It would be so much easier if health care were all paid for by the Federal and State Government — no matter what. But then we would be in total Socialistic Medicine and in a nightmare according to doctors I have worked for from Social Medicine countries like Canada. Denmark can brag about their Socialistic Medicine because it is all paid for — even expensive operations. No worries or problem so the patients have said. Social Med countries do have waiting lists but so do we here now. Especially the VA Hospitals. The patients are dead before they get help. Health care needs to be paid for 100% by the Employer to a certain amount and then extra stuff paid for by the Employee like it was before 1990’s. For those not working — it should be up to State Medicaid and individual. For those retired or on SSI — it should be up to State Medicare and individual. And for those that can’t pay — it should be picked up by Federal Government and State. At any plan an individual should have their choice as to if they want any insurance or none at all — without penalties. But they take their chances and accept the consequences. And the doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies should have their prices scaled way down to manageable fees. A doctor used to charge you $10 to $15 for an office visit for good individual care right in his office. An appendectomy operation and week stay in the hospital was $800 for everything (operation, IV’s , meds, supplies, 24 hour nurse care, food, everything) back in 1966. Now it is around $100,000 or more. I was in the hospital for chest pain and tests and observation for a week and it was $30,000 in 2012 — now it would be $60,000. RIDICULOUS. My Dad was out of work and had to have major triple bypass heart surgery in 1973 and it was about $60,000. He could not pay and it was all paid for. When I asked about it in 2017 — I was told they wouldn’t do the surgery now for any price because it was too expensive and would be given meds instead. And I have private good insurance and qualify for gov/state help. Must be around a million dollars now for the same operation. I was afraid to ask since they were so snipity and hateful. They need to reel the witch doctors in and make the pay scales and fees back to match our pay. We need more general practice and way less prima donna specialists. We need genuine hospitals and not big hospital conglomerates. We need just a few pharmaceutical companies that are heavily regulated by the government and a price ceiling set on them. I used to make the IV’s for a local hospital. In 1980 a Hyperalimentation IV cost the hospital about $100 for all of components and drugs to buy and make including about $2 my pay. They charged the patient more than $1,000. In 1983 a box of 1,000 tablets/ 250mg aspirin was $2 and the patient was charged $2.50 for each aspirin. Heaven only knows what it is 30 years later. Some prices have gone down — a lot more have skyrocketed for no other reason than greed. In other words, the health market is not regulated at all for meds, services, facilities, wages, doctors, etc. Not really. They say they are and have lots of people and administrators to prove it — but they really get away with murder sometimes literally.
SeekFirst
6 years ago
Competition is the key to lower health care costs. A good start would to mandate publishing the cost of all medical procedures.
It would be so much easier if health care were all paid for by the Federal and State Government — no matter what. But then we would be in total Socialistic Medicine and in a nightmare according to doctors I have worked for from Social Medicine countries like Canada. Denmark can brag about their Socialistic Medicine because it is all paid for — even expensive operations. No worries or problem so the patients have said. Social Med countries do have waiting lists but so do we here now. Especially the VA Hospitals. The patients are dead before they get help. Health care needs to be paid for 100% by the Employer to a certain amount and then extra stuff paid for by the Employee like it was before 1990’s. For those not working — it should be up to State Medicaid and individual. For those retired or on SSI — it should be up to State Medicare and individual. And for those that can’t pay — it should be picked up by Federal Government and State. At any plan an individual should have their choice as to if they want any insurance or none at all — without penalties. But they take their chances and accept the consequences. And the doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies should have their prices scaled way down to manageable fees. A doctor used to charge you $10 to $15 for an office visit for good individual care right in his office. An appendectomy operation and week stay in the hospital was $800 for everything (operation, IV’s , meds, supplies, 24 hour nurse care, food, everything) back in 1966. Now it is around $100,000 or more. I was in the hospital for chest pain and tests and observation for a week and it was $30,000 in 2012 — now it would be $60,000. RIDICULOUS. My Dad was out of work and had to have major triple bypass heart surgery in 1973 and it was about $60,000. He could not pay and it was all paid for. When I asked about it in 2017 — I was told they wouldn’t do the surgery now for any price because it was too expensive and would be given meds instead. And I have private good insurance and qualify for gov/state help. Must be around a million dollars now for the same operation. I was afraid to ask since they were so snipity and hateful. They need to reel the witch doctors in and make the pay scales and fees back to match our pay. We need more general practice and way less prima donna specialists. We need genuine hospitals and not big hospital conglomerates. We need just a few pharmaceutical companies that are heavily regulated by the government and a price ceiling set on them. I used to make the IV’s for a local hospital. In 1980 a Hyperalimentation IV cost the hospital about $100 for all of components and drugs to buy and make including about $2 my pay. They charged the patient more than $1,000. In 1983 a box of 1,000 tablets/ 250mg aspirin was $2 and the patient was charged $2.50 for each aspirin. Heaven only knows what it is 30 years later. Some prices have gone down — a lot more have skyrocketed for no other reason than greed. In other words, the health market is not regulated at all for meds, services, facilities, wages, doctors, etc. Not really. They say they are and have lots of people and administrators to prove it — but they really get away with murder sometimes literally.
Competition is the key to lower health care costs. A good start would to mandate publishing the cost of all medical procedures.