Reply #18: Single payer cradle to grave is the only HEALTHY insurance [View All]

[McCamy Taylor]

from a prevention viewpoint.

I should make a macro of this so I can cut and paste it.

In the current system, people leave insurance plans so often that there is no reason for them to invest in preventive care that will lead to cost savings twenty to forty years down the line. Most people will not feel the effects of years of neglect until they reach Medicare age--and are the federal government's responsibility. If they are unlucky enough to get AIDS or go on dialysis, then they go on Medicaid and are the federal government's responsibility. Everyone who is healthy enough to work is on private insurance through their job or does without. They switch insurance whenever they change jobs. Even if they stay with the same company, they may switch plans every year or so since their employers use the tactic of negotiating new contracts with new providers to keep health insurance costs down.

Now, in a country which provides cradle to grave insurance to everyone with a single payer, it suddenly makes economic sense to make sure that little Jason does not grow up obese or sedentary. You want to keep his cholesterol down and his HDL up. So, you invest heavily in prevention, knowing that it will save your health care system loads of money later in Jason's life. You do everything you can to keep Jason from smoking.

The reward for Jason is that when he hits middle age, he is healthier. When he is old, he will live longer. He is less likely to die of a heart attack or stroke. He is able to work longer and more productively which is good for his family and the economy.

This is what people need to be talking about.

Our current system rewards people for getting sick. The health care industry makes money when people neglect their health for decades them come in sick as shit and need to be put back together. The health insurance industry is like a lottery. A few people get to be put back together at great expense--and they are never as good as new again. The rest get to die miserably like dogs.