Quote:
Originally Posted by ngdawg
Opinion or fact?
I've had maybe ONE excellent coverage provided by an employer.
We shop around for life insurance, car insurance, home insurance...we should be able to shop around for health insurance. At $5700 a year, ours basically sucks and we are allowed two choices-take it or leave it. Those choices apply anywhere, too.
I'm not saying either "plan" is better, but someone sure needs to bring back reasonably affordable coverage and give US options, not the government, not employers.
If one is poor enough, one can get pretty good medical care and not pay a dime; we pay over $100 a week and get crap. I'm still paying off medical bills from 2006 that my insurance wouldn't cover either because, even with an HMO, we had a deductable or the doctor didn't file his claim in "a timely manner".
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From polls and surveys I have seen.
Here is a Gallup poll from last year. While it is not limited to employer based plans, since such plans represent about 70% of the market, IMO, it is reasonable to draw conclusions from the results.
I know that polls are only opinions, not fact, but they offer a better snapshot than single anecdotal experiences.
Eighty-three percent of Americans rate the quality of healthcare they receive as excellent or good.
Majority of Americans Satisfied With Their Healthcare Plans
-----Added 1/10/2008 at 06 : 20 : 33-----
Quote:
Originally Posted by aceventura3
This assumes a few things, one being a one plan fits all approach.
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This also assumes most employers offer only one plan. That may be the case for small business employers...and even in those cases, it would likely be a bit more affordable or a bit more comprehensive than their employees could find on the opne market....even more so if small business could create and join pools as Obama's plan proposes.
My organization, with about 100 employees, and probably typical of many companies/organizations of similar size (or larger) offers a choice of 4 plans with different types/levels (HMO, PPO...) of coverage and cost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by roachboy
i would think that an adapted version of the french model (free access to basic health care, manditory insurance for more intensive care with price controls on insurance companies) would fit with your position quite nicely, otto.
the problem with debate in the states is that the alternative model is typically the english, which isn't anywhere near as good or as flexible as the french model.
free access to basic health care creates an incentive to be proactive---it pays for the system to keep folk out of the system--so the system is far more geared around proactive health care than is the american system.
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rb..I agree. That would be my ultimate goal as well.
But with more than 150 million currently served by employer based plans, I dont think we can get there from here in the short term without major disruption.