10-20-2008, 09:29 PM
bodysurf,
You hit the nail on the head about insurance companies adding a huge layer of costs. It is almost like paying for health care with what you have left in your pocket after leaving a casino. Sure a few hit the jack pot but most lose their money to the house (mob) because casinos, like the insurance companies have house odds that are greatly in their favor.
But you are wrong about Canada. Yes they may have some medicines that are cheaper but heck Wal-mart has almost any prescription you need for $4.00. That is the free market doing what it does “kicks ass”. As soon as Wally-World started the 4 dollar drug plan their competitors started following suit, now Target, Kroger, and many other stores offer that same low price. There are many drugs that can be switch over to a wal-mart provided generic. And I would submit to you also that more than 50% of the drugs consumed in the U.S. could be stopped with actual health benefits.
There are approximately 4000 deaths in the U.S every 6 weeks just from adverse drug reactions.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLR_enUS267US267&q=micheal%20crighton%20state%20fear&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv#
There are NO Americans flying up to Canada to get operations, but you can be sure there are tons of Canadians that come to the U.S. for operations. In fact there are companies called Medical Brokers ( http://timelymedical.ca/ ) in Canada that specialize in coordinating air transport and surgery arrangements for Canadians, Where? You ask, in the good ol’ U.S. of A... watch this http://timelymedical.ca/news-video-1.html
In Canada it is illegal to pay for medical care yourself. You are at the mercy of the vagaries of their system.
But you can take your pet to a vet and get treatment that day for a very reasonable price. Vets even provide amenities as inducements to earn your business; free parking, house calls special sales on vaccines etc. ( That is because it is purely a free market system )
Many Europeans fly to India for surgery the industry even has a name “Medical Tourism”. About 100,000 Britons fly out of England to get medical care each year.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/779310/med...hospitals/ Now remember, England has socialized medicine.
Sure people go to Mexico for Dental procedures, but that is not because it is better. Mexico operates on a different economy, it is just cheaper.
There is a new trend w/ some doctors. They charge real cheap prices for visits and basic stuff like shots etc.
it's called C.O.D. Cash Only Doctors.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5014568/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/0...0269.shtml
What they have come to know, is that if they do a cash only ( no insurance, no checks, no credit) and charge 20 dollar office visits, they can have a very slim staff and actually make decent profit because they are getting their money fast and don't have to have extra staff to file for Medicare and insurance that routinely deny or kick back claims because of improper procedure codes. ( back to the Casinos trying to Welch on the bet)
What I think is that
1. Medical insurance drives the price up.
2. Single payer systems drive the quality and availability down
Can I not get anyone to agree? Do not empirical facts hold any currency of persuasion?
You hit the nail on the head about insurance companies adding a huge layer of costs. It is almost like paying for health care with what you have left in your pocket after leaving a casino. Sure a few hit the jack pot but most lose their money to the house (mob) because casinos, like the insurance companies have house odds that are greatly in their favor.
But you are wrong about Canada. Yes they may have some medicines that are cheaper but heck Wal-mart has almost any prescription you need for $4.00. That is the free market doing what it does “kicks ass”. As soon as Wally-World started the 4 dollar drug plan their competitors started following suit, now Target, Kroger, and many other stores offer that same low price. There are many drugs that can be switch over to a wal-mart provided generic. And I would submit to you also that more than 50% of the drugs consumed in the U.S. could be stopped with actual health benefits.
There are approximately 4000 deaths in the U.S every 6 weeks just from adverse drug reactions.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLR_enUS267US267&q=micheal%20crighton%20state%20fear&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv#
There are NO Americans flying up to Canada to get operations, but you can be sure there are tons of Canadians that come to the U.S. for operations. In fact there are companies called Medical Brokers ( http://timelymedical.ca/ ) in Canada that specialize in coordinating air transport and surgery arrangements for Canadians, Where? You ask, in the good ol’ U.S. of A... watch this http://timelymedical.ca/news-video-1.html
In Canada it is illegal to pay for medical care yourself. You are at the mercy of the vagaries of their system.
But you can take your pet to a vet and get treatment that day for a very reasonable price. Vets even provide amenities as inducements to earn your business; free parking, house calls special sales on vaccines etc. ( That is because it is purely a free market system )
Many Europeans fly to India for surgery the industry even has a name “Medical Tourism”. About 100,000 Britons fly out of England to get medical care each year.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/779310/med...hospitals/ Now remember, England has socialized medicine.
Sure people go to Mexico for Dental procedures, but that is not because it is better. Mexico operates on a different economy, it is just cheaper.
There is a new trend w/ some doctors. They charge real cheap prices for visits and basic stuff like shots etc.
it's called C.O.D. Cash Only Doctors.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5014568/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/0...0269.shtml
What they have come to know, is that if they do a cash only ( no insurance, no checks, no credit) and charge 20 dollar office visits, they can have a very slim staff and actually make decent profit because they are getting their money fast and don't have to have extra staff to file for Medicare and insurance that routinely deny or kick back claims because of improper procedure codes. ( back to the Casinos trying to Welch on the bet)
What I think is that
1. Medical insurance drives the price up.
2. Single payer systems drive the quality and availability down
Can I not get anyone to agree? Do not empirical facts hold any currency of persuasion?