406
Fixable (lemmy.world)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 8 points 1 week ago

So I'll pay for the things I need and use, and let everyone else do the same.

I'll ask a question: How much of your premium do you think goes towards profits, insurance-related bureaucracy (both on the company and hospital side) and other non-care insurance items? Hint: More than a quarter of a hospital's employees are only there to handle insurance. Hint2: Some doctors—particularly in the field of mental health—find the whole thing so ridiculous that they straight up do not accept insurance.

I'm sadly aware of how ridiculous the insurance situation is. In our current legal (and legislative) environment, the fact that we don't have firm tort limits is problematic. It means that doctors who might be accused of malpractice either will do so flagrantly, or refuse to act without massive barriers (provided, of course, by the insurance companies). There are a lot of things that need to change to upset it and I think any of them would be valuable.

Reduce the public financial aid availability - schools will lower their tuition costs and fees eventually, or they'll find themselves with far less students. That way, doctors & lawyers don't end up saddled with a lifetime's worth of education debt (and side benefit - neither does anybody else).

Instate firm lifetime tort limits, so that a doctor (who's already saddled with debt) doesn't have to fear for his career with every patient. That will sharply lower insurance loss rates and payouts, which should impact premiums. Less fear for doctors, less work for lawyers, less work for actuaries.

Those two broad changes alone would fix a lot of issues.

If you do need some form of public insurance, don't insure the patients. Everyone is a patient, supporting them might not pay back. Instead, set up a government funded malpractice insurance fund for all medical (dental/psych/etc) doctors. That encourages more people to become doctors, sets a de facto limit on the insurance plan and premium, and supports the skilled and educated people we actually want.

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 3 points 1 week ago

There are a lot of things that need to change to upset it and I think any of them would be valuable.

You're missing the point. Insurance adds fat that—even setting aside the economies of scale and negotiating power inherent in a government-funded system—overshadows the amount of money you'd save by forcing poor people to go without care, to say nothing of the knock-on effects of doing so (preventive care costs less than emergency care). All your talk of torts and malpractice overlooks the inherent problem of for-profit insurance being a pointless middleman that only makes money by denying people care. There are third world countries with better healthcare access than America because of this nonsense. I'd know; I live in one of them. Americans can sustain this system because they're filthy rich, but it's inherently wasteful and in a poorer country people would already be rioting.

Reduce the public financial aid availability - schools will lower their tuition costs and fees eventually, or they'll find themselves with far less students.

Then even fewer students will be able to go to university. It's basic supply and demand.

[-] warbond@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

If I understand your position, it sounds like you're hoping that the impacts of reduced benefits will somehow trickle down to the people who are currently most affected

this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025
406 points (100.0% liked)

tumblr

4098 readers
163 users here now

Welcome to /c/tumblr, a place for all your tumblr screenshots and news.

Our Rules:

  1. Keep it civil. We're all people here. Be respectful to one another.

  2. No sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia or any other flavor of bigotry. I should not need to explain this one.

  3. Must be tumblr related. This one is kind of a given.

  4. Try not to repost anything posted within the past month. Beyond that, go for it. Not everyone is on every site all the time.

  5. No unnecessary negativity. Just because you don't like a thing doesn't mean that you need to spend the entire comment section complaining about said thing. Just downvote and move on.


Sister Communities:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS