Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Children did have Well Visits, once a year. Sick? Doctor came to your home carrying only his black medical bag. I remember it well from the 1950's. I grew up in Manhattan too. Pediatricians went around to NYC apartment buildings!
Why are costs so high today? Medicine is now BIG BUSINESS. The more tests, the better, and the more money to be made. Fear sells medical care.
We had a doctor (gp) who also did house calls. The problem today with medicine is that most of our
future doctors are not going into general or family practice. (see link). What is fairly
new is that gp's no longer go to the hospital (should you get really sick, need surgery or get in an
accident) because now there are Hospitalists who do not have any knowledge of a persons medical
history. Then there are nurse practitioners who are filling the gap that gp's and internists used to do.
Medicine has become big business and if anyone really wants to understand why and what has
happened, I suggest they read the Time Magazine article "The Bitter Pill," April 4, 2013
You hit the nail on the head....prices for services rose when insurance came into being. Drop the prices to what folks can pay, and get rid of insurance altogether. Yeah, it will take a while for folks to realize that nothing is free (although they should know that anyway!)
My Uncle was in the hospital for 3 weeks....Medicare and his supplemental ins were billed $119,000, but between the 2 insurances, the price was dropped to $14,000 and then, they paid a portion of that! Still overpriced, but to take $105,000 off the bill? C'mon...not a real price at all!!!
The entire system is screwed up.
I don't know if doing away with health insurance is the answer to anything, but I will agree 100% that the health insurance system is unbelievably screwed up.
One of them has a $160 copay for each shot and the other has a $1,800 copay for each shot. WTH?
How can either a drug company or an insurance company explain that discrepancy? Why can't the companies figure out how much it costs per shot for them to make a reasonable profit and bill that amount? It's maddening.
We had a doctor (gp) who also did house calls. The problem today with medicine is that most of our future doctors are not going into general or family practice. (see link). What is fairly new is that gp's no longer go to the hospital (should you get really sick, need surgery or get in an accident) because now there are Hospitalists who do not have any knowledge of a persons medical history. Then there are nurse practitioners who are filling the gap that gp's and internists used to do. Medicine has become big business and if anyone really wants to understand why and what has happened, I suggest they read the Time Magazine article "The Bitter Pill," April 4, 2013
There are some hospitalists that are great and some useless. I use a certain medical group that has a great hospitalist in Greenwich Hospital whereas I couldn't even get the White Plains one on the phone when my mother's care descended below crisis levels. GP's also know less and less about their patients these days.
The old joke was that a specialist knows more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing. A GP knows less and less about more and more until he knows nothing about everything. So true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marlow
I don't know if doing away with health insurance is the answer to anything, but I will agree 100% that the health insurance system is unbelievably screwed up.
The reason that I think that eliminating insurance would solve a lot of problems is that insurance companies place distance between the provider and the patient. In a business relationship the served part has the ability to refuse payment for overly expensive or defective services. A court can always sort it out. Insurance companies' "voice mail jails" sort out nothing.
Doctors always over-bill. Medicare does not accommodate their over-billing. But they still keep doing it. I saw that on all the bills that my parents would get.
They don't pull the billing prices out of the air. The AMA dictates what the bill what the bills will be. The ever gullible American Public has no idea. This has been going on for decades.
I began my career back in the 1960's in the health insurance industry before they became involved in the pricing game. That didn't happen until the 80's. From that came a real marriage between the AMA and the insurance industry that will only keep getting more and more complicated and more and more lucrative for the medical industry in general.
There is lots to be found on the Internet on the subject. These are a couple of examples of what I believe to be good information. It really isn't all that hush-hush. The AMA sets the prices according to each geographical area and what it thinks the population can afford times the amount of time it takes for the procedure. As an example,the same surgery done today in Los Angeles, CA will cost less if it's done in Little Rock, AK.
When I first started paying claims before computers we actually used algebraic formulas to compute these figures based on lists we got directly from government data. There are various procedure codes for all types of services like surgeries, office visits, labs etc. Each code may have a sub code. All have complexity, time and geographical values set by these formulas. We used adding machines. Today it's still the same only it's done on computers and the insurance companies have input with their varied plans that fit into the equation.
