Sure, let's call Obamacare a tax: It's a "freerider tax"

Yep, it's a tax. It's a "freerider tax."Say it with me. Say it often. Spread that phrase until its a household term.

It's a penalty for those who won't get insurance despite the ability to pay for it or, for those with lower incomes, to get it subsidized or free after 2014.

Critics of Obamacare don't like to acknowledge this but the fact is that the uninsured do get lots of medical care, on average. In fact, about two-thirds that of the insured, and it is the insured, the hospitals, and the government that pays for much of that (though not all). And it's not just in terms of unpaid hospital bills that the rest of us suffer: with so many bankruptcies in the United States the result of medical issues, we as consumers are carrying those who are uninsured (as well as those whose insurance coverage falls short when catastrophe hits).

Basically, the two ways to fix this are (1) deny all care — including emergency care — to all people until they pay or show proof of insurance or (2) penalize/tax people who aggregately cost the system lots of money but who don't cover all of their own costs.

Unfortunately, the first method will lead to widespread death and injury, not only to the uninsured, but also to the insured who are delayed when they seek care until they can "show me your papers!"

So of course it's a tax. It's a freerider tax. That's why the Heritage Foundation and Mitt Romney saw it as a form of personal responsibility.

I'm all for allowing people to avoid paying the tax and uninsured at the same time, if instead they put up a bond of, say, $100,000, that will be used for their medical care, just in case. But let's stop kidding ourselves that these people are not costing the rest of us loads and loads of money.

Even if they all looked like this, freeriders wouldn't be worth
the hundreds of billions of dollars they cost the rest of us.

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Something in the water?

According to a gushing report from the PR Newswire (which, by nature, are supposed to be gushing and effusive), South Korea has the world's highest rates of cancer survivability:

The Korean government recently announced that the survival rate of Korean cancer patients had improved from 59.5% in 2008 to 62.0% in 2009, while the cancer mortality rate showed a 19% decrease in 2006 and a 21% decrease in 2008. In addition, the 2011 Health Care Quality Indicators released by OECD member countries indicated that Korea excelled in the treatment of uterine cancer and that its survival rate for stomach cancer, 65.3%, well surpassed those of the USA (26%), Europe (24.9%), Japan (62.1%) and Canada (22%). In addition, the survival rate from thyroid cancer in Korea is 99.7% while that of breast cancer is 90.6%.

Similarly, Korean Ministry of Health & Welfare carried out an interim assessment of the '10-Year Plan to Conquer Cancer' and found out that the plan had exceeded its initial objective in 2011. Thus, the Ministry upgraded the survival rate target by 2015 from 54% to 67% following the deliberation by the National Cancer Management Committee. Cancer survival rate refers to the percentage of people able to survive five years after being diagnosed with and treated for cancer. It actually means the complete recovery rate.

Such excellent survival rates for Korean cancer patients have been due to the continuous efforts of the government to manage cancer and advance the medical technology. Korea has been building its reputation in robot-assisted surgery, a cutting edge cancer treatment technology, which has every year attracted many medical experts from Japan, Taiwan and many other countries to the National Cancer Center to learn the robot-assisted surgical techniques.

If this is true, it certainly bodes well for medical tourism in the country.

Meanwhile, over at The Huffington Post where they are singing the virtues of Korean spas, they seem to be suggesting it really is something in the water.

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Kushibo says HABO (again)

As in, "help a brother out" (again).

It seems one Michael Milne, a teacher in Miryang in the southern part of South Korea, has encountered some serious health concerns that involve the need for a liver transplant. He needs a liver, your prayers, and (if you're able) some cash. The details can be found here.

The Facebook page in that link includes the information for fundraisers and bank transfers within Korea (and I suppose outside of Korea, but for a hefty fee), and they're working on setting up a PayPal account.

I'm one of those there-but-for-the-grace-of-God kind of people, so as soon as I can get access to my money within South Korea, I'm in for 100K won (bank account details below).

Nonghyup Bank 

(농협은행, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation)

Name: 마이클 (Michael Milne)

Account number: 811057 52 067773

And if anyone knows any more details on his condition, please feel free to leave some information.

UPDATE:
I belatedly saw that Brian in Chŏllanamdo also has put up a post on this which includes useful information on the blood/organ donation issue. One of his commenters asks about the insurance issue, which I also addressed below (the lengthy third comment).

