181–190 of 381 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The alternative isn't denying care. It is providing the same care without having people get into debt, which every other developed country (and a lot of undeveloped countries) in the world manages to do.
> which every other developed country (and a lot of undeveloped countries) in the world manages to do. Where doctors also make much more modest salaries
None of these metrics will change the political stance our one majority party took. They have shut their eyes and ears and are hell bent on preserving the interests of the lobbying companies and fetishizing “free market competition”. I can bet a sizeable amount of money that nothing will change in the next 50yrs even. Today there is still a rule that a hospital cannot say no to a patient, I strongly believe that is o…
Stop pretending the clowns pretending to be politicians are doing anything to help us. This is about the rich not wanting to give up their money, and both sides are just protecting them.
Still better than dealing with rationing. The rest of the world better hope the US never goes socialist with health care - kiss innovation goodbye.
idk. Most innovation in the field of medicine comes from research in universities, which are pretty socialized for the most part. The workers that are doing the innovation are also educated in a mostly socialized learning system. And there are plenty of economies with mostly socialized medicine that do plenty of innovation (including the USA). So I think your fears of collective funding of important institutions are…
One thing I missed on the article was a section about "how did we get here" (including things like Hospitals not disclosing prices for their treatments and forcing people to sign papers under duress). And a section about "who benefits from all this suffering" would complete it.
I always figured that the reason why I make as much money as possible is so that I can pay for medical expenses when things go wrong.
Unless you make millions, it's unlikely your finances could survive an ICU admission.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm very surprised they do not charge the credit card processing fee here. But I guess since you are actually paying they are making such high margin they don't even care.
Hospitals are incredibly forgiving if you will eventually pay. Collections will give them pennies on the dollar at best. If you call them up, they'll usually just say "what can you pay?" and agree to just about anything you propose.
Which is why you can often do better paying cash at a "expensive" hospital that is overflowing with money than at a "budget" one that is having difficulty making the numbers balance. The latter is more likely to hard-line.
Just watched John Q (2002) last night, and can't believe that despite all the attention it gets, nothing has changed at all. Can't say I'm surprised though.
The healthcare sector is still quite profitable despite the debt, slow payments, and defaults. What is their motivation to change?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Further, neither side (seems to) accept incremental change and loves making the perfect the enemy of the good -- especially, imo, the left -- so they get nothing and complain about it.
You're going to have to elaborate on that one, considering that the ACA came from the Obama administration and was about the smallest incremental change possible. Not that republicans didn't try to repeal it several times anyway.
0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerationism
1: edited to add: imo. And probably in their o as well.
- Hospitals recorded their most profitable year on record in 2019, notching an aggregate profit margin of 7.6%
- From 2012 to 2016, prices for medical care surged 16%, almost four times the rate of overall inflation
- Last year the average annual deductible for a single worker with job-based coverage topped $1,400, almost four times what it was in 2006... Family deductibles can top $10,000
Facilities charge exorbitant prices for procedures and insurance companies pass more and more of these costs on to patients via higher deductibles and premiums. It will continue to get worse unless there is colossal change.
I see any suggestion to the contrary of Socialized medicine being downvoted. Honest question. How do you propose to expand healthcare with 130% Debt to GDP and 8.9% inflation? It seems we are broke and there is a demand from the HN community to spend more? Feels like hitting the accelerator as one drives off a cliff and invokes memories of Thelma & Louise