Replying to a message of Bob Klahn to John Massey:

 JM>> health care system is at risk of an insurance meltdown.

 JM>> Not the governments problem.

 BK>  Your opinion. When you figure out how we maintain a health care
 BK>  system in this country without the insurance industry please let  us
 BK> all know.

We could start by getting the government *out* of the health care business.

Doctors and hospitals somehow managed to care for people regardless of their
ability to pay for that care quite nicely before health insurance was invented.
I don't recall any horror stories of masses of people dying in the streets.

Y'see, once upon a time health care providers were allowed to factor the cost
of charity care (can't call it charity care any more, that's politically incorrect
because receiving charity is somehow demeaning to the recipient, it's now
called 'uncompensated care') into general overhead; and a portion of that general
overhead was allocated into everybody's bills.  All businesses do that, although
they don't have 'uncompensated care' to worry about, they do have shoplifting,
employee theft, 'inventory shrinkage,' etc. to worry about.  Health care providers
are no longer allowed to do that, first it was Medicare that refused to pay that
part of general overhead and the big insurors followed suit.

Some years back I was referred to a specialist by my dentist for a jaw joint
problem.  I was amazed, this fellow had precisely *one* person working as his
receptionist/office person.  He did not accept Medicare, private insurance of any
kind or credit cards.  Cash or check only, and payment in full at the time
of service,
please.  He had plenty of patients and was booked for *months* in advance.  I 
suspect increasing numbers of providers are adopting this business model.

Incidentally, for the past twenty or so years physicians have been advising their
children *not* to go into medicine.  Because of the paperwork and regulatory hassles
they have to deal with from government and insurors.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+