Healthcare Debate

Today I was thinking of some interesting comparisons between two differing viewpoints of what healthcare reform should look like. Looking past all the media hype, I thought of our state's plan to help insure small businesses and their employees (to which premiums are paid). This program is focused on preventative care, and allows for 12 office visits a year, plus 4 specialist visits, to encourage you to go to the doctor for even the smallest concern. This would increase the possibility of catching and treating an illness or disease early, thus saving costly treatments later. So that brought me to think about another idea for reform, that being a system based on price transparency and patients paying for their own preventative care (office visits, vaccines, minor lab work, etc.). After all, insurance is to 'insure' against catastrophes and major health issues that would put your financial security at risk. Makes sense to me. This would also provide incentive for patients to be prudent with their healthcare expenditures, and create competition when they shop around for the best price. But that begs the question, wouldn't people wait longer to go to the doctor if they had to pay for it? That could translate into higher costs if they later end up needing expensive treatments, for something that might have been dealt with at a lower cost.
So there is good and bad to both schools of thought - the preventative-care laden plan works well to catch problems early, but the most they'll pay for all care in a year is only $25,000, leaving patients vulnerable to the bigger health issues. On the other hand, the 'major' medical plan that pays only for the more expensive costs discourages patients to get to the doctor by making them spend their own money for it. I've come to the conclusion that there is no easy answer, and no one 'good' option for everyone. The one thing I am sure of, is that the single-payer option is the worst idea of them all. That will only increase costs and DECREASE the quality of care. Not to mention growing the government to an even more bloated size. No thanks.
If I'm diagnosed with a disease that requires $100,000 in treatments, I'd rather live and be sent the bill, then die because the treatments were denied to me. The BILL is a separate issue from the CARE.