Seattle

I checked the Queen Ann cam this morning and thought the pix looked like a painting. It's so beautifully peaceful. In a little less than an hour, SCOTUS will be informing us of their monumental decision on Obamacare and things will be far from peaceful. I think most of us are torn...it would be great to be guaranteed  truly affordable health care throughout our lives, but even we seniors know that isn't possible. We still pay a lot for supplemental and drug insurance. I have been a proponent of Health Savings Accounts where we pay the first dollars and then insurance kicks in, that way we think twice about running to the doctor unless really necessary.

This was a comment from a reader in our local paper this morning on this...I tend to agree with him.

The desire for healthcare reform was driven by frustration with how much it costs. Unfortunately, all the "reforms" put in place actually increase the cost of healthcare.

Keeping dependents on their parents insurance raises the cost of insurance for the parents and everyone else.

Covering pre-existing conditions increases the amount of overall benefits and this costs more.

Forcing insurance companies to cover or offer insurance to everyone raises the cost of healthcare for everyone.

Removing lifetime caps increases costs for everyone.

What will reduce the cost of healthcare is:

Medical tort reform (absent from Obamacare).
Medical Spending accounts allow patients to manage their own money. (banned under Obamacare)
Increase the markets for healthcare, allow healthcare to sold across state lines (like car insurance).
Allow catastrophic care policies (currently prohibited).
Force price competition on providers. Anyone know if your DR charges more than the next guy?
Allow the free market to determine cost of service and to increase competition.
Tax healthcare benefits provided by your employer, then you will pay attention to what it costs and will demand price reductions and plans that you want and need.
Allow and encourage others to provide services: Walgreens provides medical tests, blood draws, nurse practitioners, a variety of lab tests. If you are spending your own money, you would force price competition on providers.

None of these are included in Obamacare.

Make sure healthcare does not become welfare for everyone. Give people the freedom to choose how their money is spent and the market will force efficiency into healthcare.

I could go on…..
Get the government out of healthcare delivery and the control of healthcare.