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Saving 15% could cost you your life

When I first saw this Geico commercial (with bonus footage here), I couldn't help but think they were directly influenced by this story from South Korea of robots in the classroom. See also here, here, here,  and here. (That story was of course mocked and ridiculed across the K-blogosphere here, here, here, here, and here — if you mocked them, too, send me a link.)

I'd also like to think they were inspired by my own apocalyptic take from the future.

The Huffington Post used a picture from Japan for this Korea story.
Feel free to make up your own caption for this one. 

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Kushibo says HABO

As in, "help a brother out."

It seems one Matt Robinson has encountered some serious health concerns while in Korea (temporarily) on a tourist visa. Brian has the details here, where you can read about the thrombosis and the possible amputation and the what not. Here are more details on Facebook.

His bills are expected to run to about 10 million and the surgery he needs has to be paid up front or else he'll be booted out of the hospital, say the people who have put up the Facebook information page. 

I'm one of those there-but-for-the-grace-of-God kind of people, so I'm in for 100K won (bank account details below). 

Frankly, having been duped in the past by horror stories of people in desperate need, I would have liked to see a bit more confirmation of this guy's dire straits from people with whom I'm familiar, but the support network for this guy seems too complex to be a hoax, and if it is a Kari Ferrell level of elaborate deception, well then they deserve the money for all that effort, I s'pose. (By the way, I'm still not convinced that Salvador/Beau Smith was a real case, and my email to the sheriff in the rural county where he was supposedly from remains unanswered.)

So like I said, I'm in for 100K won. And by "100K won," I mean  a hundred thousand won, not 100 Korean won, though sending a 100-won coin is just the kind of sneaky, a-holeish thing kushibo would do, then turn around and say everyone misunderstood what I'd said. I'm just that vile. At least, that's what anonymous people in the K-blogs tell me.

Here's the information if you'd like to risk being a dupe and would like to do something for humanity (or for yourself, if you're one of those "do unto others" Jesus freaks or a "what goes around comes around" pragmatist looking for a payoff down the road). 

Account number: 481-007433-01-011

Bank: IBK (Industrial Bank of Korea, 기업은행)

Name on account: 매티유로 (short for Matthew Robinson)

If you do donate money, consider leave a comment here saying so, or at least email me. That way if you ever end up in the hospital with massive bills that you can't pay, I won't hesitate at all to send 100K won your way either (and I hoped you'd do the same for me). That's sort of how insurance works. 

And speaking of insurance, later on after this guy's okay, I'm going to post some very pointed remarks about how he got in this situation in the first place. Some of them will be bagging on his own bad choices, but it will be done as a form of tough love, and also as a way to use his own shitty situation as an object lesson for others. Because, as we public health types are so fond of preaching to everyone else until their ears bleed, prevention is hella cheaper and easier on the bod than fixing something after it's broke, which will often make you broke. 

Some of these comments will actually be questions why, knowing that he'd had problems like this, he would allow his insurance to lapse or that he didn't try to get traveler's insurance or something. Or, for that matter, how after three years he would not have 10 million won saved up.

I'd also like to know what the Friends of Matt group is going to do if they surpass the money needed. I'd like to see someone I trust (e.g., Brian, Marmot, the head of KOTESOL) keep that money in trust so that we have it ready for the next time — God forbid — we end up with a bad case like that of Bill Kapoun or Nerine Viljoen, requiescant in pace. 

Sure, those questions and concerns in this time of need make me a jerk, but I'm being a jerk so we don't have to see the next guy's crippled limbs extended in a hand-out gesture. Kushibo is a purposeful jerk, even though that may make me seem less vile. Maybe I'll go drown a kitten or something. 

Some of my pointed questions/statements will deal also with the Korea health insurance system itself. I'm thinking one of the things ATEK or KOTESOL or the Kushibo Foundation ought to do is lobby the health insurance corporation to allow people in Matt's situation (returning on tourist visa after work visa ends to look for a job) to keep paying into insurance — up front — and get the benefits. This would actually be a low-risk proposition to the insurance bureau, since such people would generally be younger or presumably lower risk. For every Matt you get with a 10 million won surgery bill, you'd get hundreds more whose 100K or 200K per month premiums won't require any payouts. 

But all that's for a later post. Okay, now go donate some money.

(no kittens were harmed in the making of this post)