Health care cost

We currently have five separate types of health care in the United States. First is the private care that is privately administered and that would be the kind that most people have and most of those through their employer. Second is Medicare which is private insurance using private facilities and administered by the federal government using the Blue Cross system to collect premiums and distribute benefits. Third is Obamacare which is much like Medicare but for people under the age of 65. Forth is the VA which uses all government doctors, hospitals and clinics and also handles its own administration of benefits. Fifth is Medicaid which is administered by private care providers but is paid for by the federal government. All of these programs except the private care have something in common which will allow them to lower the cost of health care. They each determine the kind of care the patient will receive and they have little to no competition. In addition they determine the premium cost, co-payments and deductibles. Using Obamacare, here is how money will be saved. First when the government determines what care will be provided they can restrict or limit care. Since there is no competition this will not result in loss of customers. Second they can raise deductible to eliminate frivolous use of facilities and doctors. Private insurance cannot do this as customers would change companies if services were cut. For example if Blue Cross decided to limit coverage in certain areas customers would likely transfer to Aetna and vise-versa. Medicare on the other hand could limit services, which they have done and the elderly have nowhere to go. The same goes for Obamacare and Medicaid and it goes without saying with the VA. For the very poor who are on Medicaid and the lower income people on Obamacare raising deductibles and co-pays will have little effect on usage since their coverage is free but with higher income people where the average annual deductible is $12,000 most people will pay out of pocket for most of their healthcare and will thus use only what is deemed absolutely necessary. With fewer people making use of the system and with rationing of benefits these plans will save money. With high deductibles customers will shop around and start purchasing health care like they do other products they purchase and this will bring competition into the market and thus lower cost.