Or your insurance company?
Paul Krugman has an interesting question (my emphasis):
Art Laffer (why is he, of all people, on my TV?) asks what it will be like when the government runs Medicare and Medicaid.
But I’d raise a further question: he warns that when the government takes over these, um, government programs, they’ll be like the Post Office and the DMV. Why, exactly, are these public functions unquestioned bywords for “something bad”?
Maybe I’m living a sheltered life here in central New Jersey, but I don’t find the Post Office a terrible experience — no worse than Fedex or UPS. (Full disclosure: I worked as a temp mailman when in college.) And nobody likes going to the DMV, but the one on Rt. 1 I go to always seems fairly well managed.
And in general: is dealing with these government agencies any worse than, say, dealing with the cable company?
5 Comments:
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At 8:48 AM, August 05, 2009
Mark had this to say...
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At 11:08 AM, August 05, 2009
Anonymous had this to say...
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At 1:19 PM, August 05, 2009
C. L. Hanson had this to say...
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At 1:36 PM, August 05, 2009
The Ridger, FCD had this to say...
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At 6:33 PM, August 05, 2009
Mark had this to say...
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<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->"Or your insurance company?"
Exactly.
I find that for the most part, the people who oppose some kind of public health care are those who already have health insurance, almost always of the employer-paid variety. "Hey, I got mine, so screw the rest of you."
Until they lose their job.
Mark wrote: "the people who oppose some kind of public health care are those who already have health insurance, almost always of the employer-paid variety."
There is some significant irony here in that many of those same people probably don't realize that they're underinsured and will still get bit very hard when a major crisis hits.
So true. Sure the DMV can be inefficient, but it can't hold a candle to private health insurance. I've written about my own experiences here.
There's a world of difference between inefficiency and efficient action against you. The DMV makes no money by denying you a registration or license. Your insurance company is mandated to make money for its stockholders, not its policy holders. It amazes me how many people really think the insurance company is looking out for them. (Remember the company in The Incredibles: "Do you want me NOT to help our policy holders?" "The law requires me to answer 'No'.")
I confound my wife when I tell her that insurance companies pays people not to pay claims. That's their job.
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