2023 Real Estate Observations (Vietnamese, Indians, landscape)

[msRB311]

I mean this is a whole other topic...but having people live to be 100 when they are spending life in bed and they don't know where they are just so their kids can say, oh my mom/dad is 100! is not a great quality of life...or even fair. I certainly would never say oh just let someone die...but perhaps we do too much to help people over 95 live. I also think it's absurd that people in their 50's have IVF to have kids...but here we are.

The cost of anything having to do with anything medical related is horrifying....for humans and animals. Lowering the cost of medical procedures and the cost to take care of out aging population would be great too.

[UNC4Me]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Thank you captain obvious. It's a trickle down effect.

If it’s obvious, why would you state you blame high earners for ruining the MA market for everyone? Makes no sense. Regardless, what would you propose be done about prices rising in all price ranges?

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

We already have insurance companies. Basically the same deal.

My insurance company decided on significantly less effective and more toxic (but cheaper) treatment for my cancer, not my world-class oncology team. And I got to pay more than my annual take-home salary out of pocket for 6 months of treatment (to say nothing of years of more invasive/expensive medical intervention in the following years thanks to the lung damage caused by this treatment - again, not the one my team wanted me on) as a result.

It's hard to tell if my insurance was betting I'd be dead by 25 so it would be a moot point or gambling with the risks. I'll likely live to my 80s, but with a lot of medical intervention for my janky lungs, so it would seem they chose poorly for their bottom line as well as mine.

If not for our *lovely* US healthcare system leaving me paying off medical debt for the entirety of my 20s, I suspect I would also be locked into a low mortgage for a house that has seen huge equity leaps in the past few years. What good is having access to the best hospitals in the world (my oncologist was the head of his specialty at Dana Farber) if some underwriter at an insurance agency can say they know better?

This is exactly what's so messed up w/our healthcare system. Insurers are making decisions for the patients vs the patient's own doctors. Very backwards....all to save a dollar. Sad world we're in.


I had a family member who needed a non cancer related, but still medically necessary surgery and at first the insurers denied it. After the team at Mass Gen submitted all kinds of proof that it was medically necessary and the next best course of action, they finally approved it.

[msRB311]

Even if insurance approves something, it's still crazy what it actually all costs. Just seeing the bill for a goddam ambulance ride is like, WTF why? lol. People don't seem to question or give much thought to WHY something costs what it does. It's like real estate around here, well ok that's what it costs so that's what it costs. People defend health costs and science even more. We're all the mercy of these pharma companies and the dr's who prescribe the medication and order the procedures. Many dr's are just bad as some of the greedy lawyers out there these days. There are some wonderful physicians out there but so many folks think they are God these days and anything they say is the end all be all.

[matrix5k]

Doctors are just cogs in the wheel. It's the corporate bean counters that make the big bucks and set the high prices. Many physicians don't even recommend medical school anymore due to all the overhead and liability they have to pay.

If ambulances were cheap then everyone would use them for non emergencies. Kind of how first class plane tickets cost way more. If they were reasonable then no one would fly coach.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

My insurance company decided on significantly less effective and more toxic (but cheaper) treatment for my cancer, not my world-class oncology team.

Originally Posted by charolastra00

the lung damage caused by this treatment - again, not the one my team wanted me on) as a result.

Originally Posted by charolastra00

What good is having access to the best hospitals in the world (my oncologist was the head of his specialty at Dana Farber) if some underwriter at an insurance agency can say they know better?

Can you sue your insurance company?

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

Doctors are just cogs in the wheel. It's the corporate bean counters that make the big bucks and set the high prices. Many physicians don't even recommend medical school anymore due to all the overhead and liability they have to pay.

If ambulances were cheap then everyone would use them for non emergencies. Kind of how first class plane tickets cost way more. If they were reasonable then no one would fly coach.

People already do use them for non emergencies! Hello McFly

It would be great if ERs had the discretion when to send or not send an ambulance whenever someone calls 911 but then the lawsuits would be flying out even more for people saying they were denied medical treatment. People call 911 all the time if they go into labor...people call 911 when people are drunk and they get taken.

[UNC4Me]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

This is exactly what's so messed up w/our healthcare system. Insurers are making decisions for the patients vs the patient's own doctors. Very backwards....all to save a dollar. Sad world we're in.


I had a family member who needed a non cancer related, but still medically necessary surgery and at first the insurers denied it. After the team at Mass Gen submitted all kinds of proof that it was medically necessary and the next best course of action, they finally approved it.

Agreed. I want my doctor to determine treatment not an insurance company. Glad your family member was able to get the treatment they needed after fighting for it!

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

We already have insurance companies. Basically the same deal.

My insurance company decided on significantly less effective and more toxic (but cheaper) treatment for my cancer, not my world-class oncology team. And I got to pay more than my annual take-home salary out of pocket for 6 months of treatment (to say nothing of years of more invasive/expensive medical intervention in the following years thanks to the lung damage caused by this treatment - again, not the one my team wanted me on) as a result.

It's hard to tell if my insurance was betting I'd be dead by 25 so it would be a moot point or gambling with the risks. I'll likely live to my 80s, but with a lot of medical intervention for my janky lungs, so it would seem they chose poorly for their bottom line as well as mine.

If not for our *lovely* US healthcare system leaving me paying off medical debt for the entirety of my 20s, I suspect I would also be locked into a low mortgage for a house that has seen huge equity leaps in the past few years. What good is having access to the best hospitals in the world (my oncologist was the head of his specialty at Dana Farber) if some underwriter at an insurance agency can say they know better?

I’m sorry you had to go through that. There are many many more cases of medically unnecessary treatments or ones that are not as rational (like the cases for the very very old) because 1) doctors don’t know the costs, 2) they have a hard time saying no and are going to be conservative in any treatment plan they prescribe to protect themselves from liability and 3) they have financial incentive to do so. Combine that with the lack of price transparency we get medical bills being where they are now. Insurers are mainly pass through entities, they’ll make their margin whatever healthcare costs are, which is why they’re not exactly like death panels…they won’t control total healthcare costs.

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

This is exactly what's so messed up w/our healthcare system. Insurers are making decisions for the patients vs the patient's own doctors. Very backwards....all to save a dollar. Sad world we're in.

Hmm no, the healthcare system you’re proposing like the ones in Europe very much have cost control in mind. If anything the U.S. does more to let treatments run rampant and costs to skyrocket out of control. Because even in the examples given in this thread…nobody’s been outright denied.