Insurance and Pharma Companies under Single Payer System?

[Anonymous]

Just been reading about Sanders' plan and it doesn't say anything about what will happen to all the insurance companies if we switch to a single payer system. So what would happen? Would it ruin the economy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just been reading about Sanders' plan and it doesn't say anything about what will happen to all the insurance companies if we switch to a single payer system. So what would happen? Would it ruin the economy?

If it's Medicare for All, then there would still be optional supplemental insurance plans/companies. Keeping in mind that Medicare is an 80/20 insurance with co-pays and deductibles. Medicare also doesn't fully cover prescription drugs

If it is really full coverage for everything then the government would have two options. Keep them as silent partners or let them die. Either way, it would not ruin the economy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just been reading about Sanders' plan and it doesn't say anything about what will happen to all the insurance companies if we switch to a single payer system. So what would happen? Would it ruin the economy?

If it's Medicare for All, then there would still be optional supplemental insurance plans/companies. Keeping in mind that Medicare is an 80/20 insurance with co-pays and deductibles. Medicare also doesn't fully cover prescription drugs

If it is really full coverage for everything then the government would have two options. Keep them as silent partners or let them die. Either way, it would not ruin the economy.

What about the fact that they invest their premiums now in the stock market? If they stopped doing that because they went out of business, wouldn't that cause the stock market to collapse? Is this a multi billion dollar industry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just been reading about Sanders' plan and it doesn't say anything about what will happen to all the insurance companies if we switch to a single payer system. So what would happen? Would it ruin the economy?

If it's Medicare for All, then there would still be optional supplemental insurance plans/companies. Keeping in mind that Medicare is an 80/20 insurance with co-pays and deductibles. Medicare also doesn't fully cover prescription drugs

If it is really full coverage for everything then the government would have two options. Keep them as silent partners or let them die. Either way, it would not ruin the economy.

Outside of a hospital stay Medicare doesn't cover prescriptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just been reading about Sanders' plan and it doesn't say anything about what will happen to all the insurance companies if we switch to a single payer system. So what would happen? Would it ruin the economy?

If it's Medicare for All, then there would still be optional supplemental insurance plans/companies. Keeping in mind that Medicare is an 80/20 insurance with co-pays and deductibles. Medicare also doesn't fully cover prescription drugs

If it is really full coverage for everything then the government would have two options. Keep them as silent partners or let them die. Either way, it would not ruin the economy.

What about the fact that they invest their premiums now in the stock market? If they stopped doing that because they went out of business, wouldn't that cause the stock market to collapse? Is this a multi billion dollar industry?

The stock market really has nothing to do with main street. The stock market is simply just transferring funds around. When you buy stocks of company XYZ that money isn't used to fund new capital investments in XYZ. In fact, company XYZ doesn't see any of that money, it simply goes to whomever previously owned those shares. All that would happen to the stock market is there would be a few less trades occurring. Billions of shares trade hands (owners) every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just been reading about Sanders' plan and it doesn't say anything about what will happen to all the insurance companies if we switch to a single payer system. So what would happen? Would it ruin the economy?
If it's Medicare for All, then there would still be optional supplemental insurance plans/companies. Keeping in mind that Medicare is an 80/20 insurance with co-pays and deductibles. Medicare also doesn't fully cover prescription drugs

If it is really full coverage for everything then the government would have two options. Keep them as silent partners or let them die. Either way, it would not ruin the economy.

Outside of a hospital stay Medicare doesn't cover prescriptions.

Untrue, Medicare Part D covers prescription drugs outside of a hospital stay. Medicare Part A covers drugs inside a hospital or SNF. Part B also covers certain types of drugs that aren't self administered.

[Anonymous]

ALl the people who currently work for Blue Cross, Aetna etc... can work at the tax payer's expense!!! YEAH -


Hip, hip, hooray EVEN BIGGER dysfunctional government!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just been reading about Sanders' plan and it doesn't say anything about what will happen to all the insurance companies if we switch to a single payer system. So what would happen? Would it ruin the economy?

