Monday, August 30, 2004

This is a perfect example of why state-run health insurance plans are preposterous. Basically, one social group (in this case, the younger population) ends up paying for a completely different social group (in this case, the elderly), who ends up being more than willing to milk the system for what it's worth. To wit, Ibuprofen is one of the top three most prescribed drugs -- look, you don't need a doctor to tell you to take a painkiller when you're in pain. But if you can, sure, you'll visit your MD and have a friendly chat with them at no cost to you. And you can't even claim that it is fair because, eventually, the younger population will grow old and benefit in its turn: people who are currently young may die way before their time, not need much medical care or choose alternative healthcare solutions. Also, why are people covered for Ibuprofen? Just like, why the hell does my health insurance, for which I pay an insanely subsidized $600 per year, cover my birth control pills, given that I am an alien and haven't paid one cent to Washington State (the source of the subsidy) in my life? And what is that troubling piece of news about Prozac prescribed to children?

posted by Ileana @ 11:25 PM   2 comments

2 Comments:

At 11:48 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

People need to be able to go in and see MDs when they think there is a problem. Thus, you catch catastrophic illnesses early and can treat them cheaply and effectively. Not only does the patient save a lot of money here, he also doesn't miss work, which helps the GDP. The downside would be occasionally a person would go to see the doctor for a half hour, and be released because there wasn't a serious problem. Sounds ok to me.

As far as the old people go, just wait until the baby boomers die off to implement the policy. Seriously though, old people are a problem in some respects, but if we would just use preventative medicine on them they wouldn't be as much of a problem. Make sure every old person cycles for 45 mins a day 5 days a week on an exercise bike. They'd all be fit and trim until their heart explodes and they die instantly. Supplying every one of them with the bike would cost way less than the prescription drugs they take on a monthly basis.

 
At 2:01 PM, Blogger Ileana said...

I absolutely agree with you, with two amendments:
1. State-provided or state-run health insurance usually means that you *cannot* go see your doctor whenever you think there is a problem. The system ends up serving such a huge number of people that patients have to be put on waiting lists. Higher-risk patients are, naturally, given priority, which leads us back to the old people visiting thier doctor much more frequently than any other group (I'm not saying it's unjustified, just that there is a huge discrepancy). At the same time, the state becomes the health professionals' single most important customer; taking advantage of its power position, it forces doctors to lower their price per appointment. The result? Doctors reduce the duration of the appointment, so that they can see more people and retain their income. Patients are left with care of questionable quality.
2. Exercise is, indeed, the best way to prevent illness for most people -- but you can't make everyone exercise! If you give everyone a bike, how many people do you think will actually use it? People don't exercise not because they don't have the means to or don't know it's good for them. They don't exercise because they don't like or don't want to. And you can't change that.

 

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