[fiokoden]

The key idea I see here is that instead of dumping money into insurers, you have your own government mandated "health savings account".

People would be far less likely to overuse health services if they felt they were paying personally.

That's a powerful idea.

[JamesBarney]

The article specifically says this is not the case, and that it actually increased health care spending.

Here's the quote.

In a 1995 paper in Health Affairs, William Hsiao looked at how health spending fared in Singapore before and after the introduction of Medisave. He found that health care spending increased after the introduction of increased cost-sharing, which is not what most proponents of such changes would expect.

[morley]

Further into the article, they also mention that there are a lot of government regulations about proportions of high-class beds to lower-class ones, needing approval to buy expensive medical equipment, and the number of physicians.

From the end of the article:

> [American] Conservatives will point to the Medisave accounts and the emphasis on individual contributions, but ignore the heavy government involvement and regulation. Liberals will point to the public’s ability to hold down costs and achieve quality, but ignore the class system or the system’s reliance on individual decision-making.

[m1sta_]

Is there any good data on health service overuse?

[fiokoden]

My understanding is that overuse is one of the primary reasons health spending is so high in most countries.

No data to back it up, might be wrong.

I can tell you I absolutely loathe pouring money into health insurers to prop up an overused and wasteful system. I'd much rather something like this personal account idea.