What would happen to health insurance companies if government take over the health insurance system?
Posted by Dolores
John A asked:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I heard that Obama is trying to push a public health system that will allow everybody to have health insurance no matter what pre existing conditions he or she may have.
If this is reached, what would happen to insurance carriers like Blue Cross, Blue Shield? Will we need these companies and health insurance agents?
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but I heard that Obama is trying to push a public health system that will allow everybody to have health insurance no matter what pre existing conditions he or she may have.
If this is reached, what would happen to insurance carriers like Blue Cross, Blue Shield? Will we need these companies and health insurance agents?
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October 20th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
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It would be screwed up just like everything else they touch
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:05 pm
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Blue Cross would be a thing of the past, as would quality health care.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
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We will go to Mexico to get Health Care.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
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They become government workers.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:00 am
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It would turn into a mess. Many people would loose their jobs more big government would be created.
Bob K: I think you are delusional
October 30th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Kansieo.com
Those thieves and cheaters will be out of business.
November 1st, 2009 at 6:48 am
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From John B to John A: Most of these health care partners would fall under heavy pressure and would either merge to form one central health care conglomerate or they would wither away due to the universal aspect of health care that Obama is trying to implement. Best believe that people would still continue to put their trust in the private health sector.
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Kansieo.com
We’d see the end of tobacco companies. Alcohol and the snack food industry would be out on a short leash as they should be.
Companies that are detrimental to health should pay for the medical expenses in their entirety. Republicans should agree as they are always screaming about being responsible and accountable.
Why should we pay for the damages inflicted by the tobacco industry? They make profit from their victims and we pick up their tab for the damages they caused. Give me a break.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
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Government can’t even fix our roads. What do you think?
November 7th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
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If there is a public system, there would be no need for insurance companies in the health care area. The people employed by the insurance companies would have to get an other job, like selling automobiles or real estate.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:30 am
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well… I mean the gov. will need A LOT of people that do the same jobs that people do for these insurance companies…
not all but many…
the sales people would be the ones that were really hurt… no need to try and sale, if the gov. has mandates…
November 13th, 2009 at 4:51 am
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they will close down and add to the jobless people in america plus the landslide it would do to the financial market when they go belly up
November 15th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
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If everyone is guaranteed coverage then you don’t need insurance industries. It would solve the issue of insurance lobbying.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
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The HMO’s will stop making their trillions of dollars. A doctor will decide what care is needed instead of some CEO at Blue Cross making 40 million a year. The drug companies will have to stop ripping us off too. Good question.
To all you racists: Barack will fix this bushed up economy and George will be found guilty of war crimes.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
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They will still be around but they will become unofficial government agencies controlled by beaurocrats just like the one that run the DMV, exciting isn’t it.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:00 am
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It’s called Universal Health Care, where everyone is insured.
It’s amazing, you actually get doctors making the decisions for you instead of the greedy business CEOs of the insurance agencies.
November 21st, 2009 at 3:33 am
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Currently the way we ration health care is via the health insurance industry. Those who can’t afford insurance go without. Those who can afford insurance, have profit motivated employees decided which treatments will be covered.
Medical dollars could be spent much more efficiently without the profit motive. Just as out of business brokers and bankers are now becoming federal bank auditors (from NPR yesterday) so could current health insurance experts move into the government and work FOR the people instead of against them.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:18 am
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Nothing would happen. Obama’s plan is an option, not a mandate.
It is only available to those that are not offered health ins. through their employer, or those that can’t afford high cost insurance.
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:13 am
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It will just be more people out of work and on the Obama welfare roles if he is able to put public health insurance out of business, like he is trying to. As Obama comes out with more of his spending plans, it is painfully obvious that his goal is to destroy public businesses and cause Americans to be forced out of work and onto his welfare roles.
November 25th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
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Being a doctor will no longer be an economically suitable job. Therefore, med students or med student hopefuls and current doctors will begin to pursue other professions. So people who need medical attention will still pay for it through taxes, and they’ll get a lesser quality of care.
