Stuff like this simply shouldn’t happen in a developed country. It’s insane that this can’t get solved.
Oh, you meant solving it for actual people? That was never the goal of the self-serving architects of this rotten mess.
I don't expect the farmer to grow me food out of the goodness of his heart, but to quote Adam Smith, this is a conspiracy to the detriment of the public.
[1] Who charge absolutely ludicrous, jaw-dropping, nowhere-else-in-the-world-comes-close tuition.
[2] Who, after paying off the debts on their ludicrous tuition, are absolutely rolling in money.
[3] Who don't let their patients comparison-shop (Just try getting a straight answer on how much a routine procedure is going to cost), and in effect, can charge whatever prices they want.
[4] Who are happy to make billions of dollars off inefficiencies created by them, in the generic space.
[5] Who have created a captive market where not getting your healthcare through them is financially ruinous.
There are also a lot of things going on with consolidation and big medical groups, driven in part by pharmaceutical costs. As an example, we used to have several oncology practices as clients. We're not working with any of those anymore because they have all been bought out by hospitals or health systems. From talking with the doctors at the most recent one this was not because they got a big payday out of it but was instead because looking forward a few years they were not going to be able to afford to stock chemotherapy drugs. They sold out because they could see the time when the business was no longer sustainable as an independent practice.
I'm sure the doctors didn't come out of this hurting, but this was not a startup unicorn style exit.
Here in the US, our culture still praises this behavior because it props up the carrot that is the American dream. It's a cultural problem where everyone has been convinced they're the next billionaire to reap the rewards of the broken political and economic system... they're just temporarily and shamefully poor for now.
So the problem runs far deeper than healthcare, it's everywhere. Healthcare is just an obvious target because it directly effects people when they're most vulnerable and it actually angers them enough to complain a little. We need a cultural shift that is reflected in our politics (if it's not too late already).
I feel like there's no way to have both things.
That's because of the impedence mismatch of legislation in Europe vs the US.
I'd say it's comparable to the story on how US eggs are illegal in Europe, and vice-versa.
https://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-heres-why-we-ne...
I'm not sure which anecdotes to believe in this case.
Those groups are going to hold any progress on this matter hostage. (Imagine the job losses! Imagine the loss in innovation! Imagine not being able to provide the best treatment money can buy! Imagine not being able to charge a million dollars for a medical education! Or being able to pay off my million dollar debt, accrued to finance my medical education!)
This is why there is no demand for real change and why all previous efforts got essentially stonewalled.
In this case it was a middle class family losing their 4 bedroom house due to "$164,000 in medical bills for emergency surgery". It's not just hurting the poor, it's a relatively small number of people organized in a cartel ripping off the entire country.
Medical cartel needs to be investigated by FTC like any other cartel. Being under purview of HHS and state medical boards infiltrated with physicians is not working due to conflict of interest. Cartel can be broken down by rewriting scope of practice laws to focus on "standard of care" rather than "board certified license" as a gatekeeping regulation to practice medicine. Once the physician cartel falls everybody else leeching downstream (insurance, global pharma, PBMs, countless vendors, etc) will simply dry out.
Medicare for all (public option) could also have a similar effect if implemented properly in a way that strips power away from physicians. But if implemented by naively increasing taxes and throwing money into the current system it's going to do more harm than good.
MDs no less! Forget the Hippocratic Oath!
Perhaps white-coat fraud is the equivalent of white-collar-crime in the public health world. Nothing matters more than the bottom line. Not even human lives.
Medicaid, which even happens to pay reasonable amounts for procedures performed. The entire system would re-adjust into a sustainable steady-state, if all prices were equivalent to Medicaid reimbursements. But I suppose that under such a model, the average middle-aged surgeon wouldn't be able to afford their third summer home...
That said, the only way to win is to not play - never get sick and emigrate before you have any serious health issues.
OTOH, I'd say that the people who got really nailed with the ACA were the middle-class individual policy holders.
If all procedures performed were done at Medicaid-like prices, hospitals and physicians, and pharma firms, and, by proxy, insurers and medical schools would have to tighten their belts, and figure out how to cut costs. That's the entire point of such an exercise. We can't let health costs grow in an unbounded manner.
Dunno how 'Medicare for all' will work out if you simply start paying providers what Medicare currently pays. Dictating a price might work in the long run but would be plenty hairy in the short.
I can sympathize with the on-the-ground employees but the businesses they're keeping the lights on in are leeches on the healthcare market - I posted separately on this article going into the specific functions of PBMs, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, Providers and Insurers if you're curious about the details, but there is a ton of inefficiency here.
And if the ER thinks you're a deadbeat, they will give you the minimal treatment necessary to make sure that you won't die on the hospital grounds - and discharge you.
Makes me ill to think of the cost.
Christian (judging others), logical (how much does she know), fiscal (most costs to system are not kids)
Forgot parenting (who else is supposed advocate for the kid?)
If the US paid the prices for care that other countries pay (pick any developed country you want, it'll be less), everyone could get a tax cut and universal care. It would save US governments money.