Reply #33: Step-by-step strategy for achieving universal health care?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

You asked for it; you've got it.

Allow any legal resident of the U.S. to buy into Medicare on a sliding scale based on income, but with the top price less than that levied by private insurance companies.


This would accomplish three things:

1) Achieve universal health care
2) Help keep Medicare solvent
3) Give the insurance companies incentives to offer better service and lower prices (something they have NO incentive to do now)*

*I know you're in Minnesota, SaveElmer, and in this state, self-employed people have a choice of being screwed over by either Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Health Partners, or Medica, all of which charge roughly the same rates and provide lousy service to patients and doctors alike.

Oh, they talk a good game. Their brochures would have me believe that their only concern is my well-being. They'll even send me a free pedometer! But when you actually deal with them, it becomes clear that their first concern is profit, and if they help you stay healthy, it's purely by accident. Oh, and if you should ever actually need their miserable coverage, your premiums will go up.

And the much-touted Health Savings Accounts? Rrrright! Pay the same premiums as for a conventional policy AND put $200 a month into a savings account for health care only? What planet are those people living on?

I'm not the only one in this predicament. Sunday night I was at a social gathering of mostly middle-aged people, and they're ALL fed up with their insurance companies.

Bold action on this front, with the slogan, "Never argue with an insurance company again" will win votes.