If it's Medicare for All, then there would still be optional supplemental insurance plans/companies. Keeping in mind that Medicare is an 80/20 insurance with co-pays and deductibles. Medicare also doesn't fully cover prescription drugs

If it is really full coverage for everything then the government would have two options. Keep them as silent partners or let them die. Either way, it would not ruin the economy.

Outside of a hospital stay Medicare doesn't cover prescriptions.

I worked for Microsoft during the years we paid $0 for our health care costs.
$0 co-pays
$0 for both pregnancies
$0 premiums
$0 for brand drugs
$0 for broken arm
$0 for speech therapy
$0 for physical therapy


ahhhhh.....
those were the days


Even Microsoft, with $60B in the bank could not sustain that. People took advantage of the system right and left.

Under government control, costs will be even worse.

[Anonymous]

That's what he was saying? I thought he was mumbling something about "singuh payuh", like he wanted us to adopt the health care system of a small Asian nation or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just been reading about Sanders' plan and it doesn't say anything about what will happen to all the insurance companies if we switch to a single payer system. So what would happen? Would it ruin the economy?

If it's Medicare for All, then there would still be optional supplemental insurance plans/companies. Keeping in mind that Medicare is an 80/20 insurance with co-pays and deductibles. Medicare also doesn't fully cover prescription drugs

If it is really full coverage for everything then the government would have two options. Keep them as silent partners or let them die. Either way, it would not ruin the economy.

Outside of a hospital stay Medicare doesn't cover prescriptions.

I worked for Microsoft during the years we paid $0 for our health care costs.
$0 co-pays
$0 for both pregnancies
$0 premiums
$0 for brand drugs
$0 for broken arm
$0 for speech therapy
$0 for physical therapy


ahhhhh.....
those were the days


Even Microsoft, with $60B in the bank could not sustain that. People took advantage of the system right and left.

Under government control, costs will be even worse.

Yep, even my former little software company had full coverage for everything. But most the employees were in their 20's and 30's and hardly ever used health insurance. Babies were probably the biggest usage. Now there isn't full coverage but everyone is in their 50's and use health care much more frequently. That is one of the bigger advantages of a single payer system, you have a much more diversified group.

I would imagine for a big company like Microsoft it would be even tougher especially since they have employees in pretty much every state. They have to negotiate different insurance policies for every state they have employees in. So even a big company like Microsoft loses some of it's negotiating power. Centralizing it under the federal government allows for a better negotiating position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just been reading about Sanders' plan and it doesn't say anything about what will happen to all the insurance companies if we switch to a single payer system. So what would happen? Would it ruin the economy?

I doubt it could ruin the economy. People still get sick and visit doctors. Doctors still get paid. They prescribe drugs. Drug companies get paid. If it causes mass unemployment, it's only because the government is more efficient than the insurance providers, and therefore it has to hire fewer people than they did.

[Anonymous]

It would eliminate the need for lots highly compensated middle men - sorry, I meant CEOs and executives.

That's OK with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just been reading about Sanders' plan and it doesn't say anything about what will happen to all the insurance companies if we switch to a single payer system. So what would happen? Would it ruin the economy?

I doubt it could ruin the economy. People still get sick and visit doctors. Doctors still get paid. They prescribe drugs. Drug companies get paid. If it causes mass unemployment, it's only because the government is more efficient than the insurance providers, and therefore it has to hire fewer people than they did.

+1

Single payer for all will result in MASSIVE cost savings. Save doctors lots of time and money. Eliminate the middle men. Ensure on-time payment for procedures at transparent rates based on geography and results.

The benefits would be enormous and lead to less bureaucracy (remember - health insurers each have their own mind-numbing bureaucracy).

My wife works for a major insurer and during the debate she said "I'd be happy for all these companies to go under, mine included."

[Anonymous]

Doctors don't get paid enough and in a timely manner by govt. sorry

[Anonymous]

It's not Medicare for all. It goes way beyond that. Analysts think it is unlikely private insurance will be possible because that would greatly reduce the government's power to negotiate, but it's a moot point. This will never happen.