the new health care?

[GhettoDogAllStars]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

After reading Joe's post I guess I'll ask this...

Is not our FUNDAMENTAL problem in this country something that has nothing to do with costs and insurance companies but more to do with our attitude about health care and about insurance?

The debate about whether health care is a right is one that I think really has no concrete answer but it seems to me we want to be able to provide everyone with Ferrari health care. At least philosophically. And to compound it we (massive generalization here) treat insurance not like real insurance but more like a sugar daddy. In a real economic market some people can afford Ferraris and some can afford Hondas. Both get you from place to another. In neither case do we pay in just a little over time to be able to get either of them. Shouldn't we change our mindsets to read insurance as simply disaster prevention? We should need to pay for basic medical care as we have to pay for basic groceries to live. I know this drives incentive to not go to the doctor but if we reduce demand on Medical care doesn't it lower the price? I knwo this is simplistic to the max but it just strikes me that we as a society rely on health insurance to just pay for everything and that drives everything out of whack right up the line.

I think a Health Savings Account is just that. Small stuff (i.e.: basic medical) you pay for yourself, and big stuff (i.e.: non-basic medical) is covered by insurance. There is incentive to avoid unnecessary doctor visits, because you have to pay for it yourself. However, you don't have to worry about not being able to cover the big stuff.