Any attempt at healthcare reform that fails to recognize the interests of the major players, esp the ins companies, is doomed to fail worse than Hillarycare did.
Any attempt at health care reform that does “recognize” the interests of the insurance companies will be pointless.
And that all or nothing attitude is why we never get anywhere with providing universal healthcare in this country. (It reminds me of the old PLO and still Hamas saying that any plan that recognizes Israel is pointless.)
What is the point to you? To me the point is to provide every American with decent healthcare in an affordable manner. A Canadian style system could do that, a British style system could. But neither will happen here. They just won’t. OTOH a healthcare system that uses the insurance companies and recognizes their interests as well can happen here and can provide affordable universal coverage, if the incentives are set right.
The insurance companies are big. They are powerful. They are not intrinsically evil. And any plan that takes them on as the enemy and moreso an enemy that you won’t even give a seat at the table to, that you won’t acknowledge or consider the interests of, will accomplish nothing other than dooming us to more of the same crap we’ve got.
Sorry for the hijack.
Deseid - interesting you should mention Israel in a post about healthcare (albeit in a metphorical fashion). Has any American politician examined the Israeli healthcare system? It’s pretty much as you suggested: healthcare is provided by private insurance companies, while the premiums are paid for by the government - after the government sets the rates and the basic