(10-29-2018, 03:00 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote:

(10-29-2018, 02:20 PM)MalabarJag Wrote: I'm old enough to remember healthcare prices that were determined by the doctor, before Medicare sent them skyrocketing. The pre-ACA prices were already badly inflated because of government meddling.

Obamacare may have covered a few more people who didn't have a job, but the changes in our insurance cost us $4500 more in the first year after Obamacare.

Getting government out of health care entirely is 100% the right answer for lowering costs. (of course our rulers would never let that happen)

I do believe we should have a safety net of some sort, there is definitely a place and interest for us to protect the vulnerable and thereby protect the public health. We still absolutely do not have a health care problem, we have a health care financing problem, and that kind of problem only gets worse when the government gets involved. The best way for this to imprvoe is to realign the market incentives to create a robust individual market and allow the private sector to provide for all customers, not just large groups, but that will never be the intentions of the government.

What you just described is literally what the Obamacare health care marketplace does for anybody who earns 133% of poverty level or higher.  It creates an individual market for health care where the private sector is the only player.
The market incentives were realigned such that none of the insurers get to look at pre exisiting conditions, and very few conditions could be excluded.
It did all this while making minimal changes to large group employer coverage and Medicare.

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