Bill wrote:
>
> In three minutes(!), of course it was very shallow. It doesn't really
> address the main causes of dental problems in the first place.
>
> I have been addressing these problems for over thirty years, and some
> sensationalistic rating-grubbing news show give it THREE MINUTES??
>
> And they couldn't even get the main issue defined!
>
> The idea that "insurance" is the key to solving dental health problems
> is complete hogwash.
I completely agree!
What some people still fail to grasp is that insurance is always a less
than zero sum game: To stay in business, insurance companies have to
charge more in premiums than they pay out in claims. The kind of
situation in which this makes sense is when you are insuring an event
whose likelihood is very low, but which will be very expensive if it
occurs. No one knows in advance who the unlucky people are going to be,
so the insurance company spreads the expenses of the unlucky few over
all of the policy holders, while at the same time taking a small
percentage of the money to cover its own operating expenses.
But dental checkups, cleaning, and filling of dental caries don't
qualify as unlikely events, so the only way an insurance company can pay
for them is to charge premiums that cover what the customer would pay
directly. So a patient who can't afford to pay directly isn't going to
be able to afford insurance, either. What they are really talking about
is having a government program that will pay for those who can't afford
either to pay directly or to buy insurance. And such a program needs to
encourage patients to have regular checkups and to seek treatment early,
since this will be cheapest in the long run.
Bob
Bill
Mark & Ste…
