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Economic Analysis of Medicare for All

peri.umass.edu

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Re: Economic Analysis of Medicare for All

#2
One thing that sometimes gets lost in the "health care is inefficient" discussion is that one person's inefficiency is another person's living. The cost controls the paper appears to advocate for literally mean someone is making less money, that someone will advocate strongly against it. I've spent the past 3.5 years in healthcare, everyone is convinced they're not the problem, that they're underpaid or overworked or whatever. I would love for some sort of centralized system to push down costs, but I fear it's not realistically every going to happen.

Re: Economic Analysis of Medicare for All

#3
post #2

One thing that sometimes gets lost in the "health care is inefficient" discussion is that one person's inefficiency is another person's living. The cost controls the paper appears to advocate for literally mean someone is making less money, that someone will advocate strongly against it. I've spent the past 3.5 years in healthcare, everyone is convinced they're not the problem, that they're underpaid or overworked or…

> One thing that sometimes gets lost in the "health care is inefficient" discussion is that one person's inefficiency is another person's living.

You are not entitled to a living as bureaucratic waste. We should of course help retrain those who lose their jobs, just as we're doing for coal workers who are going to be out of a job within the next five years. I want my healthcare dollars going to healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, CNAs, drug research R&D, medical technology innovators), not private insurance companies, not administrators or third party billers, and most assuredly, not shareholders. I want the AMA to be handicapped from preventing us from dramatically increasing the number of doctors in the US (the American Medical Association operates as a cartel/cabal, attempting to limit supply to keep wages high); they also attempt to reduce the authority given to nurse practitioners [1].

> I would love for some sort of centralized system to push down costs, but I fear it's not realistically every going to happen.

The majority of Americans say the government should be responsible for ensuring health care coverage for all Americans [2]. Universal healthcare will arrive in the US eventually, the question is when. The current model is unsustainable, and will reach a tipping point.

[1] https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20171214/NEWS/17121...

[2] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/13/more-america...

Re: Economic Analysis of Medicare for All

#4
post #2

One thing that sometimes gets lost in the "health care is inefficient" discussion is that one person's inefficiency is another person's living. The cost controls the paper appears to advocate for literally mean someone is making less money, that someone will advocate strongly against it. I've spent the past 3.5 years in healthcare, everyone is convinced they're not the problem, that they're underpaid or overworked or…

> that they're underpaid or overworked or whatever

Having family in healthcare and being a lifelong patient due to a congenital defect, a job in software (including management obv) is a breeze compared to health care worker jobs across the board. They require more "schooling" (via mind-numbing training), are underpaid, have much more serious consequences from mistakes, have less oversight, work longer hours and under worse conditions. It's disheartening.

Re: Economic Analysis of Medicare for All

#5
post #2

One thing that sometimes gets lost in the "health care is inefficient" discussion is that one person's inefficiency is another person's living. The cost controls the paper appears to advocate for literally mean someone is making less money, that someone will advocate strongly against it. I've spent the past 3.5 years in healthcare, everyone is convinced they're not the problem, that they're underpaid or overworked or…

> that they're underpaid or overworked or whatever Having family in healthcare and being a lifelong patient due to a congenital defect, a job in software (including management obv) is a breeze compared to health care worker jobs across the board. They require more "schooling" (via mind-numbing training), are underpaid, have much more serious consequences from mistakes, have less oversight, work longer hours and under…

I'm pretty sure most people, even administrators in hospitals and insurance, are overworked. Health care in the US is the textbook definition of big business. The only people making easy, stupid money are shareholders.

Re: Economic Analysis of Medicare for All

#6
post #2

One thing that sometimes gets lost in the "health care is inefficient" discussion is that one person's inefficiency is another person's living. The cost controls the paper appears to advocate for literally mean someone is making less money, that someone will advocate strongly against it. I've spent the past 3.5 years in healthcare, everyone is convinced they're not the problem, that they're underpaid or overworked or…

And a lot of this is administrative overhead. Coming from a country outside of the US, I was also shocked by the price of medecine, every medecine magically seems to be 5-10x more expensive in the US.

Re: Economic Analysis of Medicare for All

#7
My biggest fear of a bill like this is even should we have the most progressive anti corruption government implement this law originally, whats to prevent this from becoming incredibly wasteful just like our military is. I.e. we spend a trillion dollars over decades trying to develop some drug that turns out to take us nowhere, while enriching pfizer shareholders this time instead of lockheed martin ones.

I absolutely support medicare for all, even though as a healthy young software engineer this will raise the cost of my healthcare a ton, I'm just nervous that this will result in the largest negative iron triangle in the history of our country.

Re: Economic Analysis of Medicare for All

#8
post #2

One thing that sometimes gets lost in the "health care is inefficient" discussion is that one person's inefficiency is another person's living. The cost controls the paper appears to advocate for literally mean someone is making less money, that someone will advocate strongly against it. I've spent the past 3.5 years in healthcare, everyone is convinced they're not the problem, that they're underpaid or overworked or…

> that they're underpaid or overworked or whatever Having family in healthcare and being a lifelong patient due to a congenital defect, a job in software (including management obv) is a breeze compared to health care worker jobs across the board. They require more "schooling" (via mind-numbing training), are underpaid, have much more serious consequences from mistakes, have less oversight, work longer hours and under…

People's work shouldn't be reduced, but drugs and devices should be to an extent. Firefighters told the portable EKG costed thousands of dollars (5 or 10 don't recall). That thing had bad 2G connectivity so the graph coudn't be sent to a cardiologist. The sensor/dsp part is worth money, the rest would cost 100$ from any smartphone maker today with better performance and portability.

I'm sure the price is rigged for margins. This shouldn't be a market, it should be an open duty to make these cost efficient.

Re: Economic Analysis of Medicare for All

#9
post #2

One thing that sometimes gets lost in the "health care is inefficient" discussion is that one person's inefficiency is another person's living. The cost controls the paper appears to advocate for literally mean someone is making less money, that someone will advocate strongly against it. I've spent the past 3.5 years in healthcare, everyone is convinced they're not the problem, that they're underpaid or overworked or…

I’ve always worried about the political consequences to the loss of insurance jobs.

I also view that job loss as a foregone conclusion due to insurance companies fighting even moderate changes tooth and nail. If even minor improvements to a nakedly broken system are going to get fought against with such ferocity, it’s not surprising that their opponents would try and move the Overton window in response.

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