Health care costs do not outpace inflation ebcause doctors or hospitals are making more money. Its because we have developed really expensive ways of keeping people alive longer.
http://www.aztecmesa.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=np&thread=12641&page=1#192728 here is a partial list of riders tha Repubs have attached to the budget. Can you figure out why it has problems passing?
Thanks for the URL. The whole list is worth a laugh, but here is the Homeland Security section
I’m confused by items 1, 2 and 3. We want to leave them at Guantanamo but leave them unhoused? Wouldn’t it be even better to fund the destruction of the limited housing they already have?
I think the entire list of riders should be published as widely as possible, under the heading:
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
What would they do about pre-existing conditions? The senior might end up paying >$1,000 a month or be denied coverage altogether. And how about people who decide to not get insurance because the cost is more than the voucher. Do they have a free ride until they get sick? It seems like no system will work unless everyone has to participate and no one is denied coverage. At that point aren’t we back at the current UHC law?
So now the Republicans insist on defunding Planned Parenthood or NO DEAL. Makes sense, all of our woes point back to the 3% of segregated funding that Planned Parenthood spends on abortion.
If only John Boehner’s tears were gold bars we would solve this so-called budget crisis in no time.
What is funny (alright, it is not) is that many pundits insisted that the teaparty movement and most republicans had dropped or not made too much of a fuss about social issues like abortion, and that is why they managed to get many independents to think that voting for republicans was safe again…
When will they learn?..
That pissed me off so much when I heard in on my way home from work this morning. I wonder if Planned Parenthood could spin off their abortion clinics into a different entity to get around the policy rider.
I also wonder if President Obama would veto the bill should it come to his desk with that rider. I’m not real hopeful that he would. Or entirely certain if he should, as courageous as I think it would be.
And how do you propose to address THAT issue?
The cost of health care isn’t rising because doctors or hospital are making more money, its because we now have many new expensive treatments available which medicare is happily paying for. We need to limit what medicare pays for to make sure it survives long enough to take care of our kids, if we spend it all trying to keep a bunch of 90 year old guy alive until their 91st birthday we will have an unsustainable health care costs no matter what.
I renew my offer to be a member of a Death Panel, any Death Panel. Or all of them!
We need to mandate the effective treatments so that costs come down and sales of high tech medical gear and meds come down. You can also negotiate with big Pharma on the expensive meds with volume buys. They spend a TON more on marketing than on R&D.
You can still leave the ultra high end available for the people that can afford to pay anything for their medical care.
We have money driven medicine. The doctors are paid for doing things not results. Every test is more money. Every procedure is more money. Every operation is more money. Cranking out patients is the aim. It makes more money. You better be done in less than 15 minutes.
The doctors send patients to clinics thy are part or full owners of so they make more money. our system is broken.
Do we wonder why poor people can not afford to go to doctors ?
I’m guessing you don’t talk with doctors often. Doctors do lots of tests because they’re afraid of getting sued.
Maybe. I think doctors do lots of test because they are (part) owners of the labs where the tests get done. cite
What cites do you have for your contention?
I meant to write: Maybe. I think one reason doctors do lots of test is because they are (part) owners of the labs where the tests get done.
Bold parts correct my poor sentence construction (missed the edit window).
What do you mean mandate the effective treatments?
That ultra high end never gets developed if only the rich can afford it.
Are you under the impression that doctors are making more or less money than they did 30 years ago?
Really poor people get medicaid, they can afford to go to doctors because its free for them.
Its the working poor that that live paycheck to paycheck that go to sleep praying they don’t get sick.
So money drives medicine, what doesn’t it drive? What is your alternative?
I don’t know if you are talking a jab at tort reform but doctors would order those tests whether we had tort reform or not. Unless you simply got rid of the concept of medical malpractice a doctor is going to order the test, its no skin off his nose to order the test and he takes a risk if he doesn’t
I assume he’s referring to the various outcome-driven provider reimbursement models, which are of questionable practicality.
However, the NHS (and most single-payer systems) use a much simpler (and more logical) patient-driven reimbursement system; primary care physicians/general practitioners get paid according to the number of patients on their rolls, regardless of whether or not they actually need treatment. Patients can choose any doctor they like. The crappy doctors get fewer patients, but can spend more time with each one, so everyone theoretically gets roughly the same level of overall care.
maybe having stupid ideas is to be expected because it is biological. they have a larger amygdala which is associated with fear and anxiety.