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As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500

nytimes.com

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Re: As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500

#41

Post by lsh123 »

The skyrocketing prices in healthcare and education have the same root problem: too many non-essential people (read: clerks) are on the payroll (e.g. search for "Dean-to-Professor ratio"). The government will not solve this problem, it will make it worse.

I think the only real solution to the problem is to break both hospitals and universities into smaller pieces with more direct correlation between performed work and rewards. Right now gigantic organizations ("too big to fail") in hospitals and universities make it impossible for staff members to see how the money is spent. The smaller doctor offices can be more effective and offer lower prices to patients. Same goes to smaller schools. This is one of the examples where scale makes things worse, not better.

Of course, you also have to have shared facilities with expensive equipment. However, these facilities does not need to be a part of the hospitals/universities. For example, there are already 3rd party labs that provide services to hospitals and doctors. Same can be done for other procedures (e.g. MRI) and this can also help to use equipment more efficiently.

Re: As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500

#42

Post by dude3 »

idupree wrote: post #37
[deleted] wrote: post #26

[deleted]

According to the article, a paltry 2% of your net revenue goes to uncompensated care (that's the California average). "Though hospitals’ nonprofit status allows them to reap tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in tax benefits, California Pacific Medical Center’s main campuses spent 1.27 percent of their more than $1.1 billion in net patient revenues in 2011 on free care for indigent or uninsured patients, lower t…

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-05-09-un... 49 billion in 2011. Yes and that's a far off estimate. Just go to the billing dept. in any major hospital in the Southwest. The gov needs to pay its bills. Yes, and hospital costs are out of control and need to come down.

Re: As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500

#43

Post by blah32497 »

te_platt wrote: post #29
davidbanham wrote: post #6

How on earth can you think a free market solution is appropriate for emergency medical care? For elective procedures, sure. For the ER? How do you expect the consumer to have perfect knowledge, rationality and freedom of choice in that scenario? If your kid is gushing blood, you call an ambulance to take them wherever they can get patched up the fastest. To expect someone to shop around until they find an equilibrium…

It's not hard. Limited only by your imagination. Emergency calls dispatched to competing ambulance/hospitals. Competing emergency dispatch services, say 911, 922, 933,... Customized emergency dispatch services - We'll have a life flight helicopter on call for only $99 a month! Plus any ideas from millions of people looking out for their best interests.

Or you have just one number that has a broker that gets you the best rate with the fastest, or most appropriate response time.

When it's less busy, the more affordable companies do most of the work - when it's busier, the more expensive ones fill in the service gap.

Re: As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500

#44

Post by [deleted] »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #25
mortyseinfeld wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong. There are choices and not everybody is spastically out of control like apparently you would be for a few stitches. You people have such a hard time with simple concepts, such as an ideologically disagreement on the role of government. Your first world government did a good job of indoctrinating you.

And yet, almost undoubtedly, his presumably socialist nanny-state government is providing an equivalent standard of healthcare for a fraction of the cost and complexity. Sign me up!

[deleted]

Re: As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500

#45

Post by rikacomet »

Could this be the problem rising from US having a increased reliance on Allopathic System of Medicine?

In India, Allopathic System exist together with other 4 big system, namely Unani (Old Greek), Chinese, Ayurveda & Homeopath.

Yes, all practitioners have to register themselves to a certain extent with the medical board of India, but the system is not as highly centralized, and is more like professionals working mostly as practitioners, instead of hired workforce.

This can be ironically put as something similar to free market, since the prices are being defined by market forces.

The war over Polio, which India as per WHO has won, would not have been possible if polio vaccine drops were made free, and also their administration, for all people, including upper class.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_Polio

What I'm sure about is this that if I were to travel to US, to get hurt, and get such a bill, I would go bankrupt over night.

3000$ you can buy Tata Nano!

Also, its worth mentioning, that there is a creed of medical practitioners called "Pehelwaans" (word meaning=wrestler), which is one of the most autonomous individuals around. A stitch for comparison costs around 1$ from them. They appeared out of the sportpersons treating themselves in medieval India, and then making that into community business.

In simple words, compare Pehelwaans with Calculator, very few functions, cheap yet effective in daily life. Both PCs and Calculator exist in real world, same way, Allopathy has been adapted by people for serious stuff, while traditional fields stay prevalent for simple stuff.

Practically speaking, just google how India has become a medical tourism destination, and people from both lower income groups like in Africa, as well as from higher income group from US are coming here.

As of right now, in terms of skill of doctors, US still has the upper hand by far for rare diseases, and everything out of the ordinary. Which is good in one way, but seriously, I'm very disturbed by the fact that 500$ for a few stitches!

heck I could buy a high end phone for that much!

Re: As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500

#46

Post by nikatwork »

te_platt wrote: post #29
davidbanham wrote: post #6

How on earth can you think a free market solution is appropriate for emergency medical care? For elective procedures, sure. For the ER? How do you expect the consumer to have perfect knowledge, rationality and freedom of choice in that scenario? If your kid is gushing blood, you call an ambulance to take them wherever they can get patched up the fastest. To expect someone to shop around until they find an equilibrium…

It's not hard. Limited only by your imagination. Emergency calls dispatched to competing ambulance/hospitals. Competing emergency dispatch services, say 911, 922, 933,... Customized emergency dispatch services - We'll have a life flight helicopter on call for only $99 a month! Plus any ideas from millions of people looking out for their best interests.

Everything old is new again! We could have rival ambulance gangs battling to take custody of an unconscious patient, just like the New York fire crews of the 1800s. [1]

[1] http://jason-cochran.com/blog/when-gangs-of-thugs-put-out-yo...

Re: As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500

#48

Post by xerophtye »

nhebb wrote: post #19
davidbanham wrote: post #6

How on earth can you think a free market solution is appropriate for emergency medical care? For elective procedures, sure. For the ER? How do you expect the consumer to have perfect knowledge, rationality and freedom of choice in that scenario? If your kid is gushing blood, you call an ambulance to take them wherever they can get patched up the fastest. To expect someone to shop around until they find an equilibrium…

I agree with you, but by definition, we in the US also live in a first-world country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World

Missed the joke?

Re: As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500

#50

Post by [deleted] »

sjtgraham wrote: post #23
refurb wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen the profit margins for the hospitals with these high prices? They certainly aren't raking it in. I agree that's stupid, but that's how the system works for paying for medical care in the US. From the perspective of the hospital, it makes perfect sense.

> Have you seen the profit margins for the hospitals with these high prices? They certainly aren't raking it in. The entire notion of hospitals being profit-making enterprises where people die when they can't afford to pay is literally absurd.

[deleted]
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