Open competition will do that. The problem here is we would be setting up a system to reinstitute open competition leveraging low transportation costs and geography.
It would be great to see this play out!

Interesting analysis. I would add to the discussion that everyone dies from some combination of illnesses. They say that most medical expenses happen in the last year of life. Maybe medical insurance isn't practical. Maybe each person just has to save up for the care he/she wants and that's that. That's sort of a lifetime HSA. If everyone is going to need 100k for lifetime medical expenses, insurance, which relies on protection from random unforeseen disasters, would require premiums from everyone adding up to $100k plus insurance company expenses and profits, making it doomed to failure

I think it depends on what you value more relative to what is available in a particular place no country offers it all from what I see now. That would be a very good subject for a forum

How do you complain to the fox that your fellow chickens are being attacked and killed? The unaffordable care act is terrible. Insurance for my friends has more than doubled and their deductibles have risen 5x. The statists did this on purpose to make single payer government insurance appear the "savior"

Thanks Dino

Yes. Bear got his nickname for wrestling a bear at a fair or some carnival before he became a coach.
Saw an interesting statistic during the game.
Bear Bryant has 6 national championships and Saban now has 5 won in way shorter time.
So I anticipate that Saban shall become "THE legendary coach for the Tide": when his career is done.

"ins co executives reaping millions in bonuses and then leaving the network. THE SOLUTION"
It's funny that people working in a difficult industry and getting paid for it is a problem requiring a solution in some people's minds.

I'm glad touch screens interfaces and "Internet of Things" wireless are not on their radar.

I imagine going on that elevator from a docked sub and seeing the levels pass by, each with a little slice of people going about their lives.

"knowing all along that it would result in higher premiums"
I agree with this one part, but I don't see it as sinister at all. Health insurance was usually tied to employment. That was a vestige from WWII price controls, where companies could offer increased benefits more easily the higher wages. Now it makes it hard for people to change jobs if they have a medical condition. The very notion of insurance was getting harder as medical technology got better at predicting the peril. It was less like a freak accident and more a function of our genes and behavior. The underwriting process to dig into this was onerous. We had the problem of insurance companies digging into underwriting details only when a customer made a large claim. We had people just not buying insurance, knowing they'd get emergency care even if they couldn't pay for it; and hospitals would shift the cost somebody. The somebody was usually someone who could not get insurance b/c they had a pre-existing condition. Following the insurance model, of course companies would not insure against a peril that's already happened.

So these people like President Obama and his supporters who see gov't as an answer thought up a solution. Reasonable people, they thought, would buy insurance before they got any illnesses, even before their genes were formed, if such a thing were possible. That would make premiums higher, but we wouldn't have to deal with all the problems I mentioned above, the problems of treated illness as a random peril to be insured against. So let's just make everyone buy insurance, they thought. Then we we can stop doing that onerous and expensive process of underwriting. We'll save costs we thought. Oh, but how are people going to pay the higher premiums, the wondered. Okay, let's have a subsidy for people who struggle to pay.

I don't agree with all that, but I completely see the logic. I lobbied my Rep, Tammy Baldwin, who was peripherally involved in crafting PPACA, to keep HSAs and to allow some kind of term health insurance similar to term-life insurance. I talked to her about it in person. HSA's were going to go, but they ended up staying with only very minor changes. My term-insurance idea was too far out there, and frankly Baldwin looked confused when I talked about it. She completely got my argument about HSAs: "why do we give workers a tax break for giving money to companies but not for spending on their families' healthcare?"

My point in all this is this is the people who crafted PPACA had their heart in the right place. Baldwin grew up a mile east of me, and I feel like I related to her. (Although I haven't talked to her sense she became our senator)

I really wish I could have gotten through to some staffer or someone with my idea of allowing term insurance with underwriting. I don't have all the answers. I think PPACA is a mixed bag, not a stepping stone in an evil plot to increase gov't power.

Sorry for the block of text. :)

I could see the fans were on their feet almost all the time . Front row seats would solve that but I suppose they cost a fortune. Sorry for my ignorance but wasn't Bear Bryant a legendary coach for the tide.

I just saw on social media a post complaining of the ins co executives reaping millions in bonuses and then leaving the network. THE SOLUTION
Single payer to Medicare.
Promoting this as a good thing ....idiots

Perfect weekend.
Watched Auburn make a valiant effort at the end of the last quarter but Clemson won 19-13.
Some previous thuggery by an Auburn player, shoving a Clemson player away by the face mask may have well cost the game.
Bama got their offense act together big time and won 52 - 6.

" It might be kind of yucky duty to live on the ship a week or month at a time."
If you search on Blueseed or "Googleplex of the Sea" you'll get somewhat fantastical version of what it could be like. Blueseed failed, but I think some form of it will come true. They can make life on ship nice. It's not just about avoiding FDA and AMA, but also immigration and other regulations. I think it's coming eventually.

Good evening Thoritsu , considering options to wring costs out of a bloated industry is the kind of approach that is practical and reasonable.
One thought about the doctors is they wouldn't be influenced by the ins co.s and they could negotiate compensation for their inconvenience.
To practice health with out the bureaucracy and pull from drug co.s and the malpractice fears.

USN already has hospital ships which a re used off the coast of places in need. Sea bound habitations was/is a key component in Shadows Live Under Seashells and in my upcoming novel TBA.

I can see this becoming a reality for those with enough $$ to pay the toll.

Good evening jdg , I like how you are thinking. This is how a modern hero operates. Identify a possible solution to a problem. You don't get that from our statists they solve a fire by pouring gasoline on it.

There are really no words strong enough to describe the depravity of those two and some of their acolytes. Grifters? Yes. False witnesses? Yes.
Murderers? Possibly. Will they get theirs? Probably not.

Reminds me of an old joke. Hitler survives and manages to escape to Argentina.After a while, some followers who escaped with him tried to convince him to make a comeback. After a while he gave in. He said, "All right, I'll do it, but this time, no more Mr. Nice Guy."

To where?

I never thought about using ships, but thought a lot about this idea. What a great idea! No FDA. No AMA! Why not do this for major medical?

I guess the problem would be getting doctors and nurses to go along. It might be kind of yucky duty to live on the ship a week or month at a time.

I can't help thinking that this is the kind of opportunity that could fund seasteading. Imagine hospital ships, anchored just outside the 12 mile limit from every major coastal city in the US (and other countries with bad nationalized medicine), registered under some flag of convenience that won't regulate or tax them.

There's more than one way to Go Galt.

Turned on the game USC up by 3 ...... Now the tide rolls. Double digit lead ....oops #40 USC gives me a quick reminder why I don't support football.
I hate thugs. Our team used to have a disciplined coach Bud Grant who did not put up with bad behavior.
If they didn't stand at attention for the national anthem or follow a dress code or they did break the law they were history.
Since then the players like to beat their wives and girlfriends
Or both plus many other disgusting behaviors. Like the folks you used to guard only these guys are adored and paid $millions.

Good evening Herb7734,
That is well enough but also think of the victims of
Hillandbill , plane crashes, suicides, murders.IRS,
Media smears and cover ups no law for the law makers.

I am an independent contractor and do not have insurance through an employer. Am I in a group of people that are suffering from this ACA .is this a widespread issue? I don't hear others complaining.

To create a sorrow(break and enter) on someone else for your own needs (drowning their sorrows) is collectivism pure and simple. That behavior is not civilized.