Thoughts on health care reform...

Politics again! Sorry, guys.

But I've been thinking a lot about it. Obama's bill did not help, not at all. In fact, I've had more problems with my health insurance company pulling crap since it was passed than before it was...

The problem with a traditional national health service is that it ends up without enough money to care for all of the patients. Triage becomes inevitable, as does long waiting lists. People die.

The problem with the health insurance model is that the motivation of the health insurance companies is profits. They cut costs any way they can, and again, triage of sorts becomes inevitable as insurers try to stop their customers from actually using their insurance. People die.

It's clear that neither system is perfect, but what about this one.

What if health insurance could only be provided by a specific class of entity...a new form of non-profit corporation? No shareholders allowed. Bonuses to executives eliminated or strictly regulated. The insurance company would only be allowed to keep the money needed to deal with its overhead and pay its personnel. Everything else would have to go back to the patients, either in terms of lower premiums or in funding for medical research.

Or how about this one: What if the only entities allowed to provide insurance were health coops, that were owned by the patients or their employers?

Both of these take the *profit* out of health care. Nobody should be in the business of health care to make money. I don't begrudge doctors, nurses and other medical personnel a living appropriate to the level of skill they possess. I do begrudge people large profits while their so-called customers are jumping through red tape to get preventive care, going to the doctor more than is needed as a result, or just not going to the doctor at all...