"Repeal and Replace" becomes ...

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

That would be an interesting discussion to have.

Why does health care cost so much here in the US?

I believe there are a number of factors at work.

Greed is certainly one of them. A big one.

Let's not forget malpractice insurance thanks to our deep pockets & ambulance chasing lawyers. Of course, the injured party get the leftovers after all the legal and expert fees are tallied.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by Rajoo

ambulance chasing lawyers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqxC0zvHrwo

[donquixote99]

RE TJ's weight stats:

Apples and oranges. You go from average WWII recruit to average man.

Try getting the current height/weight of average recruits. The army currently will not even take you as an age 17-20 recruit with a weight of 195, unless you are over 6' tall. with no more than 22% body fat.


http://www.military.com/join-armed-f...ght-rules.html

[Rajoo]

As long as the Democrats call the shots, there will never be tort reform.
As long as the Republicans call the shots, health insurance and medical care will be profit based.
So we get it coming and going while we fight over idiotic plans like ACA while the politicians could care less, since their own healthcare is already bought and paid.

[icenine]

Originally Posted by MrPots

Another factor is the sheer number of medical facilities out there. Why does every sub profession have to have their own fancy professional buildings and staff? There are three major hospitals within 20 minutes of me along with countless other medical professional buildings all competing for business. This is on top of a major VA center. For all this if I get 15 minutes with the doctor for his $500 bill I'm lucky. A $500 bill the insurance company will refuse to pay by the way. My biggest medical expense is the $10,800 insurance premium I pay that I can't afford to use. What a fucking waste of a good chunk of my income.

So what kind of income mandates a $10,000 dollar premium through the ACA?

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Rajoo

Let's not forget malpractice insurance thanks to our deep pockets & ambulance chasing lawyers. Of course, the injured party get the leftovers after all the legal and expert fees are tallied.

Doctor's excuse. The money goes to salaries (rooms full of staff behind the front desk), premises, and equipment, probably in that order.

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Doctor's excuse. The money goes to salaries (rooms full of staff behind the front desk), premises, and equipment, probably in that order.

A clerk to fill the forms, a nurse to take your pulse, one to check your temperature, one to let you into the exam room just so the doctor can spend precious five minutes or less just so they can check the markets all day.

My stock broker had this advice to me, never see a doctor before the markets close.

[icenine]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

RE TJ's weight stats:

Apples and oranges. You go from average WWII recruit to average man.

Try getting the current height/weight of average recruits. The army currently will not even take you as an age 17-20 recruit with a weight of 195, unless you are over 6' tall. with no more than 22% body fat.


http://www.military.com/join-armed-f...ght-rules.html

The Navy is the same. If you want to join you better be thin. And the standards are higher for those wanting to join than for those already in.
And of course we are not fighting WW II right now.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

RE TJ's weight stats:

Apples and oranges. You go from average WWII recruit to average man.

Try getting the current height/weight of average recruits. The army currently will not even take you as an age 17-20 recruit with a weight of 195, unless you are over 6' tall. with no more than 22% body fat.


http://www.military.com/join-armed-f...ght-rules.html

I'll concede that there's some of the apples and oranges factor going on for my data. But it was the best that I could find that covered that long a period in history.

But there is no doubt that Americans are getting fatter and there is plenty of data to back that up.

http://www.livescience.com/49-decade...er-fatter.html

[nailer]

Originally Posted by HypnoToad

Lets not ignore the elephant in the room, the outrageous inflated costs of healthcare in the U.S. Until that is addressed nothing much will change, healthcare shouldn't be pay up or die. And why does it cost five times as much in the U.S. for treatment than in other countries? People say because the standard is higher, which is not the case, it's just what they want you to believe. In Houston there were two hospitals close by to where I lived, both run by Tenet Healthcare, google them and see their long history of fraudulent billing.

There is nothing wrong with the standard of care in the U.S., what's wrong is the outrageous prices, and deceptive billing practices, the gravy train has been going so long now I don't see how anyone can stop it.

Healthcare shouldn't only be for the rich it should be a basic human right.

Excellent post and I concur with every point.

What is happening in the US regarding healthcare costs can be explained by classic supply/demand theory. There is no shortage of health care supply here, but the demand curve for health care is basically inelastic in that the vast majority of people will pay what it takes to cure what ails them and will break the bank in a life/death situation. The health care industry is taking full advantage of this supply/demand dynamic with the cooperation and collusion of both political parties because our politicians, with few exceptions, don't give a shit about the general public.