Originally Posted By: Krijack
I have a work associate (we are all self employed) that bought 1 of the only 2 policies that was available to us in Washington state at the time. She ended up with cancer and the ensuing costs sucked up all the benefits under the policy, took about another million or so, then bankrupted her family. In our system, having the best insurance couldn't help her from financial ruin. The kicker is, she was told that there was no hope, but the care ended up saving her.
So, how do we keep good care but keep people from social ruin and protect the poor. I think the best choice would be to start with some kind of government provided insurance with a deductible based off income and wealth. For the very poor, it might be a $5 co-pay and go up. This provides incentive to not over use it for the very poor and protects the very rich. Private insurance could still exist, as they could provide the basic insurance against the deductable needed for the middle income or higher wage earners. Not much different then it is now, but provides a means for everyone to get insurance and protects people from financial ruin if a catastrophic illness occurs.
An immigrant friend of mine got a real good deal on a car a few years ago. He was a little skeptical so he asked the owner why they were selling it. The seller told him that his wife had cancer and they needed the money fast to continue her treatment and that he was selling off whatever he could. He looked at me, and said " I thought America was supposed to be the greatest nation in the world. Even in my third world country we had a better system."


An advanced civilized society would have a national health care system. I'd like to see something along the lines of the Oregon Health Plan proposed back in 1993. It's a basic health plan that covers most things (a list of about 450). It's not a platinum plated plan, so people who could afford to would supplement it with some personal health insurance. Kind of like what I have now, with Medicare plus a supplemental plan that I purchase to cover the rest.

The rich would still have the best health care because they can afford a more expensive plan or simply pay out of pocket. The rest of us would supplement with a "middle class" supplemental plan to cover what Basic Health might not. And the poor, well at least they would have basic health coverage.