To respond to the OP's question, would we be better off with no insurance in our convoluted, ridiculous health care system today, I don't think so. Too many hands are in the till. Another reason is that you cannot go back to decades that did not have the expensive medical equipment, intricate surgical procedures or salary bases of medical providers from technicians to doctors are paid today. That's like saying you want to a 2015 car at 1960 prices.
Now would we be better off with a universal or national health care plan as other countries have? Yes, I would definitely be in favor of that.
Doctors always over-bill. Medicare does not accommodate their over-billing. But they still keep doing it. I saw that on all the bills that my parents would get.
Wouldn't you over bill if you new the insurance company was ALWAYS going to pay you less?
Insurance is one giant Pyramid Scheme. You pay into a system that rewards limited rich people and then screws the poor people paying into the system. I agree that Free Market Health Care would provide efficiency and transparency, instead of secret inflated behind the scenes bills.
Actually I'm describing an argument for no such insurance at all. It has evolved into a beast that now "insures" against the common cold."
Insurance if for the spreading of unaffordable risk. For example most auto drives end safely but some are a catastrophe. Most people cannot afford to replace their cars if something happens. Health insurance should cover only truly unaffordable catastrophes. Anything else just inflates its cost and is redistribution of wealth, whether intended or unintended.
Ergo the need to leverage the litany of medical quickie clinics. Truth is, 80% of your healthcare could be handled in such a facility. Save the hospitals for real problems. If a payroll tax were enabled, anyone working could access such a clinic. But, get the government out of the way. They only add complexity and cost.
Don't need them. Everything from physicals, sore throats, x-rays, stitches, immunizations, breast exams, etc could be handled for much less using these facilities. Set pricing, agree to tort reform coupled with a mandatory rate decrease from insurance companies if passed and yeah, it could work.
Most importantly, EVERYONE that is working pays into it. Not just 1/2 the population. Only exemptions are for the very old, informed or mentally or physically disabled. And no, the sea of SSI dwellers don't get a pass.
I think there should only be major medical insurance, with premiums based on the deductible one elects to have and the percentage of co-pay. (Back in the 70's, a $1,000 yearly deductible and then a 20% co-pay was fairly standard, I think.)
I also think that Medicare/Medicaid should be limited to U.S. citizens, and even for those people, a $25.00 co-pay per doctor visit, a $75.00 co-pay per ER visit, and a $250 per day co-pay for hospital stays and major procedures should be required. I think it is ridiculous and outrageous that some people on government aid are able go to the ER for a 100-degree fever and pay absolutely nothing, while people who mostly pay their own way in life must pay $750 or more if they receive a cut on a weekend that needs a few stitches. I think $750 is an absolutely outrageous amount to pay for a procedure that required no x-rays and took less than half an hour, start to finish, with the only real expense (other than the PA's time) being some thread, a needle, a little antiseptic, and some gauze and tape. Of course, I do realize that some of that money was to pay for "our share" of state-of-the-art facilities, but I bet the great majority of it was to pay paper shufflers, both at the hospital and at the insurance company, and to "make up" for all those who pay nothing at all for medical care -- and, of course, we can't forget that the hospital needed a couple of dollars of that, too, for their bottom line.
However, I do think everyone, regardless of citizenship or income, should be entitled to free vaccinations and pre-natal check-ups because that would benefit everyone.
Ergo the need to leverage the litany of medical quickie clinics. Truth is, 80% of your healthcare could be handled in such a facility. Save the hospitals for real problems. If a payroll tax were enabled, anyone working could access such a clinic. But, get the government out of the way. They only add complexity and cost.
Don't need them. Everything from physicals, sore throats, x-rays, stitches, immunizations, breast exams, etc could be handled for much less using these facilities. Set pricing, agree to tort reform coupled with a mandatory rate decrease from insurance companies if passed and yeah, it could work.
Most importantly, EVERYONE that is working pays into it. Not just 1/2 the population. Only exemptions are for the very old, informed or mentally or physically disabled. And no, the sea of SSI dwellers don't get a pass.
Want it? Work for it or go without. Period.
Well said!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
