Posted by
IQ HSA on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 4:47:27 PM
Why don't we need an organization (or government agency) that we would pay a monthly fee to manage our purchases at the grocery store?
Such an entity could negotiate on our behalf with the grocer the cost of bread and milk and tell us which store we could and couldn't go to. They would make sure that we never paid "too much" and had very little choice.
The grocer would benefit by having a consistent flow of customers visiting his store but would have to accept the pricing set by the organization for their merchandize.
If we had an emergency and needed a pack of diapers in the middle of the night and had to go to one of those "high cost" convenience stores the organization would pick up the additional cost above and beyond our negotiated rate.
Once a year the organization would "negotiate" with the grocers for the price of their merchandize for the coming year under the threat of losing some or all of their customers if they do not agree.
Oh the peace of mind we would all have knowing we were being taken care of by the organization looking out for our best interests for a small monthly fee. I mean we all know that we are not capable of comparing prices from one store to another and deciding who carries the merchandize we want to purchase on our own. Why would we want a system that requires the grocer to adjust his prices based on the number of people coming in the door when we could have an uninterested third party setting the price based on what they think is right.
Obviously we would never introduce such an organization to monitor our purchases at the grocery store but this is exactly the way our current healthcare system is run.
Healthcare is the only major area of our US economy that does not have the consumer directly involved in the free market and this is why it is caving in on itself with ever increasing cost with reduction of benefits.
We need a healthcare system that is consumer driven.