$2000+ a year, in addition to 30% co-pays on the "insured" price is cheap? Cant wait to get my teeth cleaned, it does include dental right? You are correct Julie that the Government(us) must be subsidizing these private insurance companies(don't forget the private hospitals too) a lot as part of the ACA, how wonderful, Thanks Obama! Nothing better then forced privatized gains, and then when they go bankrupt from their horrible corrupt business practices, they will be to big to fail(think of the children) so we will have socialized losses to bail them out. All the glories of Big government and Big business working together in harmonized cronyism. Its a BIG BIG deal and everyone seems to love it, nothing could possibly go wrong. [xx(]
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Can't argue against healthcare being inherently expensive. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the system is laden with waste. So much low-hanging fruit for the taking, but no market incentive to pick it. Insurance companies, by nature, drive waste into any system. Poor management exacerbates it. Just check out the itemized bill when you check out of a hospital. How much are the bedsheets? How much do all those "little things" add up to? Is the value truly there? Rest assured that you and the insurance company are being milked for every penny the caregiver can squeeze out of you. If I ran my business the way hospitals and clinics are managed, I'd have been out of business 15 years ago. So yes, while I acknowledge that healthcare is inherently expensive, it's still a lot more expensive than it should be.
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
AKpilot, I was not alive so maybe you can tell me about the 60-70s. If you were a young healthy male and just needed a teeth cleaning and maybe a physical here or there, were you FORCED to pay a lot lot more then 7% of your income to a private corporation for almost nothing at all? Im glad to know we have come to the moral conclusion that being FORCED to pay a private corporation at non-negotable over inflated prices is the right thing to do for the GREATER GOOD!!! This was not a snarky reply, just a full comprehension of the Cronyism everyone thinks is so great.
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punafish, the clinics and hosptitals have cut nursing to the bone- and also have all manner of people handing out meds and doing tx's etc. It is the insurance companies that are the problem- with their topheavy, profit driven busness style. If it were me, I'd get rid of all the private insurers completely and have it run by the govt. Might be some waste, but you'd cut out an entire layer of middle men. WE have had socialized medicine for years already. People just wont admit it. I remember asking 15 yrs ago- when I worked for a hospital. "What happens if the hospital is in the red for the year?". The answer that i got ( and I know it's somehow more complex than this) was- "The Gov't will make up the difference to keep the hospital in business".
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Julie, cutting nursing to the bone doesn't mean there's no waste. It's possible to keep the nurses and cut waste other ways, although admittedly insurance companies are a big hindrance to doing that. In a former life I taught organizations how to cut waste and improve quality/output with minimal inputs by streamlining systems. It was about generating more and higher quality outputs with the resources the client already had in place. At every one of our clients, most world class players, we found waste to eliminate. A hospital or clinic would be a piece of cake. But only without insurance companies.
So I completely agree with you that insurance companies drive much of the waste. Bet prices would drop substantially if they outlawed insurance companies tomorrow.
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
Insurance working together with government is inherently wasteful, just like all government, someone elses money with no repercussions. In a true free market where the insurance companies and hospitals were on their own, they would have to compete for customers, trying to get the best care for the best price, otherwise the customers would go elsewhere. Not like what we have now which is no choice about how our money is wasted, in fact, we are being FORCED to waste our money on horrible healthcare. Let them compete for our dollars, let us choose where our money goes, let the wasteful insurance and government go out of business, just like the banks and car companies should have. If you can't provide a product the consumer wants at a price they can afford, then you should not exist. As it is we have a government guaranteed monopoly for ****ty service with our money. To think I used to be able to negotiate my own prices for healthcare at a tenth the "insured" cost with my own hard earned cash.
Cronyism is worse then Socialism, but that does not make Socialism good either, Freedom and Liberty are the way of the future, not the thousands of continued years of Authoritarianism. Think Free and Aloha.
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The "free market" works very well for the privileged. Not so much for the poor, or disabled. The "free market" would dictate that a mexican immigrant without papers would be forced to work for very little -due to fear- or that a teenager runaway would be forced into the "sex industry" to support a child - or whatever... Capitalism is great for those at the top of the foodchain, but I disagree that in it's "purist form" it is something that is good for society as a whole.
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Problem was - like an atheist that gains religion when the ground starts shaking....
folks that did not have the funds to cover extreme medical issues - still wanted treatment when they made a mess - and did sue and win if they were turned down for lack of means by the medical provider.....
I still have an issue with the medical system being for profit and subsidised at the same time - what ever happened to the "greater good" in altruism, medicine and insurance? see "public option"
Sad to think that the level of medical care is directly related to how much one has to spend...... bronze silver or gold? hogwash
Everybody will be requiring forced charity soon as the middle class ceases to be able to work and provide for itself. It will just be the needy poor and the rich who control the handouts. Whatever happened to true altruism, true charity, the non forced kine? This illusion of charity is really a form of control and will do nothing to help the "needy" or the middle class. Where is the incentive for our masters to help us? better to keep us needing their control and forced charity.... Healthcare takes money, and people need to be paid to do these jobs, it is inherently for someones profit, lets make sure its the right people. The doctors have a service to offer that pays them well, and I want to pay them for it. Simple, lets not get it confused with fake charity and altruism which is in fact control and serfdom.
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We are kind of losing the Hawaii & Puna focus of the posts now... starting to just get rants. Bring it home or lose it.
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