Universal Healthcare with NPO?

Posted by

September 28, 2009

I have seen sicko lately and, as a Canadian living in the US for the past 10 years, was impressed by the movie.
I have seen the 2 sides and think the Canadian system is better overal. I understand the claim many americans say why they are scared to the idea of having a Universal Healthcare system provided by the gvt like in the UK or Canada. That’s part of the culture and since we have several huge Health Care Insurance companies trading on the stock market, changing this equation will make them suddenly irrelevant hence big changes and lots of people yelling.
However, I have personally no problem with bringing universal healthcare here, but that’s my personal opinion.
But one thing I do believe is the need for Healthcare Insurance not to be money driven. These corporations should be non profit organizations and need to provide a statement of their accounting to show how efficient (how much overhead) they incurred. What’s your opinion on such proposition?
Well, Non Profit Organization do exist.
Mostly with things that are specific to helping people in need (like Salvation Army) which in my sense is not far off. Isn’t healthcare helping people with health problems similar?
Thx
Regarding regerugged’s comment, that depends who you talked to. I talked to my brother in law and with his health problem (hearth surgery,…) and low family salary, he would have been dead a long time ago. So, between a shorter time to wait for certain things versus living longer, I’m sure he would vote for the latter.
Yes, the system in Canada could be fixed and it is the major visible universal healthcare system most americans (snow belt at least) can easily compared to as the UK is farther away. It might be better over there. A system of copay should be introduced in Canada so that those complaining for long hours for a little cut wouldn’t be in the waiting room in the first place.
For the answers against both NPO and Universal Healthcare, should Welfare be totally removed since it is a sort of universal healthcare for 65+

From my own little bit of experience as an insider in a non-profit healthcare facility, I was struck by the fact that it seemed as profit-driven as the others. I do believe that non-profit anything in the healthcare field would be the same, whether insurance or whatever. Here’s why, and here’s where a bit of what I consider corruption comes in: There’s a yearly budget just like in a for-profit, and the administrator and top staff try to make the bottom line look great: meet the budget or exceed it–that is, keep costs way down so there’s some left over. So where does that excess money go? For patients, you would think. That’s their formally-stated mission, their reason-for-being. Nope. It goes into the pockets of the top staff as a bonus for having a great year (at least in some and I presume in most). So that does work the same as the profit motive after all. They can line their own pockets if they keep costs down–even if it hurts patients. Of course they can always tell themselves stuff like "if we cut such and such costs it really helps patients in the long run" or some rationalization like that. So after observing this I’m not sure whether perhaps the profit motive may actually be better and less prone to corruption. Strange thought, but if you’ve seen this in action… Sure they’re audited, but… No, in some ways, the profit motive does keep people on the straight and narrow; there may be more consequences if they play around with the money than there would be in a non-profit. Just a thought. Did you ever read Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, explaining why, just why, the profit motive can encourage honorable behavior–good for the wider world the person lives in too? Just a thought, like I said.