quote:

---

texridder
a want

---

quote:

---

Providers seeing reduced payments as people switch to the public plan would demand higher payment from private health plans to make up for the reduced reimbursements from the public plan

---

This is possible, but far from a given for 2 reasons:

1) The exact logic you outlined shows the folly in the strategy. If health providers continually demand higher premiums from private plans, private plans go away all together, meaning everyone is paying the lower rates. Health providers would surely prefer to have 50% of the population pay a marginally higher rate on their private plans than to have 100% of the population convert to the public option because private plans are flat out unaffordable. I strongly believe that private businesses are forward looking enough that they won’t destroy their own market through unreasonably high pricing.

2) Even if we do see health providers try to raise prices on private insurance to offset losing some customers to public options, the corresponding demand decrease should at least limit some of this impact. Think of public insurance and private insurance as substitute goods (people consume one or the other, not both). As the supply of public insurance rises, it pushes down the cost. As the cost of public insurance falls, the demand for private insurance falls as well (this is the defining characteristic of substitute goods). And decreased demand for private insurance is going to put downward pressure on its cost.


Now I’m not saying all this to argue that the public option route is the best one. Only that it’s not unreasonable to expect that private insurance can coexist alongside a public option.

quote:

---

but perhaps if looked outside your little bubble and looked at the German healthcare system you could see and answer.

Stay educated ...

---

From the viewpoint of someone outside of your little bubble, it is a near certainty you don't know what you're are talking about.

German doctors are paid about half what they are in the UK, and perhaps a third compared with Dutch docs.

So guess what? Germany suffered a continuing exodus of its best and brightest physicians for many years. It still does. The German government tries to compensate by importing docs, especially from Eastern Europe where the standard of training may be suboptimal.

Likewise, admission to medical universities in Germany used to be extremely competitive. Training spots were limited, and awarded to students with the highest grades. Not any more. German med-training has gone to an "everybody gets a trophy approach" making access possible for applicants without top grades.

Medical malpractice compensation is limited. For example, an award for unnecessary loss of limb at the hands of a poorly trained Eastern European migrant might return $25K.

Medications especially pain meds, are underprescribed, and often considered a "last-resort option." The advantage Germany otherwise enjoys in cost of meds is that the US nearly unilaterally covers pharma costs for R&D of meds Germany uses.

Meanwhile, German healthcare is not a single-payer system. Health insurance is obligatory. In fact, it is illegal to not carry health insurance. Private insurers can require that you pay your own bill, then be reimbursed for services.
E.g., It is normal to pay for prescriptions first in Germany, and then have to file for reimbursement.

Elective procedures are not covered by German insurance. Cost for them is out-of-pocket. The carrier makes the Necessary-vs-Elective call. If insurance claims your care is not medically necessary, then you're SOOL.

Any major dental work requires that you receive a cost estimate and present it to your insurer before receiving any treatment, otherwise you foot the entire bill. The law does not require coverage of pre-existing conditions. If PECs are covered, a supplemental premium is prevalent. I.e., even if you aren't denied coverage, the cost can be significant.

. . . . sometimes what you don't know can hurt you.

Stay educated ...

quote:

---

if they can co-exist (they absolutely fricking cannot) why does Bernie’s bill make third party insurance illegal?

---

Public/private systems can and do exist all over the world.

Only 2 countries with public systems have outlawed the private systems:

Canada

and

North Korea

but my understanding is that Canada has been opening up a private system in the last few years.


The reason that Bernie wants to outlaw a private is not because they can't exist side by side;

Bernie wants it outlawed due to his warped sense of mandated equality, and he wants total government control.

quote:

---

few moderate white dems post on this board

irishtiger89
texridder
a want

---

a want ran away like the coward that he is. That scummy little rat hasn’t posted in years

this is not an accident - this is the plan for government control - they are lying when they say otherwise.

quote:

---

How delusional must one be to actually think a public plan that doesn't have to make a profit or even break even doesn't have an enormous advantage over private insurance?

---

you mean the trillion off the top the private plans pocket dontcha?!