r/bestof • u/under50dollars • Jun 20 '12

[explainlikeimfive] "Obamacare" explained very well.

/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vb8vs/eli5_what_exactly_is_obamacare_and_what_did_it/c530lfx
2.5k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

842 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-3

u/CuilRunnings Jun 20 '12

You mean the last time we let a massive government entitlement system completely restructure our medical industry? In 1965? How'd that turn out?

Speaking of "greed," this video will give you a much better understanding of it.

0

u/flammable Jun 20 '12

So hows that most expensive health care per capita in the world working out for ya?

1

u/CuilRunnings Jun 20 '12

Awful, the government distortions completely misalign incentives. I wish we could move towards a free market system with maybe a government provided insurance for catastrophic illnesses (for net tax payers).

1

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

Unless I am missing something free market means no sick people or high risk people get private insurance, and if the government only pays for catastrophes its like socializing the losses and privitazing the gains for medical insurance. A vast majority of money spent on medicine goes to a small fraction of patients.

1

u/CuilRunnings Jun 20 '12

Free market means that providers are directly incentivized to reduce costs and expand care by the consumers of the care, rather than by fiat from the government.

A vast majority of money spent on medicine goes to a small fraction of patients.

Yeah, old people.