Health Insurance

Healthcare expenses should be split between the state and it's people. It should be noted that up to a certain limit, healthcare expenses must be borne by the people and only anything above that is claimable- this is insurance parlance, the deductible. Similarly, there must be a component of co-payment over and above the deductible with the insurance company to prevent abuse. At the same time, it must be noted the possibility of healthcare expenses destroying wealth - in the event of catastrophic illnesses- and creating a financial burden beyond the means of the people. Therefore it must be noted that, healthcare insurance is at it best only when it is over and beyond the means of sick and the family.

Hence, basic healthcare insurance to me is mandatory to me in the sense, a reasonable deductible is included along with of a co-insurance component agreed upon with the insurance company. The premium must be deducted either from it's retirement fund agreed with the state or company. The problem probably then lies whether to make this a mandatory purchase or should it be up to the individual.

There are several components to healthcare expenditure to the state. Healthcare is provided by the state at state-run hospitals and medical clinics. In most cases, this is already subsidy to the people where subsidized medical care is already provided with or without medical insurance. Therefore the state has already foot a part of bill of the healthcare of it's people. Assuming that the healthcare provided is of a reasonable standard, the people then have to pay the rest of the medical bills- either via insurance or it's own means.

Assuming that a market-driven procedure cost $1,000 to- and if it's done at the government hospital, it would probably cost anything between $500-$600. Hence therefore, the government would then subsidized by up to 40-50% of medical bills. Therefore the people would then have to come up with rest $400-500 which for some might be out of reach especially so with the operation is a major one and therefore the cost escalates. Perhaps up to $5,000 even at goverment hospitals- suddenly it becomes unreasonable for the people with limited means to come up with the cash to save it's own life.

Therefore it is at this moment that healthcare insurance comes into play. Healthcare insurance is at it's best when things are at it's worst. Hence would it then be reasonable for a government to foot at least part of bill for the insurance coverage for it's people. The benefit for the government to foot the bill is twofold 1) it transfers the risk of catastrophic medical expenses from the public to the private sector at a fraction of the price- due to their bargaining power 2) it reduces the risk of losing lifes and conflicts with the people as a result of having the lack of means to pay

But the matter of making it mandatory for the people to buy insurance to protect themselves and for their own "good" is a matter of ideological debate rather than a practical one.

An "opting-out" option then would be useful tool. Hence, for those who wishes to opt out of government insurance program would then have to rely on their retirement funds or seek their own private medical insurance to protect themselves against an event of a medical emergency. The benefit of having standard insurance coverage is always much better than having to source one for their themselves hence the situation of that latter is more likely than not to happen. But in the event as such, I am sure there would be an emergency medical fund to rely upon on which criteria would be set to ensure that one is without means to pay for a lack of choice rather than that of design.

Similarly, it must be mindful the type of insurance that the government are looking to cover or the types of which is appropriate. In the event that insurance is optional, one must seek out it's own medical savings fund first, and if the person is astute enough, he/she would have purchased medical and hospilization insurance with this medical savings fund- this would have come a co-insurance and deductible component. This is the part which the government should help to pay if insurance is mandatory

And lastly, in the event that one does not wish to worry about medical bills the entire lifetime, one then uses cash to pay for the rest of the insurance premiums. And all medical bills in the future would then be on "as-charged" basis. Hence if one were to start young, one would not need to worry about a catastrophic medical event. The premiums are of course concern. My belief is that a healthy 30 year old would probably pay between $300-$500 a year on premium of which only about $200 is in cash. Meanwhile, it escalates up to $2000-$3000 a year above for those above 50s. But at that age, especially 10 to 20 years later, the likelihood of a prolonged illness which could have wiped out the entire life savings becomes all the more real. Suddenly $2,000 to $3,000 a year compared with worrying constantly about paying your next medical bill becomes quite a trivial concern.

Paying for medical bills for parents can be a contentious issue especially if the bills escalates. It becomes rather ugly and suddenly paying your parent's insurance premium even when they are old removes all the headaches of having worry about paying to bills. But the problem with that is insurance coverage starts only at that point of application and, if your parents get's too old and have a history of illnesses- the likelihood of approval gets lower with each passing age. Hence even before you become a parent, it's best to insure yourself because once you are covered, you are covered for life- so long as you pay the premiums-, and that's even if you developed illnesses much later in life.