Controlling through-the-roof medical costs

ttystikk said:

UNIVERSAL MEDICAL CARE AND COVERAGE. Then there will be no 'uninsured' patient who 'can't afford' to pay.

And before the haters pile in with pronouncements about how the wealthiest nation in human history would be bankrupted by such a scheme, might I suggest looking at the defense budget.

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Rob Roy said:

So rather than use force to make people fund bombs, you'd rather use force to make people fund a limited set of government / cronies?


We do agree that forcing people to fund bombs is a bad idea....forcing people to fund other things is bad too though.

I'm curious why you think force in any realm is necessary?

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FauxRoux said:

I'm curious as to what you think would be a step in the right direction? Its quite easy to shoot down our governments hypocrisy/actions...but if the goal is to have something better it has to start somewhere...

So I'm genuinely curious as to what you think would be the best first step towards that "something better".

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tangerinegreen555 said:

So I went to the eye doctor last month. Routine 2 year check up. He is a good eye doctor and tries to provide the most recent up to date diagnostic tests...

His office got 3 new diagnostic testing machines since I was there 2 years ago. Each one cost as much as a Mercedes, and replaced older machines that cost as much as a Mercedes a few years ago...

I got retinal scans, peripheral vision scan test, retinal photos that are retained for future comparisons, special photos of inner eye blood vessels to check for macular degeneration, glaucoma checks, etc.

My insurance receipt came back with these procedures...over $900 they paid out...

This was good quality medical care... The office is compassionate to those who don't have insurance. They charge an uninsured patient $75 and they get the same tests I did. Those new diagnostic testing machines are sitting there...and the office uses them to check everyone, insurance or not, as they should...

So there's your rising medical costs...over $900 on med insurance payout for me...driving up the costs...for a simple eye check up

So, the question is...how can you improve the system/lower costs...?

Eliminate some of the diagnostic equipment?
Make the uninsured pay more (that they don't have) or refuse them service?
Tell the Dr. to charge me less...after he spent $100K on new equipment to better serve me and others?

Obviously, my medical insurance is paying for others who don't have it for whatever reason...
And doctors want the best medical equipment they can get...which is pricey
Somebody has to pay for it...what's the solution to this scenario that repeats itself in every medical field?

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tangerinegreen555 said:

I don't think so. When you're 65 you can sign up. But you still need supplemental insurance to cover the 20% that it doesn't cover.
I asked a Dr. once what people would have to pay if they didn't have insurance. He said we would try to be compassionate and charge them the 'Medicare rate', so it must be lower? Or maybe Dr's. charge more because they know insurance companies will pay...That sucks too

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FauxRoux said:

I'm curious as to what you think would be a step in the right direction? Its quite easy to shoot down our governments hypocrisy/actions...but if the goal is to have something better it has to start somewhere...
So I'm genuinely curious as to what you think would be the best first step towards that "something better".

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Rob Roy said:

If you understood the history of the back and forth between myself and Mr. London Fog perhaps your judgement of me wouldn't be quite so harsh.

Also, it's generally considered impolite when addressing somebody the first time to go a little slower than you have on the insults.
I'll forgive you. Have a great day.

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Rob Roy said:

Yes, it is quite easy to shoot down governments hypocrisy. It's a target rich environment and by its nature it ALWAYS will be. You can polish a turd, but a coercion based institution will still be a turd when your arm gets tired of polishing it.... or voting in the least stinky turd etc. a process designed to serve as a major distraction to any challenges to the institution of government itself.

In any kind of arrangement between peaceful human beings it's best to have the voluntary individual consent of the parties involved before taking any kinds of actions that affect those individuals. So if a person or a group of persons deviate from that policy we'd likely not like their behavior. Yet, that kind of coercion based behavior forms the foundation of most governments.

One thing is to advance the idea that if something is wrong for you or I to do it, it's also wrong for a group of people calling themselves government to do it. Sounds obvious, yet the capacity of people to ignore this is legendary.

So, a step in the right direction is to get people to stop dwelling in their dissonance. That's not easy, since it is reinforced in many ways.

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Flaming Pie said:

They definitely charge more when you have insurance. 84 dollars without insurance and 170 dollars with insurance.
Da fuck?

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ttystikk said:

Looked and didn't find the article about beeps and smartphones. Can you send me a link?

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Rob Roy said:

Your second paragraph is full of unicorns when you get to the part about the purpose of government. You laughably want your false champion, government, to solve the problem its edicts created when it acted forcefully to limit the number of service providers in a given market. Hint -Dousing your fire with gasoline will not put it out.

Thru existing government protectionism, the number of service providers in a given market are artificially limited, to the benefit of government and cronies and to the detriment of the consumers (you and me) . Scarcity is a word you haven't contemplated in this discussion. False scarcity (government induced) is something you haven't considered either.

When the number of service providers are limited to a set of favored cronies all the possible solutions aren't available and consumers won't benefit to the level they could.

Regulations, licensure, prohibitions, etc. RESTRICT the number of competitors in a given market, which results in higher prices and inferior products.

It's too bad you don't really understand the root causes, because until you do you won't be able to understand the solutions a free market provides.

Anyway I'm just beginning....Viva la free market!

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Rob Roy said:

Yes, it is quite easy to shoot down governments hypocrisy. It's a target rich environment and by its nature it ALWAYS will be. You can polish a turd, but a coercion based institution will still be a turd when your arm gets tired of polishing it.... or voting in the least stinky turd etc. a process designed to serve as a major distraction to any challenges to the institution of government itself.

In any kind of arrangement between peaceful human beings it's best to have the voluntary individual consent of the parties involved before taking any kinds of actions that affect those individuals. So if a person or a group of persons deviate from that policy we'd likely not like their behavior. Yet, that kind of coercion based behavior forms the foundation of most governments.

One thing is to advance the idea that if something is wrong for you or I to do it, it's also wrong for a group of people calling themselves government to do it. Sounds obvious, yet the capacity of people to ignore this is legendary.

So, a step in the right direction is to get people to stop dwelling in their dissonance. That's not easy, since it is reinforced in many ways.

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rollitup said:

That's exactly it!

He is not from this planet.

HIS planet uses Earth as a mental hospital.

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Flaming Pie said:

Rob Roy manages to derail almost every thread with this No Government mantra.

Why is it so hard to stay on topic or within the area of related topics?

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see4 said:

We are all quite happy that your opinion is the minority and your ideas are based on hypotheses and not actual fact. We are all also very grateful that your decisions and opinions affect absolutely no one.

So for that I thank you.

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tangerinegreen555 said:

So I went to the eye doctor last month. Routine 2 year check up. He is a good eye doctor and tries to provide the most recent up to date diagnostic tests...

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ASCIIGHOST said:

Translation: I got stoned, went to the same place I know, did not seek out competition for better rates. Now I'm an unhappy consumer of a service, and want to blame others for what is actually my fault.

I wear glasses too, and buy my frames online with a prescription I got 2 or 3 years ago. Cost me $60 shipped, and they can be had even cheaper I learned. I hate that eye puff test anyway. If I get glaucoma whatever....I already smoke weed to treat it.

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ASCIIGHOST said:

Because he wants to get to the root cause of the problem and you do not.

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