“Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, several lawmakers and the American Medical Association, a leading physicians group, have said they feared the pending acquisitions would hurt consumers by leading to higher insurance premiums or limited access to healthcare providers.”
1) Doctor, look at thyself. The #1 cause of increased healthcare costs is increased healthcare costs, not increased insurance premiums.
2) I find it ironic that Hillary is worried about lack of consumer choices when she is fully supportive of a single (government run) single payer system.
Obamacare is such a miserable failure that the big players decided to get together for survival. Hilliary wanted Hilliarycare when she was First Lady. She didn’t get far back then, thank goodness. She wanted to put it back in when she ran in 08, but the community organizer got in her way.
Interesting that the urgency is to allow the healthcare systems to reduce costs. Where does Ms. Clinton think the costs will be going? Creative billing such as encounter fees or facilities fees are now commonplace to supplement suppressed procedure/treatment billings. Additionally, this balanced billing epidemic is not addressed anywhere in discussions. Add to this increased and ever increasing copays and deductibles and you can easily understand that all of the “savings” is paid for by the consumer now.
The actual reason for increased cost of healthcare is not the amount individual doctors charge for office visits. It the operational cost of hospitals and related facilities (MRI, PT, etc.) It’s driven by the amount they charge insured patients to cover the uninsured/underinsured, pay lawsuit judgments, their own insurance (particular MedMal), employee salaries and benefits along with the cost to purchase state of the art equipment
Ohio, good list. I assume you include increased cost of medication as well, you just likely left it off of the list. It is quite a financial burden as well. Good health to all of you.
You have a point, but ultimately dropped the ball. ‘Cost of medications’ have component costs just like the component costs listed by Ohio Agent for cost of healthcare. But why do you distinguish ‘costs of medications’ as distinct from ‘costs of healthcare’? Ohio Agent likely truncated his list to key items which have wasteful cost components that can be reduced (rather than subsidized by laws).
Pharma have costs such as product liability insurance, akin to med mal insurance for health practitioners. Subsidies are also built into meds costs. Perhaps you are concerned with high cost, cutting edge ‘life-altering’ drugs that were recently 33% of the cost of all meds, but are expected to grow to 50% in a few years?
Yogi, we see hospital systems merging all the time. The failing hospitals are bought out and merged in with the larger systems who know how to work the system. They run people through like cattle and there is less choice for the consumer. We also see more Doc in the Boxes springing up like convenience stores and many treat on a cash basis for the uninsured. Only critical care is sent to the hospital now.
we see hospital systems merging all the time. The failing hospitals are bought out and merged in with the larger systems who know how to work the system
do you have any real life examples to share with the class?
“Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, several lawmakers and the American Medical Association, a leading physicians group, have said they feared the pending acquisitions would hurt consumers by leading to higher insurance premiums or limited access to healthcare providers.”
1) Doctor, look at thyself. The #1 cause of increased healthcare costs is increased healthcare costs, not increased insurance premiums.
2) I find it ironic that Hillary is worried about lack of consumer choices when she is fully supportive of a single (government run) single payer system.
Obamacare is such a miserable failure that the big players decided to get together for survival. Hilliary wanted Hilliarycare when she was First Lady. She didn’t get far back then, thank goodness. She wanted to put it back in when she ran in 08, but the community organizer got in her way.
Shut dem all down, we got de Govment run by affirmative action people whas gonna cover us no end, sho nuff, and for free!
Can I get an Amen?
Realist, Amen and Amen!
Interesting that the urgency is to allow the healthcare systems to reduce costs. Where does Ms. Clinton think the costs will be going? Creative billing such as encounter fees or facilities fees are now commonplace to supplement suppressed procedure/treatment billings. Additionally, this balanced billing epidemic is not addressed anywhere in discussions. Add to this increased and ever increasing copays and deductibles and you can easily understand that all of the “savings” is paid for by the consumer now.
The actual reason for increased cost of healthcare is not the amount individual doctors charge for office visits. It the operational cost of hospitals and related facilities (MRI, PT, etc.) It’s driven by the amount they charge insured patients to cover the uninsured/underinsured, pay lawsuit judgments, their own insurance (particular MedMal), employee salaries and benefits along with the cost to purchase state of the art equipment
Ohio, good list. I assume you include increased cost of medication as well, you just likely left it off of the list. It is quite a financial burden as well. Good health to all of you.
You have a point, but ultimately dropped the ball. ‘Cost of medications’ have component costs just like the component costs listed by Ohio Agent for cost of healthcare. But why do you distinguish ‘costs of medications’ as distinct from ‘costs of healthcare’? Ohio Agent likely truncated his list to key items which have wasteful cost components that can be reduced (rather than subsidized by laws).
Pharma have costs such as product liability insurance, akin to med mal insurance for health practitioners. Subsidies are also built into meds costs. Perhaps you are concerned with high cost, cutting edge ‘life-altering’ drugs that were recently 33% of the cost of all meds, but are expected to grow to 50% in a few years?
Yogi, we see hospital systems merging all the time. The failing hospitals are bought out and merged in with the larger systems who know how to work the system. They run people through like cattle and there is less choice for the consumer. We also see more Doc in the Boxes springing up like convenience stores and many treat on a cash basis for the uninsured. Only critical care is sent to the hospital now.
we see hospital systems merging all the time. The failing hospitals are bought out and merged in with the larger systems who know how to work the system
do you have any real life examples to share with the class?