Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Things I still can't do in November 2014

facebook.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 153 posts

Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014

#111

Post by snarfy »

DanBC wrote: post #110
snarfy wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smokers die sooner and cost the system less. You should get a tax break for smoking. Forcing people's choices is not a net good for society.

> Smokers die sooner and cost the system less. This is only true if you have high taxes on tobacco products. Those high taxes introduce other distortions -- smuggling of tobacco and increased use of counterfeit product. Smuggling is sometimes done by criminal gangs. Counterfeit product is considerably more harmful than actual products. The reason we want to stop people from smoking has little to do with the fact that…

Actually, it's true without any tobacco taxes.

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fj...

>Because of differences in life expectancy, however, lifetime health expenditure was highest among healthy-living people and lowest for smokers.

Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014

#112

Post by irremediable »

antr wrote: post #24
irremediable wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A good number are Silicon Valley (or US) problems, the $100 MRI is pretty the cost of an MRI in Europe, but then, it's free for the patient. Same goes for the ER. FWIW, while the patient-facing cost is about that, I think the actual cost (after accounting for taxes, charitable donations, the radiographer's time, etc) is quite a bit higher.

In the EU, the supply of medical services generally qualifies for exemption from VAT, among other taxes. Same applies with charitable donations... that is pretty much a US thing too. The $100 number is an all-in cost. I know this as I come from a family of doctors, unfortunately I'm not one.

> In the EU, the supply of medical services generally qualifies for exemption from VAT, among other taxes. Same applies with charitable donations... that is pretty much a US thing too.

Just to check we're on the same page: I was talking about taxes and donations that are used to fund the purchase and maintenance of the scanner, radiographers, etc. That is, the patient-facing cost (or consultant-facing cost, or researcher-facing cost, or whatever) might be $100, but how much more expensive would it have been if taxes etc hadn't gone some way towards funding it?

I don't know the answer, but I suspect it comes out to be a fair bit. I do academic research using MRI, and (from what I've heard) we see significant price differences according to where a researcher's funding came from, and whether the scan counts as being "on the NHS" or not.

Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014

#114

Post by waterlesscloud »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #86
dkyc wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Be able to get a $100 MRI. It can be done for this price." [...] Also you may get it for free when you actually need it, if you live in a place with a sane health system (i.e., not the USA)." As someone who lives in Germany where people pay almost 20% of their salary for non-opt-out health insurance, I'm astonished by people that think a state-forced health insurance gets you free MRIs .

In the context of healthcare, "free" means "free at the point of use." This is perfectly sensible, because everybody is aware there is no such thing as healthcare which is literally absent of any cost. Given that, it seems like making this tedious statement every time someone references free healthcare is getting old. I'd also point out that the insurance rate is actually 15.5%, that people with low incomes are exemp…

It's pretty clear the list is talking about all-in costs, though.

Under the ER one it even specifies "the system" as who its currently costing $1000.

Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014

#115

Post by [deleted] »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #60
lingoberry wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding 30. wasn't it recently concluded here on HN that obese people actually end up costing less to society since they tend not to survive into their 80s/90s? Not that his thought is good even if this was not true.

An obese person costs more per year but less per lifetime since he dies sooner. Correspondingly, an obese person should pay more each year but they will pay less over their lifetime.

[deleted]

Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014

#116

Post by waterlesscloud »

vermooten wrote: post #62

"32. Be able to get into an ER for under $100. It's ridicoulous that a mere 15 min consultation can cost somebody (the system) $1000+." You can. It's called 'living in Europe.'

You even quoted the part where he says "the system".

He's talking about total costs, including to the government.

Rightly or wrongly, he believes there's room to dramatically lower actual health care costs.

Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014

#118

Post by cm2012 »

crdoconnor wrote: post #35

"Get a discount from the federal government for being healthy. Fat people should pay more taxes because they cost society more. This means some approved weigh in and testing centers" This argument seems to be pretty common among the glitterati from Wall Street. I wonder why they don't see the incredible irony.

Is there evidence that fat people cost society money? They die earlier, and quicker, avoiding extremely costly end of life dementia care.

Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014

#119

Post by tpeo »

fphhotchips wrote: post #5

I remain frustrated that world financial systems are unable to handle instant money transfers between institutions. There seems to me to be no good reason that I shouldn't be able to transfer money between my accounts without waiting until midnight for the funds to clear. Worse, the routine seems not to run on weekends. Why is this? Is power unavailable on Saturday night?

There's no guarantee that individual banks will have enough deposits to cover their liabilities, so they first have to wait until the end of the day in order to clear all transactions made and fix any possible deposit shortfalls by operating on the overnight market getting short-term loans, either from the FED or from other banks.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/overnightrate.asp

I'm not saying this is the reason why you can't instantly transfer money around, as there could possibly be a better implementation of such a system that allows consumers to do that. I'm just saying what I know.

Re: Things I still can't do in November 2014

#120

Post by [deleted] »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #98
DanBC wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mostly agree with your point[1] but you should be aware that seroquel and abilify (the 5th and 6th most prescribed medications in the US) both lost increased appetite and weight gain as side effects. The US also has a lot of "off label" prescribing of other anti psychotic meds. This includes risperidone - which again promotes weight gain. The rate of prescribing mental health meds has increased dramatically since t…

If one's calorie needs go down, one can reduce consumption, correct? Similarly, "increased appetite" is simply a desire to eat more - additionally, it's a signal that your mind can correctly dismiss once you know it's phony. Another choice is to do what people in 1989 did - not consume those pills . I'm aware you don't like me. I make no effort to signal loyalty to the American "blue tribe" (c.f. Scott Alexander [1])…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN