I am in the middle of a really interesting and well-done book about the U.S. health care system called Catastrophic Care by David Goldhill (2013). I plan to do a full write-up when done, but still thought it worthwhile to mention a very important point that Goldhill makes. In the context of insurance, it is really a very recent phenomenon (basically the past 45 years). And in that period is when we have seen the greatest surge in health care inflation. The issue, as Goldhill sees it, is that the insurance companies are in the business of making money through premiums. And they can only really raise premiums if more money is spent on health care in general. So, while they may talk a good game about healthy living and exercise, they are a much happier group if people need doctors and more procedures are approved and need to be administered. For those who then argue that that would imply that the government should become the single payer, tell me in what universe the folks who run Medicare or Medicaid will ever start worrying about efficiencies when they have an unlimited budget and will have to face a little special interest group comprised of all senior citizens if they ever do try to cut back. The end game is higher health care costs. Obamacare largely just added to the base of people that insurance companies will be able to collect premiums from.
More to come.
