I never even considered this idea of the ‘moral hazard’. Now that it’s brought to my attention, though, I find the idea very interesting.

Also, seeing as how graduation is just a couple of months away, your posts are beginning to strike the fear of health care into me. I’m not looking forward to this.

I always wonder about the people that paint healthcare as a consumer good that can just be squandered away by irresponsible behavior. If their kid breaks an arm, do they use the opportunity to teach them a lesson about the value of insurance by not taking them to the hospital? Maybe they think, as lemoose joked, that if everyone had insurance they’d start playing redneck William Tell.

Thanks for the article link. It’s scary stuff, but it’s the kind of stuff everyone needs to be aware of.j

I read this in the new yorker and it really stuck in my mind…

Out of curiosity, did you guys find a solution to your healthcare issues? My husband and I are trying to get insurance for his small company so I can quit my dayjob someday and do what I want, but from the research he has done, it seems almost too expensive. Please update us on your search for healthcare and any advice/recommmendations you might have!

From Malcolm Gladwell’s blog:

“In our debate, Adam vigorously defended the Canadian system, and I attacked it. But wait! That was six years ago! I’ve now changed my mind. I now agree with virtually everything Adam said and disagree with virtually everything I said. In fact, I shudder when I read what I said back then.”

He totally rocks.

So here is the deal, a few of the comments so far have been a little facetious with regard to moral hazard so I want to try to explain it a little further because it is one of the main reasons health care costs are as ridiculous as they are. To preface this I have a B.S. in economics from UNT and I am currently working on my masters in Economic Research.

When moral hazard is explained it does come off sounding like people are going to behave like idiots b/c now they have insurance i.e driving 90 in a residential and “playing redneck William Tell.” But when it comes to healthcare it is not the redneck William Tells that drive up the costs. It is the way we overuse insurance. We take our kids in at every sniffle, we get regular physicals and exams of all kinds, we goto the doctor for insomnia, anxeity, irritability, coughs, sneezes, sniffles watery eyes, everything. Why? Because most of us only have to pay a $15 or $25 dollar co-pay and we get knock off drugs for ten bucks. I am not saying these are poor reasons to go to the doctor. We are all living longer and healthier lives because of it. But everything has a cost and because we often don’t see that costs we don’t think about it till something big hits us like a surgey and we see the just how expensive it can be. But even in those cases we never have to bear the full cost if we have insurance.

I believe we are seeing the rise of an industrial medical/pharmaceutical complex no different in its profit seeking goals than the industrial military complex. But in this case it is subsidized by another giant industry, the insurance companies of America, which have parasitically attached themselves to every major corporation in America. As long as their market is profitable they will push, market and sell their products at the highest possible market value. Enter the drug sales reps, joint replacement sales reps, medical tools sales reps, and a sales representative for everyother thing you see in your doctor’s office.

The medical markets are a place where Say’s Law (supply creates its own demand) seems to hold. If there is a better drug created people will want it, if there is a better less invasive surgery people will want it.

Malpractice law suits are often cited as a reason for exploding costs because they require doctors to pay large premiums for malpractice insurance (notice another area of exploding costs and once again our old buddy the insurance companies are in the back ground.) But for your average family practitioner they do not see the huge premiums because they are not practicing in a high risk environment. A misdiagnosis for a primary care physician does not have the same consequences as that of say an oncologist or an ER Doc. Since family and general practicioners make up the overwheling majority of annual doctor visits and the minority of malpractice suits this argument doesn’t hold up. But it is good for politicians who want to want to blame someone besides the insurance companies that are lining their pockets so trial lawyers end up taking the heat.

The point of this long comment is medical costs are high because of overuse. But thats not bad, we are healthier and living longer than we ever have. But everything has a price. National healthcare is not the answer. Let me say that again, National Healthcare is not the answer. If you think adding some more state/federal bureaucracy is good for anything you need to go to the DMV or your local IRS office or your local Social Security office more often. Think to yourself; do you really want the government to have the final word when it comes to your health?

I could only afford catastrophic coverage for three years while waiting for a permanent job and it absolutely changed the way I lived my life. I rarely went to the doctor, waiting out infections and illnesses and would only go to the doctor when I absolutely had to. And oh lord, the meds prescribed…all payed for out of my pocket.

I live very close Lake Tahoe and have wanted to learn how to snow board but I waited until I had full coverage. I kayak but I stuck to the flat water, again, until I had full coverage. I don’t think that’s abusive, just careful.

blurb:

You are right it is easy to discuss the problem but very difficult to see any answers. One idea that I have read about and I like is health care savings accounts. Set up in the fashion of an SEP with moderate, but safe growth. I like it because it emphasises personal responsibility and offers much more control for the account owners. I dont think it could work on its own but in tandem with catastrophic insurance or simply a standard high deductable plan. I dont like health savings accounts because it then exposes potentially life-saving, vital money to the volitility of the markets.

There is no straight forward answer and sadly I dont think we are anywhere near a national breaking point where healthcare will become so crucial it demands an answer. A breaking point is when something that was standard has become so expensive that alternatives that were formerly too expensive to be viable now become acceptable substitutes. The substitutes become the standards, innovation takes place, prices drop and we are back to happy days. I think we are making our way to the top of that little innovation cycle in healthcare as well as energy. So a definite answer is, save your money because shit is going to get expensive!