Health Care As It Stands Today

[Deleted]

I have seen in my lifetime how much it cost to just go to the doctor out of pocket for routine procedures.  Here I am paying part of the freight for my medical coverage premium, still have to make a copay upon a visit and then get a bill at the end of it all to make up for what the insurance companies deem proper compensation without recourse.  I understand it cost medical science billions upon billions of dollars on research and development - some promising research peters out in the final stages as not being viable - money wasted.  Medical companies have always been willing to take the gamble for promising research and product development.  When they have a "hit", its cost for the consumer is not only based on what it cost to develop but the total cost of the ones that were a "miss".  I get that - price of playing poker.  But in the last decade or two another cost factor has entered their equation - tort.  

The legal fees and judgements associated with healthcare probably rival what is spent on research/development.  I understand that someone should be held responsible if I go into the hospital to get a bunion removed and my arm is amputated - but even being my own arm - would it be worth a tens of million dollar judgement?   Until I'm there, guess I'll never know.  But some judgments I have read about border on the absurd. 

What I do know is - being unemployed at the moment - has offered me the luxury (kind word there) of experiencing what I have missed in the last 30 years of day time TV.  This may become as a shock to some, but there are no more game shows and very few soap operas (thankfully).  But what is being aired is Judge This and Judge That - with the majority of the commercials being some law firm that will sue the pants off of someone/somebody for anything "Ken Nugent got me $500,000 for my ingrown toenail...".

Start addressing the tort system, you would see medical cost drop like the Titanic.

[artvandelay NP]

lawyers(who happen to be politicians) have rigged the game. vote em out.

[bigdaddy334]

Word!

[novatiger]

Without looking it up precisely, we have the highest healthcare cost per capita by somewhere between 50 and 100% over the next highest. Our quality of care ranks somewhere in the teens. The system is broken and we aren't getting our money's worth.

It's not just the actual lawsuits that cost. Doctors order extra tests in a cya move. It's a delicate balance though. Lawsuits are necessary under the current system to get compensation when real damage occurs.

Medical research and drug development does cost and a lot and there's a lot of failures (I know), but large drug companies make huge profits. We're about the only country in the world that has little to no regulation of drug prices. I'm not suggesting we should, just laying out facts.

There are large inefficiencies in the system. Hospitals and doctors require large staffs simply to deal with collecting fees from dozens of different insurance companies, not to mention collecting from patients. Insurance companies require large staffs to figure risks and negotiate rates with hundreds of hospitals and thousands of doctors, not to mention medical staff to authorize treatment for patients. After paying all these people, both hospitals and insurance companies are highly profitable.

In spite of attempts to get more consumers to shop for healthcare, there is no functioning market. People go where they can find the needed care and don't typically consider the charges in advance. In an emergency you can't shop. Any medical procedure that is going to be high cost is likely to be severe enough that you're going to pick the best care, not the cheapest.

This probably isn't a complete discription of a complex problem. I'll leave y'all to figure things out. Let congress know when you do.

[API]

Dec 31, 2013 18:18:32 GMT -6 novatiger said:

Without looking it up precisely, we have the highest healthcare cost per capita by somewhere between 50 and 100% over the next highest. Our quality of care ranks somewhere in the teens. The system is broken and we aren't getting our money's worth.

It's not just the actual lawsuits that cost. Doctors order extra tests in a cya move. It's a delicate balance though. Lawsuits are necessary under the current system to get compensation when real damage occurs.

Medical research and drug development does cost and a lot and there's a lot of failures (I know), but large drug companies make huge profits. We're about the only country in the world that has little to no regulation of drug prices. I'm not suggesting we should, just laying out facts.

There are large inefficiencies in the system. Hospitals and doctors require large staffs simply to deal with collecting fees from dozens of different insurance companies, not to mention collecting from patients. Insurance companies require large staffs to figure risks and negotiate rates with hundreds of hospitals and thousands of doctors, not to mention medical staff to authorize treatment for patients. After paying all these people, both hospitals and insurance companies are highly profitable.

In spite of attempts to get more consumers to shop for healthcare, there is no functioning market. People go where they can find the needed care and don't typically consider the charges in advance. In an emergency you can't shop. Any medical procedure that is going to be high cost is likely to be severe enough that you're going to pick the best care, not the cheapest.

This probably isn't a complete discription of a complex problem. I'll leave y'all to figure things out. Let congress know when you do.

Too long; did read. I thought hospitals were technically non-profit, at least to the extent that they receive taxpayer money? If I want to go buy stock in Baptist Hospital in Montgomery or UAB in Birmingham, I don't know exactly how I'd go about doing that. I agree that they seem to be somewhat insulated from market forces in some areas, and completely at the whim of other forces that they have little control overin other areas.

[novatiger]

Dec 31, 2013 18:38:25 GMT -6 API said:

Dec 31, 2013 18:18:32 GMT -6 novatiger said:

Without looking it up precisely, we have the highest healthcare cost per capita by somewhere between 50 and 100% over the next highest. Our quality of care ranks somewhere in the teens. The system is broken and we aren't getting our money's worth.

It's not just the actual lawsuits that cost. Doctors order extra tests in a cya move. It's a delicate balance though. Lawsuits are necessary under the current system to get compensation when real damage occurs.

Medical research and drug development does cost and a lot and there's a lot of failures (I know), but large drug companies make huge profits. We're about the only country in the world that has little to no regulation of drug prices. I'm not suggesting we should, just laying out facts.

