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A 75-year-old friend recently got a new pair of shoes. He complained to his doctor about sore feet after playing golf. His doctor explained that Medicare would pay for more comfortable shoes if he wanted them. The doctor told him the pair he chose cost $750. Medicare paid 100%.
The shoe brand/style was PW Minor/Strap-to-Toe. They're available on line for $250. Who pocketed the extra $500?
If Medicare (government run healthcare) provided vouchers for such purchases instead of paying the bill directly, then market forces would push prices lower. Because my friend didn't have to pay a cent he didn't care if he picked the most expensive pair. There are no market forces at work in the current government run system.
So long as government is the single biggest player in healthcare insurance there will be no downward pressure on prices. We will continue to pay $750 for $250 shoes.
If it's any consolation, thanks to government run healthcare, my friend took 2 strokes off his game.
Yeah right, market forces has been doing a great job of pushing prices lower. That must be why one bed at the hospital I used to work at cost like $300. That was just the bed and not even in a private room and this was back in the 80's or 90's. God only knows what that one bed cost these days.
A little over $1000 in Tampa to stay overnight at the hospital. Varies on the hospital I'm sure, but thats about what I remember at a hospital I attended one night.
A 75-year-old friend recently got a new pair of shoes. He complained to his doctor about sore feet after playing golf. His doctor explained that Medicare would pay for more comfortable shoes if he wanted them. The doctor told him the pair he chose cost $750. Medicare paid 100%.
The shoe brand/style was PW Minor/Strap-to-Toe. They're available on line for $250. Who pocketed the extra $500?
If Medicare (government run healthcare) provided vouchers for such purchases instead of paying the bill directly, then market forces would push prices lower. Because my friend didn't have to pay a cent he didn't care if he picked the most expensive pair. There are no market forces at work in the current government run system.
So long as government is the single biggest player in healthcare insurance there will be no downward pressure on prices. We will continue to pay $750 for $250 shoes.
If it's any consolation, thanks to government run healthcare, my friend took 2 strokes off his game.
Does your friend have diabetes by any chance? I would say his DR screwed him and the government IF this is true. I'd like to see the medicare reimbursement code on that. Your friend should also have paid a 20% co-pay.
Horsecrap, Medicare would never pay for shoes just for sore feet. The Medicare rules to pay for footwear are:
You have diabetes
You have at least one of the following conditions:
Foot amputation—partial or complete
Past foot ulcers
Calluses that can become foot ulcers and/or lead to nerve damage
Poor circulation
Deformed foot
You are being treated under a comprehensive diabetes care plan and need therapeutic shoes and/or inserts because of diabetes.
The primary problem with government paid health care is the government eventually cuts prices and the private health insurance industry has to insure something else. Then the private owners of the supply side cannot extract monopoly profits and the owners of the insurance companies go broke because the money simply is no longer there.
As I do not believe the private sector should be involves in either providing the care or paying for it the loss of these companies does not bother me. I believe a government system would still attract doctors and nurses with good wages and benefits. These would not be a high as now because these people would not have to pay exorbitant cost for their educations. These would also be paid for by the government with appropriate controls on prices. Over all a government system would cost the economy less than our current private sector failure.
I had another horrific VA experience this morning. They keep calling me in for tests and diagnostics, just because I've had Cancer twice. You would think, after a while, they would just call together one of those "death panels", Govt HC is so famous for, and be done with me. But, naw, they keep trying keep tabs on me in case something pops up again. The last time they found the Cancer in stage 1 and were able to deal with it with surgery, avoiding chemo. How despicable that Govt run HC is!
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