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Why is Obama saying that our healthcare costs are way too high?
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Anonymous
Agree. Health care is a business in this country, therefore maximizing profit is going to be a goal. Whether its milking a patient with tests, unnecessary surgery, jacking up insurance premiums or extensive pharmaceutical marketing for drugs that get pulled off the shelf 2 years later. |
Anonymous
But not malpractice? |
Anonymous
| Over-utilization due to the compensation system is the heart of the issue. Malpractice is the bum leg. It's important, but the heart is what's going to kill the patient. |
Anonymous
Much over utilization come from patient demand (labor epidural) and fear of malpractice suits (MRI, lab work). |
Anonymous
| I'm sorry, but has anyone looked at the report profits of insurance companies? They make BILLIONS of dollars a year in profits. This far exceeds the cost of malpractice claims, or even defensive medicine. To the person who said that Obama is trying to put them out of business and socialize everything in this country, just how is that going to happen. Even if there are a few modest caps put on what they do, they will still make billions in profits. Our family's health insurance premium went up 25% this year, and has gone up over 50% in less than 3 years. This does not correspond with inflation, and it doesn't correspond with the rates of malpractice claims. What is does relate to is the drop in the stock market and the need for insurance companies to keep their profits up. (We have no chronic issues and and are not heavy users, so it is not related our use. |
Anonymous
It is true that they make profits, but... a. their profit margins are reasonable. Unless you want a bunch of nuns to run health care, you have to accept that these businesses exist to make a profit. That's just business. b. those profits would not even begin to fix our health care cost problem. Health care is 1 out of 6 dollars in our entire economy. c. yes, premiums are going out of control. But it's not the insurers just jacking up premiums to increase profits. The money they pay out to doctors, hospitals, etc. (ie, the providers) is increasing as well. I'm not against scrutinizing the insurance companies. But the notion that insurance companies make billions and therefore we should take it back from them is simplistic and would not fix the cost issue even if we did it. |
Anonymous
Agree. |
Anonymous
| It is just such a waste of time to do back and forth with this. Healthcare reform is not going to pass. There is not enough support for it. With all of the political squabbling that goes on and BOTH sides of the aisle pandering to their REAL customer, which are interest groups who finance campaigns and donate money, our country is suffering from a terrible case of paralysis. Progress is not something that is happening in America. |
Anonymous
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Unfortunately what will probably pass is an expansion of coverage without any real reform at actually get at what's driving costs sky high (and yes, that extends beyond JUST malpractice reform).
As to the PP that thinks epidurals are unnecessary and apparently shouldn't be covered...ha! more seriously, if the rates for "elective" things like that could be made reasonable and not bundled in with all sorts of overhead charges so they're astronomical, I'd happily have paid several hundred for my epidural. |
Anonymous
| Washington Post said today that 8 out of 10 people are happy with their insurance. That's a lot of happy people. I can't believe we are even discussing having the government take over yet another business. This is about control and it's not about helping people because government take over will help the small fraction of people who aren't already in line for help. Thought it was interesting that stats show that 40% of the uninsured are people ages 18-34--most of these people choose not to be insurance because they are healthy and don't prioritize insurance over "things." Also it has come out that a huge number of people choose not to be covered through work because they don't want to do the matching cost. Unbelievable but that is America, it's all about not taking personal responsibility. Why is this so bad? Again government doesn't have to do anything to "take" away your coverage. By merely being the government, they will push out insurance choice because the government doesn't have to operate as a business so will just more and more money and the others will be out and then..you will see what it is like to be a socialized system where committees decide if your treatment is okay and needed. Also the notion that you can keep your doctors is false. You may be able to keep your main doctor but that doctor will be a gatekeeper and incentivized to not let you see a specialist. I had an HMO and it sucked and I got out of there. There are also major parts of this package that are to be decided later and not specific. Why? As usual Obama wants to hook you and then throw in what he wants when it is too late to get out. He is also talking about taking away employer health deductions to push you to government health insurance and also taxing you benefits again to push you to the government. He lies. Look at the stimulus package? It wasn't stimulative and it didn't keep unemployment down as promised-it was a grab back of entitlement programs and projects that will take years to execute. Why aren't we asking for that money back? I feel so bad for the middleclass because you will get screwed-you will be forced to take this terrible insurance and people who are wealthy will get private on top of it so we will be served. This is the time for the middle class to say no thanks, stay out of our pocket Mr. Obama and take you marxism elswhere. |
Anonymous
You kind of slanted the article, didn't you? The title is, "Most Americans want Health Reform But Fear its Side Effects". |
Anonymous
| I thought the Post article itself is slanted. No one knows what will happen in the reform. I have great insurance, so yes, I suppose I'm worried about what will happen and how much more in taxes i'll have to pay for it. BUT, I think we're at a crisis point in health care and something major needs to be done to the system to rein in costs. So on the whole, I support reform although it may not end up being best for me personally. |
Anonymous
You make my point, if you want an epidural, then pay for it. It is not a necessity, 99% of the women around the world do just fine without. |
Anonymous
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Interesting article by Atul Gawande, one of the most insightful medical writers today, pointing mainly to overuse of medical treatments stemming from a culture of treating patients as "profit centers":
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all |
Anonymous
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This is the most medicated society in the world. People love the convenience of their drugs and the pharm companies thrive on it. Don't want to have your period? There's a pill for it. Back pain? Why relax, stretch and get your spine adjusted when there's a pill to trick your brain into not feeling the pain and tension that is still really there? Oh does that pill not work, let's try another, and another and another. Can't sleep or quit smoking? Try this new drug that will give you bizarre dreams and perhaps suicidal thoughts! Our babies are drinking breastmilk laced with anti-depressants and we are eating food laced with hormones. We love our drugs, and it is expensive!
France, Italy and Japan outrank us in longevity, diet, stress management and chronic pain care, yet their drug consumption is considerably and proportionately lower than ours, per the World Health Organization. |