From the Boston Globe
“…the chiefs of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler went to Washington to meet with the president and supported a suggestion John Kerry proposed during his presidential campaign: a reinsurance arrangement to pay for chronic or catastrophic healthcare costs, thereby effectively taking those cases out of private health-insurance plans.
…The Plan called for having the federal government pay three-quarters of the additional expenses for patients whose healthcare costs exceed $50,000 a year, provided savings from that cost relief helped reduce health-insurance premiums.
Removing those costs from private plans could have big effects. Although they constitute less than 1 percent of all cases, catastrophic care accounts for 20 to 30 percent of healthcare expenses.
If the government were to pick up most of the bill for catastrophic care, health-insurance premiums wouldn’t be under such constant pressure. According to some estimates, premiums would be 10 percent lower than if private plans continued to pay for such care.
Health-coverage costs are a recognized drag on US firms competing with companies from nations where health coverage is a government responsibility. It is a particularly pronounced burden in the auto industry, adding as much as $1,500 to the price of a new vehicle.
…a plan like this could cost at least $40 billion a year and could be paid for by repealing the Bush tax cuts for households earning more than $200,000.”
If we also standardize record keeping and remove competitive obstacles to interstate insurance companies we can move towards an optimal system that preserves the efficiencies of free markets with minimal government bureaucracy. I would also prefer that each individual or family own their own policy to optimize portability and responsibility.
Born 1950, Married, Living in Austin Texas, Semi
Retired Small Business owner and investor. My political interest
evolved out of his business experience that the best decisions come out of an objective gathering of information and a pragmatic consideration of costs and benefits. I am interested in promoting Centrist candidates and Policies. My posts are mostly about people and policies that I believe are part of the solution rather the problem.