Q: How much of the problem of affordability is caused by our expectations of what health care one should receive? By this I mean that the average person tends to assume that "healthcare" is a constant, fixed level of care, such as "whatever it takes until you get well or die, whichever comes first."
Can a person get health insurance with low per-illness or per-year or per-lifetime maximums to keep costs down? Or insurance that will not pay for "extreme measures" taken to keep you alive? Or would this not help the insurance company? What is costing more? Routine health care and long-term use maintenance drugs or is it the serious illnesses, surgeries and itensive care that are using up the majority of the insurance dollars?
Would making sure that everyone had affordable access to at least preventative healthcare (and obviously encourage them to use it) reduce the overall costs to the healthcare system and ultimately to the insurors?
Can a person get health insurance with low per-illness or per-year or per-lifetime maximums to keep costs down? Or insurance that will not pay for "extreme measures" taken to keep you alive? Or would this not help the insurance company? What is costing more? Routine health care and long-term use maintenance drugs or is it the serious illnesses, surgeries and itensive care that are using up the majority of the insurance dollars?
Would making sure that everyone had affordable access to at least preventative healthcare (and obviously encourage them to use it) reduce the overall costs to the healthcare system and ultimately to the insurors?