Another chance to argue over American health care.

If Geico handled changing the oil in your car, it would cost $150 by the time all of the referrals, paperwork & everything else was settled.

If you paid the doctor yourself, out of a tax-sheltered account, it would cost more like $50-75.

Our system IS broken, but it's because it's a private system that is run exactly like a government program. Go through a bunch of paper-pushers, bureaucrats and make sure someone else pays the final bill. Doctors, nurses & hospitals charge a ton for two reasons -- 1) malpractice insurance (could be helped with tort reform), and 2) they can get away with it, because *you* only pay 10-20% of the final bill.

Get rid of the 17 layers of bureaucracy, and we'd have a cheaper, more efficient system that delivers better care.

Remove competition, and you'll end up with a third-rate system where you have to sit in line for months to get routine care, and watch your care get more substandard as you get older (and not as "important" to society, as has happened in Britain).

 

Sorry, I just don't buy that if we cut out insurance, doctors are going to all of a sudden slash their rates.

And I'd be a lot more inclined to support tort reform if doctors would assure that they weren't going to screw up. Because they do, I like having the system in place. Nobody can seem to come up with a system whereby legitimate cases get the respect they deserve, and nonlegitimate ones get cast aside.