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Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

bbc.com

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Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#471

Post by bko »

TehCorwiz wrote: post #437
bko wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you name someone that is a long-term non-political person that is making these decisions? I have trouble believing empowering people who have no risk of losing their job and no one knows they exist is the best model for making decisions for other people.

The entirety of Medicaid and Medicare. EDIT: Also the whole VA system.

Who runs Medicaid, Medicare or VA? Name the person. Who is held responsible? These are just words at this point and its an ideological battle. You have no idea.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#472

Post by bryan_w »

Animats wrote: post #8

"The campaigns with the biggest apparent international reach were under the name of an organisation called Chance Letikva (Chance for Hope, in English) - registered in Israel and the US." Chance Letikva is registered with the US IRS as a charity. They've filed a Form 990. Location is Brooklyn, NY. [1] Address is listed. It's a small house. It's also incorporated as CHANCE LETIKVA, INC. in New York State. Address matc…

>Namecheap

Namecheap and scammers -- I dare you to name a more iconic duo.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#475

Post by nickpp »

jgeada wrote: post #392
nickpp wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Time and time again large competing forces in the market are found to have colluded instead of directly competing with each other to drive price/cost down. Collusion and cartels never work on the long run. It's an unstable equilibrium, the incentive to reduce prices to capture more market is too great. > What is it that still makes you believe Competition. It's the only force keeping humans honest. That's why we mu…

Markets can remain irrational, or colluding, far longer than you can stay solvent (or even alive). For example, while the Phoebus cartel only really lasted from 1925 through to 1939, 1000hr incandescent light bulbs remain the standard offering till present day. Profitable market manipulations are sticky. The whole notion that markets are efficient is just a mathematical construct that has become very dogmatic for peo…

> the Phoebus cartel

> 1000hr incandescent light bulbs remain the standard offering till present day

This proves in fact that all the cartel did was establish a standard, an optimal average between various tradeoffs when building an incandescent lightbulb: brightness, cost, efficiency and life span. Yes, the cartel behaved anti-competitively. The effect on the market? Nil.

> perfect information and infinite time

There is absolutely no requirement for this for markets to work. Markets work just fine with partial information and just-in time. When new information and new market participants appear, markets will self-correct. The only way to prevent markets from working is through government intervention.

In facts, free markets are the only system we have that works with incomplete info and reacts in real-time. Central planning will happily decide on incomplete info then never adapt. We saw that during communism when the Party decided allocate X resources for production of Y and it always resulted in a glut or shortages. Central planning doesn't work.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#476

Post by nickpp »

jgeada wrote: post #426
bko wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, you have no bargaining decision when you have N providers, so we should get rid of all providers with a single provider because only then you'll be in better bargaining position. And now your death will have a meaningful change to the career bureaucrat or politician that made the decision that led to your death. Because power of an individual vote is much more powerful than the power to take your business elsew…

All empirical evidence shows that single payer systems work better, producing far better outcomes at lower cost, than the US system. In fact, so much better that a single payer system is what Congress has chosen for itself! But seems some prefer to believe a theoretical argument with no evidence to back it up. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command…

> All empirical evidence shows that single payer systems work better, producing far better outcomes at lower cost, than the US system.

Agreed. Also, all empirical evidence shows that free-markets work better, producing far better outcomes at lower cost than either. Just look around at any less-regulated and thus free-er markets. Or just "reject the evidence" - your choice.

> die

I am middle-aged so I used plenty of health services in my life. I always had choices when in came to price and level of care and treatment. None of them were for the "dying" case. But I do have an insurance specifically for that case. I am a rational being so I plan in advance. No need for a government bureaucrat to decide my health care for me just in case some day I may be incapacitated.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#477

Post by nickpp »

KingMob wrote: post #146
nickpp wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any system needs a resource allocation algorithm. In capitalism it is easy and transparent: price, with the side effect of aligning society interests with those of the selfish individual. Of course the strange and heavily regulated US health-care system is obviously far far away from a free market. In socialism it's much more random: black markets, lists, lotteries, friends and network of connections. The side effect…

Theory: > In socialism it's much more random: black markets, lists, lotteries, friends and network of connections. The side effect is that the most productive individuals are discouraged and punished, with the whole society lagging in effect. Evidence: the vast majority of European countries who have socialized medicine and seem to be doing fine.

> the vast majority of European countries who have socialized medicine and seem to be doing fine

You do realize that the "vast majority" of European countries doesn't mean highly developed Western Europe, right?

Here in Central and Eastern Europe (where I live) socialized medicine is not "fine". You should visit some hospitals in Bulgaria or Romanian to get a more complete picture. We pay the state outrageous insurance costs every month then go and pay out-of-pocket in private hospitals when we actually need them.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#478

Post by nickpp »

orwin wrote: post #135
nickpp wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Strong and prosperous economy built by progressive tax rate that used to tax up to 70% of non-work income, and now tax most of it 27-29% (depending on the corporate taxe of the state). The people who can use loopholes to avoid income taxes also pay reduced consumption tax (they usually pay the 'Use tax' rather than sale tax in the US, and can basically ignore VAT in Europe).

That's a common misconception. Although the top tax rates were indeed high, they kicked in at such high income levels and included so many deductions and loopholes that the effective tax rate were much closer to 50%.

And it makes sense, considering human nature and motivation: how much would you work considering the taxation? Me:

0-20%: I work as hard, want to excel and advance; I will take risks and invest in entrepreneurial endeavors

20-40%: I will do my duty, 9-5 then hit the door to spend time with the family; actively seek low-responsibility low risk high stability and lots of benefits government jobs

>40%: f that s, I will take my welfare payments and do various cash jobs without declaring that income; stay in my parents basement playing Xbox, smoking weed and jerking off

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#479

Post by hermanzegerman »

coredog64 wrote: post #349
hermanzegerman wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Single-Payer-System would also be cheaper in the US. Nobody expenses as much on administrative cost, nobody pays so much as a % of GDP on Healthcare as you, still you have the worst health outcomes of all developed nations. Taking into account both the costs of coverage expansion and the savings that would be achieved through the Medicare for All Act, we calculate that a single-payer, universal health-care system i…

You are, of course, aware that the current US single payer system (Medicare) subcontracts their administration to private health insurance companies ? And that the "overhead" typically discussed when talking about Medicare doesn't include said companies but is instead only the overhead of what it takes to shovel money from the IRS to private insurance companies? No, this is not Medicare Advantage, in which Medicare j…

The overwhelming administrative cost in the US Health Care System includes all forms of Insurance wether they are private or public. It is around 10%

Other public systems vary between 1-4%

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#480

Post by hermanzegerman »

nickpp wrote: post #363
hermanzegerman wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that's what you hear and read on Fox News and other "News Sources" daily. But here in Germany, there are no "death panels" or long waiting times for cancer treatment. Also we don't need "pre-auth" and other Bullshit before we start standard treatments. The real death panels are sitting in your Insurance Companies Offices as seen by the news coverage around United Healthcare et al lately

I live in Eastern Europe and my "news sources" are friends in hospitals asking us to donate for desperate causes. Governments-paid treatments are god-sent but many times the funds are limited so they only cover older, cheaper treatments. Approval and funds for newer ones come so late, sometimes too late. Germany has one of the most developed economies on the planet so naturally has more spend on healthcare. But that…

What country are we talking about?

Slovakia?

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