How to fix Healthcare, take two

Re: Are the costs lower because of the system or is the system possible because of the low costs. I don't think anybody knows, for if it were either, then we'd lower the costs through caps and then import the system or vice versa. I tend to think that costs are lower due to the system for the reason that Singapore is a first-world nation with comparable living standards to the US. It is likely that a coke costs the same there as here. Must look into that.

Re: A smoker would never be denied healthcare - it's universal healthcare. The incentives not to smoke would come from being able to use the money later, it having accumulated through time and interest, for more and more comfortable healthcare once in retirement, and the prospect of leaving it to one's kin. For example, on the Singapore ministry of health website it cites the example of a person spending extra money on having a single as opposed to shared hospital bed.

I have not yet read Mrs Clinton's plan. Would the compulsory insurance be basing its premiums on income or risk? One difference to the link to the FSP that jumped out to me would be that the medisave has no 'use it or lose it' maturity date after a year. Although the purpose of that might be to prevent tax avoidance, it leads to people using up money when they may not want to and having insufficient funds at other times.

-- TheodorBruening - 05 Mar 2009