61–70 of 372 posts
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So why is our healthcare twice as expensive as the countries who actually do have socialized health care? When is that competition going to kick in and bring down costs? https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-...
Here's American health care: • I needed refills for two prescriptions that I've been taking for years. This time, for opaque reasons, I needed to talk to a doctor first. • Fine, but I couldn't accommodate an in-person check-in. I chose a "video visit" that, due to logistics, I had to do while away from home. Because they were a half-hour late, I was effectively forced to do this from the couch of a Costco floor displ…
American healthcare is the epitome of capitalism run amok. It’s terrible and the only thing worse than the exorbitant fees is the complete and utter lack of consideration to the patient’s time.
The lack of regard for patient schedules is a direct result of how insanely packed the schedules of providers are. Fifteen minutes per patient is luxurious and my partner spends a lot of time after work entering notes for patients she saw that day (she "works" 32 hours / 4 days a week, which is really closer to 40-45 all told). My understanding is that the clinic does not have a high profit margin (serving medical / medicare patients + high overall costs), so every patient counts, and the admin staff will add people w/o permission. It's common for her to find patients scheduled over her breaks or for her to be scheduled after she should have left the building. Burnout has always been bad but it's reaching epidemic levels now in the wake of covid, which further restricts the supply of healthcare and makes people wait longer to be seen.
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So why is our healthcare twice as expensive as the countries who actually do have socialized health care? When is that competition going to kick in and bring down costs? https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-...
Because Obamacare legislation ended up as a terrible version of socialism/pork-barrel spending/crony-capitalism in order to get the required support to pass. The democrats wanted to get subsidized healthcare for low income people and people with existing health issues that would guarantee they would be uneconomical to insure. The healthcare providers, insurance companies and pharma companies wanted to remain viable,…
This is cope, just like "(socialist catastrophe) wasn't caused by TRUE socialism" is cope.
The mechanism by which capitalism causes concentration of wealth and power, and by which said concentration then creates means, motive, and opportunity for self-dealing is crystal clear.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So why is our healthcare twice as expensive as the countries who actually do have socialized health care? When is that competition going to kick in and bring down costs? https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-...
Because Obamacare legislation ended up as a terrible version of socialism/pork-barrel spending/crony-capitalism in order to get the required support to pass. The democrats wanted to get subsidized healthcare for low income people and people with existing health issues that would guarantee they would be uneconomical to insure. The healthcare providers, insurance companies and pharma companies wanted to remain viable,…
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_an...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So why is our healthcare twice as expensive as the countries who actually do have socialized health care? When is that competition going to kick in and bring down costs? https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-...
Because Americans don't want to let people who can't pay for emergency care die (which I'd argue is a good thing) but also can't have a serious conversation about how to pay for that.
Every time my lawyer replies to my email, it costs me $35. At least. That's just for one or two line responses. Anything that requires research or (gasp) looping in a partner gets a lot more expensive, very quickly. This doctor sounds like a good deal.
This is a pretty privileged perspective. There's also quite a difference between the ethics of healthcare and legal services. Most of the time if you need a legal answer from a lawyer who charges like that, it's because you know you'll net more money from having the answer than it will cost to get a reply. With healthcare, you're not trying to make money you're just trying to live.
And usually I’m paying my lawyer to protect me from risks to my financial health, not because I think checking with them will make me money. My doctor helps protect me from health risks. It’s pretty similar. A mess-up in either area could easily mess up my life very badly.
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American healthcare is the epitome of capitalism run amok. It’s terrible and the only thing worse than the exorbitant fees is the complete and utter lack of consideration to the patient’s time.
I have a partner who's a nurse practitioner in primary care and I just want to emphasize how hellish it is for people on the inside as well. The economic model of running a healthcare business is entirely based on their ability to bill for provider time. Healthcare providers have very high costs to match their very high fees and also pay a bunch of people to 'help' providers see more patients. A big part of this mix…
For a recent event, I got a whole nurse calling me from the "insurance" company, out of the blue, seemingly just to chat about the medical situation and how things are going. I haven't figured out what her KPIs are, but I doubt she remains so friendly when you bump up against them! And she obviously represents a severe misallocation of labor - the industry would be better off if someone with her education (and likely experience) was actually providing healthcare.
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Because Americans don't want to let people who can't pay for emergency care die (which I'd argue is a good thing) but also can't have a serious conversation about how to pay for that.
Is it more about emergency care or the fact that we pay more for prescription drugs and expensive procedures?
The emergency care angle is what drives the socialism / capitalism bickering and that's what I see a the biggest impediment to actually making effective change.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So why is our healthcare twice as expensive as the countries who actually do have socialized health care? When is that competition going to kick in and bring down costs? https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-...
Because Obamacare legislation ended up as a terrible version of socialism/pork-barrel spending/crony-capitalism in order to get the required support to pass. The democrats wanted to get subsidized healthcare for low income people and people with existing health issues that would guarantee they would be uneconomical to insure. The healthcare providers, insurance companies and pharma companies wanted to remain viable,…
Frankly the difference I noticed post Obamacare was a friend of mine was able to get insurance in time to not go bankrupt treating her colon cancer.
I can't get behind the idea that Obamacare is somehow what broke our medical system.