Kind of a lose-lose situation, if you ask me.
And it increases dependency on the government… And it gives illegals, who DON’T pay their taxes, free health care - meaning we get to pay for them if they break a leg, even though they’re here breaking our laws.
Make that a lose-lose-lose-lose situation.
November 27th, 2009 at 2:25 am
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A single payer health care system would replace all the health insurers. They would all have to go find work elsewhere. This would result in billions of dollars in savings.
the 3500+ health insurers each have their own billing requirements that tie doctors and hospitals up in red tape and has spawned a 5 billion dollar medical billing industry. That would all be replaced by a single billing standard - saving the system nearly 5 billion dollars per year.
Since there will be one source for insurance, all doctors, hospitals, and specialists will be in the network, resulting in greatly expanded choice for people who otherwise are restricted by HMOs and PPOs.
Everyone will be insured, so there will be no incentive for waiting until the medical condition is in crisis. This will result in far less use of ERs (the most expensive form of care). Thus, ERs will be freed up so they can concentrate on those who really need emergency care. This will result in faster ER responses and billions of dollars in cost savings.
Once insurance companies no longer interfere with yours and your doctors decisions, the quality of care should increase dramatically.
As far as I’ve seen, nobody has mentioned reducing doctor pay. And I hope they never do. But even if they did, it would not result in fewer doctors. Where would they go? It’s not as if they can go anywhere else in the world to get the kind of pay they get here. Even at reduced rates, they still would be the best paid in the world.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
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They would definitely shrink, but they would still be around. Look at Medicare, they have supplement polices which the individual has to pay. If you think the government is going to pay for Heart surgery, Cancer treatment, you’re in for a rude awakening.
December 1st, 2009 at 3:38 pm
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If they wanted to become a participating payor in the government plan they would have to agree to the payment formulary outlined by the government. For the companies that chose to go along with the government plan, you’d end up seeing a whole lot more HMO type plans available and the PPO plans would pretty much go away. Those that didn’t participate as payors under the government’s terms would pass their extra costs on to the consumer purchasing the insurance. If doctors are given an option to participate, they’ll refuse to accept the government plans and will jack up their costs to private pay insurance clients (the same as many are doing with Medicaid today). If it’s all nationalized and we fall under one payor, just take a look at how Medicaid works today and that’s what you’ll get. Doctors will also close up shop. Demand will be high and supply of qualified health care professionals will be low.
Edit - Another thing to consider is that there will be unanticipated levels of enrollment if they leave multiple payors in place and only have the government plan for those whose employers don’t offer coverage. Larger businesses will be required to offer insurance, but businesses with few employees won’t. Those small businesses that are offering it now will stop. Their employees will then become dependent on the government health care system. My mom’s a small business owner and pays part of her employee’s insurance costs now. I can assure you that if this kicks in she’ll drop it. She’s having a hard enough time keeping her doors open as it is and that would save her a ton. This is exactly what happened when Hawaii went to their plan to insure all children in the state. People dropped their private insurance and used the state insurance. The program lasted for about 6-7 months before the state couldn’t afford it any more.
@ bob k - If you think the greedy insurance companies are bad about determining what care you will and will not receive, wait until the government decides that for you. Ask any Medicaid patient about how much say they or their doctors have in the care that they receive, and you’ll love your greedy insurance company.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:50 pm
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They will cease to exist as what happens when the government becomes a player in the market instead of an arbiter. We get to watch the government simultaneously regulate the health care back into the Stone Age while eliminating the competition.
December 6th, 2009 at 10:32 am
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cuts out the middleman.
How the heck can you defend a multi BILLION dollar industry that produces NOTHING.
December 6th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
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From my limited knowledge of the USA system I’d say that nothing much would change. The state health system would become a bit better and private health systems would continue to operate just like they operate now.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. If you need further answers, just look at all the other countries that went through it already and see what happened there. You can see Canada, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Cuba, in fact I think everyone else I can think of.