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I'm waiting for the day when BlueCross/Blue Shield finally figures out that getting my hip replaced in India along with riding on an elephant and seeing the Taj Mahal for 10% of the cost of having it done here, makes absolute sense to them and doctors are looking out the windows of American hospitals as lonely as the Maytag Repair Man! The "outsourcing" of American medicine!
Blue Cross and companies like it, offer travel insurance to other countries citizens and it is quite common for them to include in their literature that should you become seriously ill in the U.S. but can be stabilized, they will rustle up a med-flight with medical attendants to fly you out of the U.S. It's more cost effective.
We pay more in public dollars per person on health care (means we already basically pay for single insurer, just don't get the benefit).
We then pay out of pocket again. Our healthcare costs twice as much... but... is worse?
It's not insurers or doctors. It's mostly pharmaceuticals and medical device manufacturers and a hugely inefficient system overall.
I mean come on... we have a system who lets the patients get addicted to opioids and kills more in a single year than gun violence + car accidents or the entirety of the Vietnam War when they should realistically just be on tylenol.
Seems to be working just fine in Germany and Switzerland along with most other countries.
Remove the middle man. Insurance companies are that middle man. They only care about the bottom line.
There is no such thing as public healthcare insurance in Switzerland. It’s all private healthcare insurance that must meet The national standard. . A 20 year old pays the same premium as the 77 year old. Private insurers are not allowed to profit off of basic mandated plans. The Swiss Government subsidizes 40% of premiums based on income.
The Swiss culture trends risk adverse and as such more than 99% of the population complied with the Individual Mandate. Most also carry a Supplimental Plan that pays for what the basic plan does not.
In contrast, Germany has a public insurance fund. Both employers and employees pay a premium. Most people also maintain a supplimental plan to pay for what the basic plan does not.
US consumers have a tendency to rate a hospital similar to a resort experience. Valet parking, private rooms/ baths, dining choices, TVs, WIFI and so on matters.
Conversely, patients in Switzerland and Germany are in patient wards, 4-6-8 or more patients to a room with shared baths, lack of choice in food and TV and WIFI are surcharged. Babies are delivered by midwives in birthing centers unless a higher level of care is medically warranted. The focus is on medical care not bells and whistles.
Martin Shkreli, the guy who will be going to jail for selling Daraprim at extortionist pricing, was perhaps the most honest ...as to why it cost so much. When asked why the price of Daraprim rose from $13 to $750 a pill, he said "Because we can!". It's just pure, unmitigated greed! The other CEOs may couch it in different terms, but essentially they agree with that sentiment. "We'll squeeze whatever we can out of any patient until someone stops us", seems to be their modus operandi.
Wrong.
Martin Shkreli will NOT be going to jail for selling Daraprim at extortionist pricing.
Martin Shkreli will be going to jail for defrauding investors in two hedge funds that he started, and for trying to manipulate the stock price of his company.....
...and we have the most expensive health care system in the world. So, then, what exactly are we paying for? Insurance companies and incompetence? Ineffectiveness? Any thoughts as to why we should not have UHC like every other developed nation in the world...?
Blue Cross and companies like it, offer travel insurance to other countries citizens and it is quite common for them to include in their literature that should you become seriously ill in the U.S. but can be stabilized, they will rustle up a med-flight with medical attendants to fly you out of the U.S. It's more cost effective.
I don't have a problem with that.
I'm a guy, and my PCP is a woman who went to college and medical school in India, and did her residency at Emory in Atlanta.
One of my best friends (an American) is a physician who went to medical school in Europe, and practices in Europe.
Pieces of the puzzle can be in and come from different places.
...and we have the most expensive health care system in the world. So, then, what exactly are we paying for? Insurance companies and incompetence? Ineffectiveness? Any thoughts as to why we should not have UHC like every other developed nation in the world...?
ObamaCare! Don't you just love it? It's time to totally repeal it and start over.
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The "outsourcing" of American medicine! 
