[deleted]
The True Cost of Healthcare in the US
101–110 of 118 posts
Re: The True Cost of Healthcare in the US
#102This Time article seems particularly apropos: http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medica...
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the pharmaceutical and health-care-product industries, combined with organizations representing doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, health services and HMOs, have spent $5.36 billion since 1998 on lobbying in Washington. That dwarfs the $1.53 billion spent by the defense and aerospace industries and the $1.3 billion spent by oil and gas interests over the same period. That’s right: the health-care-industrial complex spends more than three times what the military-industrial complex spends in Washington.
So, the same root cause as many other problems in this country. As soon as we get the government into purchasing e.g. video games, closet organizers, computer security, vacuum cleaners, etc. we'll have the same problems with those industries we have now with healthcare, education, law enforcement, etc.
Re: The True Cost of Healthcare in the US
#103Hi, My name is David Belk and I wrote the website. I noticed a lot of traffic from here this Morning. I'd just like to say thank you and, are there any questions I can answer? I'm having a busy Morning but I'll be free in about an hour.
I have a question that I think about a lot and for most part, have not found an answer that makes logical sense. Why do insurance companies play such hardball with compensating private practices or medical groups? It would seem like it is in the interest of insurance companies for private practices to flourish given that the same thing done at a hospital costs the insurance companies 3-6 times more money. Most doctor…
The insurance companies pay long after we see the patient and most of them play about the same games. So, either we don't take any insurance (which would drastically reduce most of our incomes) or we just learn to play their games.
For the record, my wife has gotten pretty good with the billing so I usually get paid for what I do. At first it was very painful because dealing with insurance companies has a steep learning curve in the beginning, but it's not so bad now.
It's still highly inefficient billing each insurance company for each separate patient I see just to collect the amount most people pay to fill the gas tank of their car but, that's hardly the worst problem with health care in this Country.
Re: The True Cost of Healthcare in the US
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a question that I think about a lot and for most part, have not found an answer that makes logical sense. Why do insurance companies play such hardball with compensating private practices or medical groups? It would seem like it is in the interest of insurance companies for private practices to flourish given that the same thing done at a hospital costs the insurance companies 3-6 times more money. Most doctor…
The insurance companies pay long after we see the patient and most of them play about the same games. So, either we don't take any insurance (which would drastically reduce most of our incomes) or we just learn to play their games. For the record, my wife has gotten pretty good with the billing so I usually get paid for what I do. At first it was very painful because dealing with insurance companies has a steep learn…
Why do you think insurance companies play this game if it is not in their interest? I would think they would want private practices to flourish so their patients reduce use of hospitals and in the end, save the insurance company money.
Re: The True Cost of Healthcare in the US
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's just not true that large numbers of Canadians go to the US for healthcare. You need to supply evidence of this. The numbers are vanishingly small.
I'll ignore for a second that you asked the parent for evidence, and then proceeded to make a statement without providing any evidence yourself. >> The numbers are vanishingly small Maybe as a % of the overall Canadian population, perhaps. What about the % of critically ill? People with cancer? My aunt is an oncology nurse at one of the best hospitals in the nation, and she sees a lot of Canadians who come to the US…
But don't you think that if it were common for people with serious illnesses to come to the US, we'd see much more made of it than we do from those with a large vested interest in noting the influx?
Re: The True Cost of Healthcare in the US
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And you have to consider that that the Canadian government pays for much of that care in the US. It does not pay a dime.
"Most patients who come from Canada to the U.S. for health care are those whose costs are covered by the Canadian governments. If a Canadian goes outside of the country to get services that are deemed medically necessary, not experimental, and are not available at home for whatever reason (e.g., shortage or absence of high tech medical equipment; a longer wait for service than is medically prudent; or lack of physici…
> If a Canadian goes outside of the country to get services that are deemed medically necessary, not experimental, and are not available at home for whatever reason (e.g., shortage or absence of high tech medical equipment; a longer wait for service than is medically prudent; or lack of physician expertise),
Oh, yes. You try getting that through. It doesn't happen. It's something people trot out to say "see, everything is paid for" but the reality is far from different. And try to get that through for long term care.
And you want something else: "not experimental" That's not determined by the medical establishment. Rather, it's done by the government. So, even if every medical professional says otherwise, real treatments can be deemed experimental.
So no, the Canadian government does not pay for much of that treatment.
Re: The True Cost of Healthcare in the US
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
The insurance companies pay long after we see the patient and most of them play about the same games. So, either we don't take any insurance (which would drastically reduce most of our incomes) or we just learn to play their games. For the record, my wife has gotten pretty good with the billing so I usually get paid for what I do. At first it was very painful because dealing with insurance companies has a steep learn…
Why do you think insurance companies play this game if it is not in their interest? I would think they would want private practices to flourish so their patients reduce use of hospitals and in the end, save the insurance company money.
Again, no doctor turns away a patient who has insurance that he takes. Insurance contracts are signed by doctors years in advance. Insurance companies learned long ago that they can get away with being obnoxious as long as they're not so obnoxious that doctors would drop them. They walk that line rather well.
Re: The True Cost of Healthcare in the US
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll ignore for a second that you asked the parent for evidence, and then proceeded to make a statement without providing any evidence yourself. >> The numbers are vanishingly small Maybe as a % of the overall Canadian population, perhaps. What about the % of critically ill? People with cancer? My aunt is an oncology nurse at one of the best hospitals in the nation, and she sees a lot of Canadians who come to the US…
But don't you think that if it were common for people with serious illnesses to come to the US, we'd see much more made of it than we do from those with a large vested interest in noting the influx?
Re: The True Cost of Healthcare in the US
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you think insurance companies play this game if it is not in their interest? I would think they would want private practices to flourish so their patients reduce use of hospitals and in the end, save the insurance company money.
Again, no doctor turns away a patient who has insurance that he takes. Insurance contracts are signed by doctors years in advance. Insurance companies learned long ago that they can get away with being obnoxious as long as they're not so obnoxious that doctors would drop them. They walk that line rather well.
Got it, and I agree that insurance companies walk the line rather well in getting doctors to accept them.
But at a macro level, don't you think the insurance companies have failed themselves given rise in private practices closing shop or being bought out resulting in insurance companies needing to pay a lot more to hospitals?
Re: The True Cost of Healthcare in the US
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
But don't you think that if it were common for people with serious illnesses to come to the US, we'd see much more made of it than we do from those with a large vested interest in noting the influx?
Well, they do: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/02/09/the-canadian-patients%E2...
I think you can do better than Rush Limbaugh's favorite right wing advocacy group to back up your opinions.
Here's a study that puts the numer of Canadians using the US healthcare system at about 0.61%: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/21/3/19.full.html