Quote:
Originally Posted by wittynickname
I admit that I'm not a political person, so this is a genuine question:
Rather than nationalizing health care, and improving insurance coverage in that manner--why not just place strict regulations on insurance companies? Make it unlawful to drop coverage, except in very extreme circumstances. Regulate how much insurance companies are able to demand from doctors for malpractice insurance.
That doesn't mean the government is paying for the insurance, it's just making it more accessible. It's not raising taxes, it's just making it possible for working adults to get affordable health care.
I'm sure there are reasons this can't happen, but I honestly don't know, and at the moment, am far too lazy to look it up.
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I like some of your suggestions. There has been some talk about restricting the amount a person can sue a doctor/hospital. It has been floated a few times by Republicans but, there seems to be an effective lobby against it in both parties. I think it would help if people stopped electing lawyers to represent them in government. Just imagine how low insurance rates would go across the board if lawyers themselves were restricted in the amount of compensation they could receive for representing a client's lawsuit in court.
Another thing the government could do is repeal the federal law that prohibits a person from buying their health insurance from out of State. I don't even understand why that law was put in place in the first place. It only benefits insurance companies.
About 10 million of the 45 million uninsured Americans are simply uninsured because they are in between jobs or have started a new job and are waiting for the coverage to kick in. This number has probably swelled in the last year. It might be a good idea to require insurance companies to offer some reasonable bridge insurance to cover the first few months after a person is forced to leave a group plan because of employment status. I can't see that as being too expensive of a requirement. They could offer three months bridge coverage to any employee who had worked under their group plan 8 months and an extra month bridge insurance for every year of service after that. I wouldn't penalize the employee for quitting or getting fired either.
There are probably a few other things the government could do that would provide better and cheaper medical insurance without spending borrowed money to do it. Tax incentives to companies and employers who offer plans that allows for a certain percentage of chronic illness in their coverage. Tax credits for Doctors who donate time to free walk in clinics and such. The list could go on.