Why Our Healthcare Is Horrible
In Dr. Flynn’s lecture, he touched on many reasons as to why our healthcare system in the United States sucks, and it all goes back to World War II. The United States healthcare system is an insurance-based billing system, aka a third-party system. This came into play because in order to get people to work during the war, companies started offering “free health care,” which in reality meant the companies then pay for the health care, which then led to the formation of insurance companies, and unfortunately, we are the only country in the world that has this form of health care. This means that all the other countries then get to make fun of us and make jokes at the expense of our expenses. In order to fix this, we would need to move towards a more decentralized form of health care and cut out the middleman all together, which as Dr. Flynn talked about, Singapore already does, well. They keep their prices low by having essentially what is a free market-based health care system.
Why Singapore Is So Much Better Than Us
In Singapore, they have what is essentially a free market-based health care system; this means that individuals get to go “shopping” for the best doctor and the best price. This competition, as seen in most free markets (including our own), keeps the prices very affordable and almost at no cost, especially compared to the system we have in the United States. This, along with the system of forced saving that they have in place, is what makes Singapore that much better and more developed healthcare-wise than we are. As Dr. Flynn mentioned, people are notoriously bad at saving, which is why Singapore devised a system that they call the Three M’s: Metasave, Metasheild, and Metafund, all of which are put in place to ensure that everyone can afford the health care they need and deserve. Now we do have small versions of this in the United States, however Dr. Flynn only gave three successful examples, the main one being Whole Foods. Essentially, the company not only pays for most of your insurance, however, you are still responsible for some of it to ensure you are incentivized, but also gives you a stipend that goes straight into a healthcare fund. Most of that money is towards aiding in health care costs, however, it is still yours to spend. Dr. Flynn pointed out that it is actually cheaper for companies to do this because even though they are paying for health care aid and insurance (only in the United States), most people will go the cheaper route (i.e. over the counter medications or cheaper surgeries) when having to spend their own money versus the company’s money.
Why we Do Not Have This In The United States
One would think that with how adamant the United States is about free market systems and capitalism, they would buy into and be all for Singapore’s way of health care. But they will not now, nor ever unless there is a big enough push and rebellion in favor of abolishing our retched system and putting in a reasonable and life-saving one instead. Why is this? Because health care in the United States is a money-making scheme; big pharma and big insurance companies will never push for this to happen. As Dr. Flynn mentioned, open heart surgery in the United States cost upwards of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, and yet in Singapore, where the people are not worried about whether or not they can afford a life-saving surgery, they only have to pay eighteen thousand. Medical companies and hospitals make too much money off of the suffering of others to ever think about giving up the power and money that they have built their monopolies on. Now, none of this fault is the doctors because truly most do not get paid enough to deal with the hate that most people give, most of which should be directed at the third-party systems like the insurance companies who drive the prices as high as they do. If they would cut the middle man out and pay the doctors directly instead, like in Singapore, not only would the prices dive way down, but the quality of service would skyrocket; that is the outcome of a competitive market. And we know that this system would work in the United States, given the rulers relinquish their power, because the elective surgeries already prove that they will. Any elective surgery that the insurance company will not cover is the price of the actual surgery; it is the price of the equipment, time, and quality of the surgeon performing. Dr. Flynn made the joke that you can now get Lasik surgery using a Groupon coupon (whether that is true or not I do not know) all because the surgeons now have to advertise and market themselves in order for people to choose them, like any other business in the free market, and it works! People can get relatively affordable (all subjectively) surgeries without fearing going into debt forever because of it. What a concept! I could go more into how medical research and medical companies are huge frauds, but that is not quite the point of the healthcare financial system. All in all, I think as a budding adult who will soon have to worry about these expenses herself, the Singapore health care system would be the way to go, however, I am a realist, and the reality is it will more than likely not happen in my lifetime, if ever unless something truly radical was to occur.
Rovner, Julie. “The Affordable Care Act Is Back in Court: 5 Facts You Need to Know.” NPR, NPR, 9 July 2019, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/07/09/739653482/the-affordable-care-act-is-back-in-court-5-facts-you-need-to-know.
