Why are our heath care costs so very high, as compared to other countries?

Why are our heath care costs so high, as compared to other countries?

We are all aware that medical care in the U.S. is very expensive. Could it be that our lack of exercise and our eating habits are to blame?

"We can spend all the money we want on bypass surgeries, chemotherapy and diabetes, but . . . two-thirds of Americans are overweight, one-third are obese."

 

I thought much of the cost was that if preventative care was allowed more often for the poor then costs would go down because they wouldn't get very expensive emergency care later on which very cheap preventative care may have stopped.

 

Tort Law. It needs reformation.

 

This would be a good start. Conflict resplution is the way to go to settle all health care disputes.

 

The capitalist structure that is the U.S. of A has allowed the medical field, especially Big Pharm, to become for profit corporations. They haven't been checked for anti trust law violations. Big Gov't lets them make money. There must be a bunch of lobbyists buying elected officials.

 

Why are drugs cheaper in Canada than in the US?
It's our copyright laws.

 

I'm sure some of it is due to our unhealthiness. I also think that there are a lot of bogged down costs that shouldn't really be there but because people always have their lawyer a phone call away lots of health care costs and tests are completely unnecessary. One time I had pneumonia, and the doctor gave me some medicine for it. He also said that if I wanted to, I could get an X-ray at the hospital (I was at the clinic) to make sure it wasn't lung cancer. It would be covered free of charge. I asked him if it was necessary and he said no, because it almost definitely wasn't cancer. I didn't go, but if I did it would have been covered by insurance. Needless to say, it wasn't cancer. If it was I'd be dead by now.

The point of me telling this is that there are a lot of needless tests done by doctors in order to make sure they aren't sued. Even if they're pretty sure that the diagnosis is "X", they want to spend hundreds, even thousands with insurance money to make sure it isn't "Y".

 

I have blood in my stool. You can't see it but they say it's there. I get dizzy spells but my blood sugar is ok. I have pain in my feet but it's not arthritis and again my sugar is ok.

So they want to stick a flashlight up my ass and take a look around. I tell the doctor "I don't feel right letting anything near my ass." he replies "ok we won't do it then."

What kind of doctor is it that won't fight for what he feels is best for me. I guess you get what you pay for. VA is free. He refused to argue with me one way or another. What good are doctors who don't have opinions?

 

Sounds like Gout to me.

 

Look in the mirror, then listen to the right-wing lying hysteria about healthcare.
If we had a single payer system in place, we could deal with things more effectively and cheaper.

 

This.


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Because of Private Insurance Companies and Trial Lawyers.

They are a middle men collecting fees, and denying coverage to those who need some kind of healthcare plan.

Typical Insurance plans are poor at providing health care, because everyone has different health care needs. This means you still insure based on risks to keep costs down, but that means many people are denied coverage, or charged an extremely high fee.

Add in that this means that those who can't get health insurance end up sticking the doctors, hospitals and clinics with the bill when they can't afford to pay. This means that everyone else ends up paying for it anyhow, along with interest, collection effort fees, etc.... IE a bunch of extra costs than if we had a single payer system that everyone just paid a bit to every week from their paycheck as a tax.

Then you have the insurance of the Doctors themselves, and the trial lawyers who go for crazy amounts in malpractice claims, some of which are rather dubious, but due to how stupid our juries can be, end up awarding 3 million dollars for a crotch of hot coffee.

 

Would you jail people who didn't pay their premiums or MD's that practice outside of Big Brother's network?

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So 2% will solve our problems? Stop listening to Fox lies....

 

2% of what? Milk fat?


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Healthcare costs so much cause people actively work to screw over the government.

 

IN a way, we already have socialized medicine. The gov't just pays private health care providers what it wants to, and those providers pass the costs on to the insured Americans. We also have to treat an indigent or illegal alien that needs treatment in an ER. These costs cause private premiums to rise.

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This thread I can agree that it is necessary for the general US populous to take better physical care of themselves. That would help cut costs, because of less complications that are inherent with being overweight.

 

This article is ridiculous.

The problem is multiple payors and cost shifting. 80% of the healthcare dollar is used by 5% of the population.... premature babies and the elderly or those with chronic illnesses.

Young working people and families NEVER use up the healthcaare dollar.

Its the reason for healthcare reform..

 

All of the above.

We are obese, and this leads to a host of chronic problems.

Tort law. Malpractice insurance is obscenely offensive. It gets worse when frivolous lawsuits are filed. (Imagine what would happen if it were a socialized system, and the pockets weren't the doctors/hospitals... but the government?)

There is more money in treating symptoms than curing root causes.

.02

 

2% cost savings.

Now that you know will you change your opinion and stop watching Fox news?

 

I agree that this is a large problem, but are you implying that current reforms actually address this issue? If not, what's a reasonable way to solve this particular problem short of limiting/rationing care for premies, elderly, etc.?

 

No such thing as gout butt.

 

Because the cost of preventive care and insurance is too high for a good portion of Americans so they only go to the doctor in an emergency situation.

Also the cost of our pharmaceuticals are sky-high, and thanks to laws passed under the Bush administration, there's almost no way of making them low again unless Congress repeals the law.

 

Your analysis is very correct, DonGlock.

When a hospital treats illegal workers and indigent patients, the cost for their care is shifted to us. The hospitals do this by charging the insurance companies more for the care the hospital provides their patients who are covered by their policies. This increase is passed on to us by the insurance providers in the form of higher premiums.