Continuing with Dr. Rep & Dr. Dem

All this talking about Dr. Rep and Dr. Dem got me thinking about how it could apply to healthcare. And since healthcare is a hot-button issue right now, it wouldn't hurt to touch on it a bit.

Recapping, our little, accident-prone friend, Economy, slipped, fell and "crashed her stock market" (broke her ribs) while at the park. Her parents, who invested time and money to her well-being, rush her to the hospital...

Dr. Rep, Post Surgery on Economy
Dr. Rep has just completed the surgery, and Economy is on her way to a quick recovery. He approaches Economy's parents with the bill. It's quite hefty. Economy's parents aren't starving, but they're not exactly the wealthiest people on the block, and even with the insurance they have there's a HUGE deductible.

To put it bluntly, it sucks.

Economy's parents noticed about a month earlier that there is an insurance provider in a neighboring state that offers better care with a lower deductible for less money. But because of government regulations, they can't buy coverage across state lines. Had they been allowed, the burden Economy's parents had to bear wouldn't have been nearly as great. And with some regulations to prevent insurance companies from suddenly dropping coverage or short-changing clients, the system would've run much smoother too.


Dr. Dem, Post Surgery on Economy
Dr. Dem, in the midst of having Bureaucratina put more tubes and artificial chemicals into Economy, presents the parents with two options. They can (1) pay the medical bill with their own insurance and suffer the huge deductible, or (2) they can follow a special plan Dr. Dem claims will cost them far less.

In this plan, a significant portion of the bill will be footed by the hospital (Strangely enough, the hospital insisted on being called the government). (Behind the scenes, though, the "government" was footing the bill by taking money from people affiliated with the hospital, against their will.) Because the "government" was paying such a large part of the bill, it's going to cost Economy's parents a lot less. What a relief, right?

Wrong.

Unfortunately, Economy's parents didn't read the small print in the plan they signed with the hospital. I can't blame them, though--the contract was 1,018 pages long! In the agreement, though, the "government" gained control over which treatments they deemed appropriate for little Economy. And since the "government" is made up of a bunch of money-grubbing, back-door deal-making, irresponsible, corrupt misers they soon decided that Economy was simply too sick to justify any more medical treatment. Therefore, they decided to stop paying for her medical care (see pg. 430).

Economy's parents looked for someone to turn to that could fix this problem. Unfortunately, since they dropped their previous coverage, no insurance company would agree to cover them. In fact, most of the insurance companies were going out of business, having lost clients to the "government" option. And, when they tried looking for another hospital to which they could transfer little Economy, they found all of the other "governments" functioned the same way.