The good folks at MedicalBillingandCoding.org created an infographic laying out many of the exact reasons why costs are so insane in the American medical industry.
Perhaps I misunderstand, are you saying simple procedures should be preformed as a hospital inpatient and this would be less expensive? If so, that is insane.
When I first started in nursing, patients stayed in the hospital days at a time for what is now done as an outpatient. In VA hospitals it was worse. They stayed weeks at a time, patients even walked to different parts of the hospital, carrying their charts for treatment. That could never happen today.
When you create a system in which no one making decisions even knows the cost of a procedure, and no one performs the slightest cost-benefit analysis, and the company paying is in a real sense selling you that service through raising premiums when you use a lot - well, its a perfect formula for the kind of throw the kitchen sink at it health care spending we currently have. And that's before you add in doctors who make 50-100% more than their counterparts in other developed countries.
Our fundamental foolishness is using market mechanisms for a commodity (good health) that isn't amenable to consumer choice. Costs would drop dramatically in a single-payer system where the profit-making insurance middlemen were eliminated. They make the real decisions, and nothing about health outcomes of individuals figures into those decisions.
Perhaps I misunderstand, are you saying simple procedures should be preformed as a hospital inpatient and this would be less expensive? If so, that is insane.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started in nursing, patients stayed in the hospital days at a time for what is now done as an outpatient. In VA hospitals it was worse. They stayed weeks at a time, patients even walked to different parts of the hospital, carrying their charts for treatment. That could never happen today.
This article sounds about right.
ReplyDeleteWhen you create a system in which no one making decisions even knows the cost of a procedure, and no one performs the slightest cost-benefit analysis, and the company paying is in a real sense selling you that service through raising premiums when you use a lot - well, its a perfect formula for the kind of throw the kitchen sink at it health care spending we currently have. And that's before you add in doctors who make 50-100% more than their counterparts in other developed countries.
Our fundamental foolishness is using market mechanisms for a commodity (good health) that isn't amenable to consumer choice. Costs would drop dramatically in a single-payer system where the profit-making insurance middlemen were eliminated. They make the real decisions, and nothing about health outcomes of individuals figures into those decisions.
ReplyDeletethe insurance companies are making buttloads of money!
ReplyDeleteObama's socialist medical plan is not affordable and it is not a choice.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your effort, very glad that you gave this to us. It’s some pretty great and valuable reading.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your effort, very glad that you gave this to us. It’s some pretty great and valuable reading.
ReplyDeleteI just book marked your blog on Digg and StumbleUpon.I enjoy reading and brwosing youe site .
ReplyDelete