The Bomb Buried In Obamacare Explodes Today-Hallelujah!

[Bob Wallace]

78. No, but market forces are a tool that can be used.

It's certainly worked to bring us things like computers and cell phones at very affordable prices. It has brought us good prices for car insurance. I cannot see why market forces cannot be used to reduce health insurance premiums to the lowest reasonable levels.

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My understanding is that the 80% and 20% categories are separate. Administrative costs and profits come only from the 20% portion. You, I believe, have claimed that claim investigation comes out of the 80%. We await conformation of that. And, as I pointed out, it is not in the best interest of the insurance provider to inappropriately deny claims. Those savings cannot go to corporate profits and will only damage the reputation of the insurance provider.

Just a few days ago insurance companies were informed that they would not be allowed to use any of the 80% money for advertising. They were attempting to call advertising "customer education".

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Will competition concentrate the industry and place all the best crooks in charge? I hardly see how. If companies are not treating their customers properly then business will flow to those companies with higher customer satisfaction ratings.

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In our attempt to cut health care costs (not cut health insurance costs) might we force doctors to spend too little time with patients? Perhaps.

If so then quality of health care will likely decrease and overall costs rise. Once that starts to show then the system will need tweaking. Those are the sorts of health care issues we deal with all the time.

Efficiency does not simply mean time with patients. It can mean things such as a standardized claim form for all insurance companies.

Check 'Improving Health Care Quality and Efficiency." - 2011
Check "Reducing Paperwork and Administrative Costs." - 2012
Check "Encouraging Integrated Health Systems." - 2012

http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/full.html