10-11-2011, 07:44 AM
(10-10-2011, 11:00 PM)kandrathe Wrote: But, insurance is really boring. I think it's more important to focus on making health care cheap, and widely available.
Well the problem with the insurance situation in the Neherlands (and I guess it is the same as in the US) is that insurance companies work with certain hospitals that they choose because they do 'a good job' but most of all do it cheap....probably because they make big contracts, lowering the price.
So the client cannot choose. Now it is true that this should not be an issue if you are sure you get good care, but once money starts deciding about your health things can become really scary.
The money needs to come from somewhere.....and because there is a whole new layer of managers added into the system (who get big pay checks) we are talking about even more money. What this basically means is lowers salaries and worse working conditions for medical staff. (and in NL the base salaries of doctors are not so high as in the US to begin with).
At least when the government runs an ineffective system (employing 10 nurses while you only need 5) the extra costs go to salaries of people that need a job anyway. If a private system has higher costs, the money goes to bonuses, and commercials.
MAking health care cheap is going to be difficult when people are getting older and older. And there is a whole technical issue there (cheaper medicine, cheaper equipment etc.)