There are large inefficiencies in the system. Hospitals and doctors require large staffs simply to deal with collecting fees from dozens of different insurance companies, not to mention collecting from patients. Insurance companies require large staffs to figure risks and negotiate rates with hundreds of hospitals and thousands of doctors, not to mention medical staff to authorize treatment for patients. After paying all these people, both hospitals and insurance companies are highly profitable.

In spite of attempts to get more consumers to shop for healthcare, there is no functioning market. People go where they can find the needed care and don't typically consider the charges in advance. In an emergency you can't shop. Any medical procedure that is going to be high cost is likely to be severe enough that you're going to pick the best care, not the cheapest.

This probably isn't a complete discription of a complex problem. I'll leave y'all to figure things out. Let congress know when you do.

Too long; did read. I thought hospitals were technically non-profit, at least to the extent that they receive taxpayer money? If I want to go buy stock in Baptist Hospital in Montgomery or UAB in Birmingham, I don't know exactly how I'd go about doing that. I agree that they seem to be somewhat insulated from market forces in some areas, and completely at the whim of other forces that they have little control overin other areas.

A lot of hospitals are non profit. Others are for profit. Nonprofit doesn't mean they can't make money, it just limits what they can do with it.

[allend]

An Auburn related story (Auburn family):

www.ijreview.com/2013/12/105176-alabama-mom-shares-devastating-experience-obamacare-open-letter-american-people/

The healthcare that awaits us...

[CHB]

That put me in a great mood. Just another example of how the government jacks up everything it controls.

How can a person (Obama) that is for the "common man" endorse such a crappy program. I would like to know what kind of kickbacks he is getting.

[bigdaddy334]

Another problem I have ran into is the doctors will charge crazy amounts for things knowing the insurance will cover. I had a doctor over charge a lot of stuff(one example is below) with my first born(new doctor when second was born) and when I questioned him he said he will only take what the insurance covers and not charge the difference, and for me not to worry it will not cost me any more money. I told him the more he charges my insurance company the more they will go up. Insurance company's are in the business to make money(no problem with that)and when doctors over charge the insurance company's are forced to up their charges.

One of the things that I was charged for was after my son was born they did what they do to most boys in a private area. Well with out going to deep into this, during one of his check up's a few weeks later the doctor took his thumb and rolled some skin back and applied so meds, it took about a min. and a half to complete. We get a copy of the bill they are sending to the insurance company a few weeks later and they called that surgery and charged $400.00.

The whole system is messed up from top to bottom and I don't know what the answer is.

[steve]

The horror stories about Obamacare and the damage that it is doing just keep rolling out. I had assumed the republican babble about how disastrous this would be was overstated. Well, apparently not.

The story allend shared seems to be closer to the norm where insurance costs have risen so much that normally responsible people are forced to look for a government handout. People that would refuse charity are now forced to accept it because of their kids. This seems to be the norm, and even with the handout, the cost is too much.

Throw in the people that will die due to Obamacare and I can't recall a disaster this big ever hitting the United States. I suppose the great depression might be the most likely comparison, but it didn't cause the deaths of so many in a direct way.

It is time for politicians to stop playing party politics and address this disaster before any more people are hurt. I am fortunate and my employer takes care of my healthcare. Even so, my out of pocket costs are going up. Somehow this needs to get fixed and fixed very quickly.

[Jet]

No matter how you slice it (sorry bigdaddy), we are all paying for:

1. Those who can't pay
2. Investments in technology/pharmaceuticals
3. Protection from lawsuits
4. Our own fear of the inevitable

[steve]

Jan 2, 2014 10:07:14 GMT -6 CHB said:

That put me in a great mood. Just another example of how the government jacks up everything it controls.

How can a person (Obama) that is for the "common man" endorse such a crappy program. I would like to know what kind of kickbacks he is getting.

I don't believe for a minute that Obama realized the size of the disaster being created. No president would want his legacy to be the destruction of the healthcare system. No president would want to be blamed for so much harm and death.

Shifting the money we pay for healthcare to pay for overhead was obviously a dumb move, but I cannot believe anyone would intentionally cause this big of a disaster.

[steve]

Jan 2, 2014 10:22:26 GMT -6 Jet said:

No matter how you slice it (sorry bigdaddy), we are all paying for:

1. Those who can't pay
2. Investments in technology/pharmaceuticals
3. Protection from lawsuits
4. Our own fear of the inevitable

Throw in bureaucracy and profits for insurance companies. That is where your healthcare dollar is headed.

[CHB]

Jan 2, 2014 10:22:26 GMT -6 Jet said:

No matter how you slice it (sorry bigdaddy), we are all paying for:

1. Those who can't pay
2. Investments in technology/pharmaceuticals
3. Protection from lawsuits
4. Our own fear of the inevitable

The only one of those that should be accepted by the American people is #2.

As for #1, I'm fine with helping pay for those that are truly unable to work. I'm not fine with paying for those that are too lazy. Before trying to fix healthcare they should have fixed welfare.

[bigdaddy334]

Jan 2, 2014 9:49:19 GMT -6 allend said:

An Auburn related story (Auburn family):

www.ijreview.com/2013/12/105176-alabama-mom-shares-devastating-experience-obamacare-open-letter-american-people/

The healthcare that awaits us...

I had seen something about this on facebook but never read it. Thank you for posting.