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Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

latimes.com

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Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#361

Post by stjohnswarts »

sarcasmOrTears wrote: post #349
lotsofpulp wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A functioning market is one where multiple market participants exist (both buyers and sellers) and both are able to make educated choices. How can a market like this exist when the buyer is incapacitated, not to mention even when not incapacitated, the buyer is not sufficiently educated to understand what they are buying?

You could buy the services of an expert in medical decision-making who will negotiate for you when you're incapacitated. Also, supposedly people aren't total dicks. At the moment the healthcare industry rewards a lot of psychos due to its incentives. Hopefully with a free market the dicks would be weeded out due to increased choices. Also having a free market means that there would be an incentive to make medicine mo…

Or you can just not do free market on something that should be a human right given the capabilities of modern medicine. It shouldn't be left up to market forces to decide who gets help. That kind of makes sense for some things like TVs and laptops but not life and death when for the most expensive items your only choice is life and death.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#362

Post by stjohnswarts »

eblanshey wrote: post #111

If healthcare costs are so astronomically high, why are so many Americans supportive of mandatory insurance that forces insurance companies to pay those prices? It sounds as bizarre. It's like if a normal pair of shoes cost $1000, and people decided shoes are a right and everyone should subsidize each other's $1000 shoes. How about fixing the root problem first: a pair of regular shoes shouldn't cost a thousand dolla…

A lot of rural areas tend to vote for their party rather than for what makes sense.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#363

Post by stjohnswarts »

cosmodisk wrote: post #46

Reading this in Europe.I'm sure if I'd go with article alone to my American colleague on Monday, he'd defent the system even if he'd have to die for it. Knowing he's a healthy 20something man with affluent parents that could potentially bankroll even a year's stay in a private hospital- I could understand it to certain degree, however I fail to understand why nobody really is up for changing this system,where million…

It BS to say "nobody is really up for changing this system", the whole dem party is for it. I don't like blanket statements like you're making. Some of us have been fighting this for years. There are 340 million Americans, we aren't all the same.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#364

Post by stjohnswarts »

mikeash wrote: post #153
cosmodisk wrote: post #46

Reading this in Europe.I'm sure if I'd go with article alone to my American colleague on Monday, he'd defent the system even if he'd have to die for it. Knowing he's a healthy 20something man with affluent parents that could potentially bankroll even a year's stay in a private hospital- I could understand it to certain degree, however I fail to understand why nobody really is up for changing this system,where million…

Essentially everyone wants to change the system. The problem is that half of the voters want to fix it by having the government provide universal coverage, and half want to fix it by getting government out of the picture as much as possible and letting the market solve everything.

That's not true, there is about 70% support for a public option.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#365

Post by Ididntdothis »

vageli wrote: post #355
Ididntdothis wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“We live in the latter. Voting for the 3rd party is effectively voting one of the big 2.” It’s not. It sends a signal that there is a desire for something else.

A signal to whom? Is that signal strong enough to persist in memory until the next election cycle?

What’s the alternative? Choose between two corrupt parties?

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#366

Post by samstave »

sizzle wrote: post #301
samstave wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok so know that you can go against this. I was once charged $1,500 for a doctor to talk to me (without ever touching my physical body) to “prescribe” me over the counter motrin.... I then questioned them on this and they said “well it was a prescription” : i said you never even physically touched me. “So im going to tell you what this was worth to me: $50” They then said “okay we will charge you $297 for the visit” I…

Awesome story, any good references for you to date medical coding based off your background?

Codes are negotiated costs between insurance providers and hospitals, individually. So a cost for the same procedure at one hospital or another can be different.

Frankly you should challenge every single hospital charge you ever receive, they will always go lower.

As an example, just two weeks ago I made an appointment to go see a doctor. They called me back (kaiser) and said “ just come into the ER”

I said why, they said I don’t know, that’s what they told me to tell you.

So I called and verified my copay $30 and coverage etc.

When I got there they took my blood pressure asked a few questions, and then gave me the prescription I was asking for.

When I went to pay they tried to charge me $250

I said fuck you, I called and made an appointment, my co pay is $30 so that’s all I’m paying you period.

They conceded and accepted.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#367

Post by vageli »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #365
vageli wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A signal to whom? Is that signal strong enough to persist in memory until the next election cycle?

What’s the alternative? Choose between two corrupt parties?

I don't know, I'm just questioning the quality and magnitude of the signal sent by voting for a third party.

The public memory is so short and so malleable, people forget things week over week let alone the entirety of an election cycle.

The issue with third party voting is a classic case of the problem of coordinated collective action.

Would-be voters don't participate out of perceived futility or participate in the dual party system for similar reasons.

I don't know how to solve it but there does seem to be growing agitation in the electorate with the current system as it stands, with the Electoral College under public scrutiny and with media support. To me that is a signal that times are changing.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#368

Post by chillacy »

Paul-ish wrote: post #287
chillacy wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole system of massive school debt and massive salaries for doctors resting on the AMA artificially limiting the supply and scope of doctors? Yea I'd say so.

> AMA artificially limiting the supply and scope of doctors? I see people say this, but what does this mean? Should we not certify our doctors? Should just about anyone be able to hang out their shingle?

There are options between "free for all" and "highly restricted to the point of public harm".

Another thing would be to expand the scope of nurse practitioners where it makes sense.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#369

Post by dwild »

Bootwizard wrote: post #322
ttul wrote: post #195

My son broke his femur at school. He was transported to hospital where he underwent surgery to insert rods. He stayed for four nights in a state of the art, brand new children’s hospital, brimming with wireless tech. The nursing care was top notch. I had to pay for parking. Once he was back at school, the school district brought out occupational therapists who assessed his new disability and provided extra assistance…

Is the parking $20,000?

The parking is actually quite expensive, when my stepmom had cancer, I went a few time with a car and it was 16$ per day. That hospital made 60 millions in parking fees in 2015 as a reference...

That was the time I understood how lucky we are, when the final diagnostic fell, it was the first thing that came to my mind, what would have they done if it wasn't free... they would have to decide whether they try to give her a few more years and pay hundred thousands, or just watch her suffer a few more months. Sadly even with the amazing care she got, she died less than a year later, but at least they got that time and they never had to worry about the cost of it.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#370

Post by jellicle »

dmitrygr wrote: post #253
jellicle wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason is so that there aren't "boutique" private practices. Keeping the rich people in the same boat as the poor people is actually quite important for the long-term health and welfare of the system. Members of the Canadian parliament have the same healthcare system as anyone else. Thus they aren't terribly tempted to cut it. If private insurance was allowed (in Canada), the elite would have expensive plans that…

So how do you justify to your family that you are voting for someone who will reduce availability of very specialized treatment for them (those boutique doctors), so some random people you've never heard of can have better care "on average"? Becuase that's where I get stuck.

Having boutique practices is what reduces the availability of very specialized treatment, not the reverse. You're stuck because your understanding is completely backwards.
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