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Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

newyorker.com

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Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#11

Post by tr0ut »

mtgx wrote: post #4

It sounds like in the "free market healthcare" system hospitals are incentivized to get the patient to spend as much as possible. That's aside from other bad incentives of such a system such as hospitals not wanting to be transparent with their prices, insurance companies not wanting to take patients with pre-existing conditions, also wanting to cover as few conditions as possible, Big Pharma being incentivized to as…

You have the wrong idea. A better example of what you're calling "free market" would be dentistry or something like Lasik surgery. You can shop around and figure out the prices because they are very much apparent since you pay out of pocket for the majority of the former and completely for the later.

Would Medicaid/Medicare be "free market"? Why bother shopping around when someone else picks up the tab?

Insurance companies mostly reflect the costs of the hospital. If the hospital charges you $50 for a bottle of Asprin, so be it. ICD10 and Meaningful Use were designed for billing not really for health care. Those were federal mandates not "free market"

Pre-existing conditions is a lot more tricky than you think. The political ploy is to think of a poor person with a serious illness being turned away by insurance because they don't want to deal with them. When in reality it can be you're obease or someone who just did not take care of themselves period. You can imagine a group pre-existing conditions patients could bankrupt a insurance company. What if to be "fair" you were charged the same as a person with a pre-exiting condition. Say someone that smoked 2 packs a day for 30 years?

ACA was just a big initiative to add more insurance companies to the mix. Now it is mandatory you pay insurance companies.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#12

Post by jessaustin »

marze wrote: post #6

This article makes it sound like medical costs in the US could be halved if everyone understood this problem, and did their own research on proposed procedures.

So... it would be impossible to halve medical costs? People, in general, are pretty dumb. Sick people, in general, are more so.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#13

Post by luckydata »

marze wrote: post #6

This article makes it sound like medical costs in the US could be halved if everyone understood this problem, and did their own research on proposed procedures.

Go ahead, try and come back tell us how effective/easy that is. I dare you.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#14

Post by tinokid »

marze wrote: post #6

This article makes it sound like medical costs in the US could be halved if everyone understood this problem, and did their own research on proposed procedures.

Nice idea, but how realistic is it? Most patients are not scientifically-literate, some are flat out incapacitated.

For all the stories about heartless insurance companies denying to pay for things, perhaps they should actually be more strict. As in, refuse to pay for anything unless there is 1) rock-solid (i.e. double-blind, placebo-controlled) evidence that it helps 2) for a specific, objectively verifiable indication 3) when provided by a doctor whose track record is demonstrably non-inferior to that of other practitioners. But for all three of those things, no $.

I would be interested in buying insurance like that.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#15

Post by rvail2 »

mtgx wrote: post #4

It sounds like in the "free market healthcare" system hospitals are incentivized to get the patient to spend as much as possible. That's aside from other bad incentives of such a system such as hospitals not wanting to be transparent with their prices, insurance companies not wanting to take patients with pre-existing conditions, also wanting to cover as few conditions as possible, Big Pharma being incentivized to as…

You should look up the definition of "free market". We do not have a free market in healthcare.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#16

Post by vonmoltke »

joncrane wrote: post #5

Sounds like another one of those "this is what happens when money (as opposed to patient wellbeing) becomes a driving factor in health care." I remember I tried to find a PCP once and I showed up for my intake appointment and the young, rushed doctor said they wouldn't enroll me as an official member unless I had two intake visits. They were gaming the insurance system.

> I showed up for my intake appointment and the young, rushed doctor said they wouldn't enroll me as an official member

"Intake appointment"? "Official member"? What kind of system is this?

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#17

Post by jessaustin »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #9
blattimwind wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least you're living in a free country with free healthcare and not some socialist shithole with universal healthcare.

I'll take the socialist healthcare over the shit I got in the states, thank you. Sure, every system has its own problems and it isn't perfect. But I can get care. My yearly out-of-pocket is less than some folks pay per month for premiums, and definitely less than the average deductible. No more fears of losing a job and therefore losing medical coverage or going broke because of something out of my control. Have you…

See irony.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#18

Post by kent13304 »

Sumaso wrote: post #10
whb07 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More like, “what happens when the patient does not directly feel the financial bill and the doctor tries to charge/do unnecessary things to make more money”. This is a direct result of the laws and regulations distorting the market.

Yeah lets get rid of laws and regulations, that will fix health care prices!!! /s

It actually would. No need for sarcasm on that comment.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#19

Post by edwhitesell »

After recently getting a cancer diagnosis and going through surgery and chemotherapy, the best advice I can give is: ask lots of questions and you are your own best advocate.

As with any profession, there are some great doctors who are truly looking out for your best interests and will pursue any direction you want. There are others who simply want to "follow the standard practice", even if what they know as "standard" is 35 years old. There are others who just want to get through as many procedures as possible and "see what sticks" when it comes to a diagnosis.

Asking questions helps you better understand which of these you're working with, and what actions you need to take on your own.

Finally, EMR sounds great, but in my experience it just doesn't work. Find a PCP who is part of a hospital system with specialists using the same computer system. This means they can all see each other's notes & test results. A lot of the time, even doctors in the same building are basically "private practice", or part of some other partnership that is not part of the hospital you are at.

Re: Unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially (2015)

#20

Post by ThomPete »

joncrane wrote: post #5

Sounds like another one of those "this is what happens when money (as opposed to patient wellbeing) becomes a driving factor in health care." I remember I tried to find a PCP once and I showed up for my intake appointment and the young, rushed doctor said they wouldn't enroll me as an official member unless I had two intake visits. They were gaming the insurance system.

The problem is that the opposite isn't much better. When budget becomes the driving factor in healthcare. That means things are getting cut out or rationed and you have long delays.

The trick is finding a balance between regular healtchare (flu, stomach pain and other illnesses) and then things like cancer treatment.

In my world the best mode would have people pay for all the short term stuff and then have the collecive paying for serious things.

I would be in favor of a completely free market as that would drive prices down but I don't believe we can get a completely free market so the above would be my second best option.

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