tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5881807458099247013.post3155450324567185989..comments2023-05-27T06:40:42.970-04:00Comments on Cathy Pountney: Fixing our Healthcare CrisisCathy Pountneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04600819277331440680noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5881807458099247013.post-24443744066963460942017-01-18T10:51:35.338-05:002017-01-18T10:51:35.338-05:00I believe you are right about most of this Cathy. ...I believe you are right about most of this Cathy. Medical providers should be required to post the cost for each service. Of course each surgery and procedure are a little different but the main differences are time and supplies. You should still be able to see pricing for that. You get charged a price for something that falls in the normal range and maybe so much for additional time. Supplies should be straight forward. So you should be able to shop around and get the best price. Others will say cheapest isn't always the best and may charge more. That is their choice. But reputations will spread and people will tell you if you are getting better care or not.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5881807458099247013.post-76868974326382926462017-01-17T18:14:02.494-05:002017-01-17T18:14:02.494-05:00In the late 80s through the mid-2000s when I was s...In the late 80s through the mid-2000s when I was self-employed and buying my own family health insurance policy, my premiums increased by double digits pretty much every year and my monthly insurance premium did eventually <i>exceed my monthly mortgage payment</i>, including the escrow amounts for property insurance and local real estate taxes. So while it might feel satisfying to blame that on the ACA, it's a pre-existing condition (;-) and just as likely a result of our for-profit healthcare system, where the fiscal condition of every entity on the receivable side of the equation is more important than the health of the patient. If you've looked at the economic data, the slope on the healthcare cost curve has come down considerably since the ACA took full effect, notwithstanding the relatively large premium increases for this year, because more participants are in the system. That doesn't mean it's a perfect solution or can't be improved. The thing is clearly a camel (i.e. a horse designed by a committee) with gaps in the system, particularly in the states that refused to open their own exchanges in the name of ideological purity. Perhaps if we had a single payer system funded by everybody's taxes, by definition we all would have "skin in the game". But that's socialized medicine and the only thing worse than a European socialist is a Chinese communist... ;-)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06001960025195241359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5881807458099247013.post-57332672575694212172017-01-16T14:38:01.020-05:002017-01-16T14:38:01.020-05:00Hi Cathy,
Good post. You're preaching to the ...Hi Cathy,<br /><br />Good post. You're preaching to the choir here. :) I'll point out that our company's insurance rates went down due to Obamacare changes (because it leveled pricing), and we were able to get a decent plan. I imagine large companies and those filled with young employees had to pay more than before. I'm not into politics, but I expect our rates will go back up if they repeal Obamacare. Ultimately, it all comes back to the cost, as you said.Joel Leachhttp://weblogs.foxite.com/joel_leach/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5881807458099247013.post-88264264060986625642017-01-14T04:47:37.536-05:002017-01-14T04:47:37.536-05:00Good one, Cathy. You took my post and expanded it...Good one, Cathy. You took my post and expanded it grandly.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17590909746117534448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5881807458099247013.post-32606340852443508342017-01-13T14:19:52.504-05:002017-01-13T14:19:52.504-05:00I have a client who used to be an MICN. A charge n...I have a client who used to be an MICN. A charge nurse for an Emergency Room at a hospital in California. Her rough estimate is 90% of the people that came into the Emergency Room did not need emergency service. The primary motivation was that people without insurance could get care because the Emergency Room became a catch all and cannot deny service by law. If someone came in with a runny nose, they are just made to wait. I am convinced that this is part of the reason that ACA requires everyone to have insurance. However, I agree with Cathy that the unintended consequence of making a service mandatory along with a disconnect from the underlying cost is a double whammy, proven formula for an increase in cost. It breeds waste and corruption. For an extreme example...an IV cost about $1 to produce, but hospitals are now charging upwards of $500-$800 for it. I am sure very few people complain and if they do it is probably to the person who has little control over changing it. Health care AND its recipients need better incentives if it hopes to provide better care.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12087101319325617557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5881807458099247013.post-65310756830303120122017-01-13T14:00:24.283-05:002017-01-13T14:00:24.283-05:00I agree that transparency is a primary part of the...I agree that transparency is a primary part of the solution, but I must say that folks who are in the er are not there because they don't care about the cost, but more often are there because they don't have the insurance, time or money to see a doctor before it became an emergency. In addition, one should note that the ACA did dramatically reduce the rate of insurance increases, but it was so out of control in the first place that even the reduced increases hurts. http://www.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/2015/02/kff-chart.pngAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00193327083046364557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5881807458099247013.post-44022207670794070702017-01-13T12:42:00.959-05:002017-01-13T12:42:00.959-05:00Doug, I agree that most people don't do that. ...Doug, I agree that most people don't do that. However, the ER is full of people that don't have health insurance because they can't be denied service. So instead of going to a doctor or clinic, they just go to the E.R. My example was extreme, but my point was that if people don't have to pay, they don't care about the cost. Cathy Pountneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04600819277331440680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5881807458099247013.post-85325736018018630782017-01-13T10:33:16.844-05:002017-01-13T10:33:16.844-05:00"When it’s free, people are irresponsible and..."When it’s free, people are irresponsible and go to the E.R. for a runny nose." Nope. You might get a very small number of people doing that but in my experience, people in the ER are there because they need to be. No one spends 3 - 4 hours in the ER for a runny nose.Doug Hennighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00208525487680844022noreply@blogger.com