Why doctors pay millions in fees that could be spent on care
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Re: Why doctors pay millions in fees that could be spent on care
#2IMO they're blaming the wrong group for the issue though. Financial transactions should not cost much more than compute + software they run on. This is one angle where I actually respect a portion of the crypto community -- they've called out some things that were stagnant in the financial sector. Of course it remains to be seen if they can come up with viable alternatives, but agreeing on a problem is a good step forward.
Re: Why doctors pay millions in fees that could be spent on care
#3because rent i.e. taxes i.e. licensing fees i.e. insurance coverage i.e. rent is just too good when you're collecting it and nobody would give it up
Re: Why doctors pay millions in fees that could be spent on care
#4IMO they're blaming the wrong group for the issue though. Financial transactions should not cost much more than compute + software they run on. This is one angle where I actually respect a portion of the crypto community -- they've called out some things that were stagnant in the financial sector. Of course it remains to be seen if they can come up with viable alternatives, but agreeing on a problem is a good step fo…
There would be three ways of solving this.
Government breaks up managed care organizations so that they are small enough such that their counterparties (e.g. smaller doctor organizations) can tell them to pound sand when asked for ludicrous fees.
Government legislated that electronic ACH payments or transactions have to be offered free of charge.
Government operates electronic money accounts and electronic money transfers as infrastructure.
Re: Why doctors pay millions in fees that could be spent on care
#5Would love to see doctors and medical facilities nationwide convert, en masse, to paper checks. Let's see how quickly the insurers back off the fees.
Re: Why doctors pay millions in fees that could be spent on care
#6IMO they're blaming the wrong group for the issue though. Financial transactions should not cost much more than compute + software they run on. This is one angle where I actually respect a portion of the crypto community -- they've called out some things that were stagnant in the financial sector. Of course it remains to be seen if they can come up with viable alternatives, but agreeing on a problem is a good step fo…
> Financial transactions should not cost much more than compute + software they run on.
The fees aren't pure profit for financial institutions. Its used to subsidize consumer protections like fraud prevention and reversal.
> This is one angle where I actually respect a portion of the crypto community
Is there a portion of crypto platforms that don't take in fees?
Re: Why doctors pay millions in fees that could be spent on care
#7IMO they're blaming the wrong group for the issue though. Financial transactions should not cost much more than compute + software they run on. This is one angle where I actually respect a portion of the crypto community -- they've called out some things that were stagnant in the financial sector. Of course it remains to be seen if they can come up with viable alternatives, but agreeing on a problem is a good step fo…
I mean, sure they talk big, but isn't one of the largest complaints against crypto the fact that transaction fees are high [0,1,2] and processing times are long [3]?
[0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-and-its-many-fees-what-t...
[1] https://www.investopedia.com/tech/how-much-does-it-cost-buy-...
[2] https://www.makeuseof.com/crypto-exchange-fees-explained/
Re: Why doctors pay millions in fees that could be spent on care
#8IMO they're blaming the wrong group for the issue though. Financial transactions should not cost much more than compute + software they run on. This is one angle where I actually respect a portion of the crypto community -- they've called out some things that were stagnant in the financial sector. Of course it remains to be seen if they can come up with viable alternatives, but agreeing on a problem is a good step fo…
I mean, sure they talk big, but isn't one of the largest complaints against crypto the fact that transaction fees are high [0,1,2] and processing times are long [3]? [0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-and-its-many-fees-what-t... [1] https://www.investopedia.com/tech/how-much-does-it-cost-buy-... [2] https://www.makeuseof.com/crypto-exchange-fees-explained/
I believe the fees were in fact low back when they used that argument, many years ago.
Re: Why doctors pay millions in fees that could be spent on care
#9Looks like it may be cheaper to hire a guy to go around town and collect checks. Maybe that’s a startup idea there.
Re: Why doctors pay millions in fees that could be spent on care
#10> Many insurers, after whittling down physicians' reimbursements, now take an additional cut if the doctor prefers — as almost all do — to receive funds electronically rather than via a paper check.
What’s the angle here? Classic rent seeking because they can? Profiteering collecting interest on the float? Banking on doctors being slow to cash physical checks?
There’s some heavy stickiness to using one of these paperwork handlers for doctors. The switching costs are significant. But you’d still think there’s enough money there for someone to step up and offer the service without the fees. There’s enough money in fee per service to eat the big guys’ lunches.
It’s ridiculously close to the payroll business and we all know what happened there over the past 5-10 years.