[TheGame]

Originally Posted by Bond

So, if one already possesses private health insurance, and wants nothing to do with a public option, is it moral to require that that person pay for the public option through mandated taxation?

That depends on if they're satisfied with the state of their insurance. Unfortunately, this is a democracy, so the majority of the people will have a say in what tax dollars should be spent for and what it shouldn't. By people elecing Obama president they have voted for healthcare reform, by people allowing democrats to have so many seats in the house and senate they have voted for healthcare reform, and polls have shown that most people are for a public option for healthcare.

I don't want to pay for a lot of programs that I will never use, but I dont' disagree with the process that got things to this point. I believe that healthcare is a right, not a luxury. And like any rights I feel that its moral for it to be protected by the law.

How would it pay for itself if the program simply had more citizens who wish to opt-in?

Because people who opt in would have to pay a set premium to get the insurance.

Statistically speaking, workers in health care management are significantly underpaid compared to management in other fields with similar education levels (MBAs, fields such as financial companies, accounting firms, etc).

Is it not possible that the reason why health care is so expensive is because of excessive government intervention (as the graphs I originally posted eluded to)?

It is very possible. This is why I promote them going about it a different way other then making more adjustments to private healthcare itself. Making a public option sets a standard for them to try and reach, trying to manipulate private insurance directly can yield questionable results, and pin accountability for the failures of a private sector buisness on the government.

Government should support change, not enforce it on a private company.

This is the exact problem with medicare and medicaid, I hope you realize. The assumption with medicare and medicaid is that the government burdens the majority of the cost of the programs, but this is false. Rather, the majority, sixty cents on every dollar, is paid for by hospitals and health systems that must treat medicare and medicaid patients. Do you see that this is one of the reasons why insurance premiums are so high for private paying customers?

I'll be perfectly honest with you, I don't understand this question as you have worded it. Are you asking me if private insurance companies are forced to raise their prices because there are people on medicaid and medicare?

The theory of insurance is to save the end consumer money by pooling together similar risk exposures. This is why insurance companies are picky when choosing customers, otherwise, the theory of insurance collapses as the risk exposures are no longer similar in nature, which would in turn no longer save the end consumer money.

correction

The theory of insurance is to make the most money by pooling together similar risk exposures. This is why insurance companies are picky when choosing customers, otherwise, the theory of insurance collapses as the risk exposures are no longer similar in nature, which would in turn no longer making as much money.

It depends on perception. You feel like they're doing it to save the customers money, I feel like they handle it that way to turn a profit. Both things could be true for some private insurance companies. But before I give a full reply, lets go to the meat of your question:

If the public option were to accept any consumer, with varying risk exposures, the option would not operate in the traditional form of an "insurance company." Therefore, how do you propose that the option operate? How would it be able to pay out the money necessary if too many of the consumers had highly correlated risks, or were prone to have the same risk over and over again?

They could do something that most private healthcare companies don't do these days.. and that's run the company with integrity, and with the health of their customers in mind. The pricing will be reasonable, but not made with profiting in mind. And when someone who is covered actually does get sick, they won't have to worry about the public option going over their health history to find an excuse to drop care.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-hUVzcOTMo

(I can't watch youtube at work, so I can't say for 100% sure if I linked the right video.)

As for the bottom line costs for the consumers, its very much possible that private insurance companies will be able to pull off comparable prices. There's even a possiility that the public option could turn out to be the expensive option (for the monthly premium anyway). But the point of the option is to not deny people based on the state of their health, and to actually take care of people when they do become sick. Which our current insurance companies do not specialize in.