Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Oct. 01, 2009.
Ms. Sotelo seems to be making a common error: mistaking health insurance for health care. They are not the same thing. We do not need to "expand health care"; we need to find ways to make health care affordable for all.
In the past, when physicians were free to set prices on their own, they could charge a little more to patients who could afford it to cover the costs of treating those who couldn't. Because medicine was a largely local pursuit, doctors knew their patients well enough to make these distinctions.
With the government now effectively setting prices via Medicare reimbursements, physicians can no longer spread out those costs. I assume that Ms. Sotelo's plan for addressing the cost of paying for eveyone's health care is to raise taxes. I am skeptical of the government's ability to a) manage a system efficiently enough to make it cost-effective, and b) to set prices that will cover the real costs of medical treatment.
Ms. Sotelo seems to be making
Ms. Sotelo seems to be making a common error: mistaking health insurance for health care. They are not the same thing. We do not need to "expand health care"; we need to find ways to make health care affordable for all.
In the past, when physicians were free to set prices on their own, they could charge a little more to patients who could afford it to cover the costs of treating those who couldn't. Because medicine was a largely local pursuit, doctors knew their patients well enough to make these distinctions.
With the government now effectively setting prices via Medicare reimbursements, physicians can no longer spread out those costs. I assume that Ms. Sotelo's plan for addressing the cost of paying for eveyone's health care is to raise taxes. I am skeptical of the government's ability to a) manage a system efficiently enough to make it cost-effective, and b) to set prices that will cover the real costs of medical treatment.