Funny How The Pendulum Always Swings Back

Again, there are four main areas that need to be addressed...
1. Responsibility
2. Control
3. Cost
4. Access

The U.S. health care system is controlled mostly by corporations and secondarily by governments. Individuals [patients and providers] have been almost completely dis-empowered. This should be obvious to almost anybody who confronts the system.

The standard of care [those protocols and practices providers generally follow] have been purchased by a variety of corporations that employ [directly or indirectly] the "thought-leaders" of the professions so they can influence the members of the professions to make their medical product the standard.

EHR [electronic health records] are to a great extent designed to control the actions of the providers...sometimes in very subtle ways and sometimes not. Health insurance companies mandate that providers take full responsibility for those things many times out of our control and/or for things never reimbursed. Over the decades, it seems as if the less they pay you, the more responsibility you assume. These are predatory corporations par excellence.

The corporations' agenda is [of course] to produce maximum profit. Both federal and state governments are attempting to provide greater access to the system. As corporations have grown to wield enormous political power through the accumulation of their outsized profits, the checks and balance system having broken down with corporatism reigning freely. This was quite evident in the mandated "vaccines" during the COVID pandemic.

Much of the reason that our health care system is so very dys-functional is because you have the above two players in control. There is no reason why either of these institutions need to have much of anything to do with health care. Health care should be a private enterprise run by independent providers and companies that produce medical technology that people can actually afford.

The government and the insurance companies [essentially banks] have caused the price of health care to become unaffordable and unsustainable through essentially raising premiums to astronomical heights on the one hand, and counterfeiting and massive debt creation on the other. It would be like paying $100,000. and getting a broken down Chysler K car. No so wonderful.

So we have a system that is unaffordable, unsustainable, and not very good. Sounds like we need some new ideas.

 

What "power" has been removed from an individual who needs healthcare?

 

Are you kidding?

How about the power to choose your provider? The power to demand that your provider spends enough time with you to properly educate you. The power to help decide what procedures and/or medications are in your best interest. Everything!

The real power has been removed through it being removed from your doctor. Doctors have severe limits imposed by which they must practice. The public has virtually no clue what's going on.

 

The fact that some insurers don't support all providers means you have to find a different insurer if you want a provider that isn't supported. I buy top tier insurance and have never had a problem with insurers not wanting to cover doctors I choose.

If doctors spent more time with patients, the cost of healthcare would go up substantially.

I agree that is a problem. However, you were concerned about the cost of healthcare, and these issues lead toward the price of healthcare INCREASING.

 

What are you talking about? Didn't you just tell us the system sucks? Make up your mind.

 

What are you talking about? My provider goes out of their way to inform me on all manner and matters of health care. I had plenty to choose from when I signed up.

If you have a problem with your regulators, then who is speaking for you and where are your lobbyists lobbying on your behalf?

Are doctors organized? they have the money, what's up with that?

 

Okay, hotshot, what's your comprehensive solution for health care?

And, if it doesn't accommodate at least more than 91.7% of the population, it's not an improvement .

 

The vast majority of the money is spent for technology [where corporations make their profits] instead of paying providers for their time. This is because the corporations run the system.

Quality health care is mostly about people NOT technology. Providers need time to do their thing just like any other professional. People used to love their doctors because they had enough time to get to know them and therefore understand what they needed. The only thing important in corporate run health is seeing the most patients in the least amount of time AND standardizing care [everybody gets the same treatment]. If it works, fine, if not, who cares? The key is cranking them out.

 

Obviously you are not old enough to remember the way health care was practiced. Maybe your provider does go out of his or her way, but you'll never know the things they are not telling you [unless you do your own research]. I am always telling my patients to self-educate. You must take responsibility for your own health and see your doctors as a source of information but not the only source.

It's against the law in the U.S. for doctors to organize. And fyi, most doctors are not all that well off. Considering the amount of education required, it's hardly worth it from a financial standpoint. I know many younger docs hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. It'll be a long time before they can begin to build any kind of financial security.

 

I'm 71, that old enough for you?

I'm getting the idea that with you, we can't win. There is no hope, so give up, the corporations are out to screw you, so why bother.

Is that it?

Well, my research indicates that the AMA spend almost $21,000,000 on lobbying in 2019.

So, are they doing doctors any good? If not, why not? What are you doing about it besides bitching?

Before the ACA, life as an uninsured was hell (I'm self employed). After ACA, life was much less stressful. After I hit 66, I went on Medicare, which eliminated my copays on doctor visits and my deductible (Medicare advantage).

I'm getting the idea you are suggesting a policy of denying health care against those whose lifestyle isn't up to your standards.

Or, what are you suggesting? You haven't expressed zilch on what you think the health care policy should be.

I think it's time for you to spit it out. What is your solution?

 

A single payer system would simplify it. Our current system is untenable, and benefits health insurers more than patients.

This is what's wrong with health care in America:

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/industries/summary?id=F09

 

I don't attack. I simply point out misinformation. If you can't take it, don't post it.

 

OK, so what technology should we get rid of?

I haven't run into doctors who behave like you charge them with behaving. So, I'm a little surprised with you claim.

 

What is with you and your horrendous etiquette?

At least you are [hopefully] ready to listen. The vast majority of doctors, PAs, NPs, nurses, and support staff have had it with this health care system and it's been this way for decades. Only the elite are ok because these are the few who delivered the flock to the corporations for shearing [and were paid well for their effort]. I am not sure how it would be possible that you are unaware of this.

The problems in this system are elemental and require restructuring. Power needs to be returned to the patients and providers. The patient must take primary responsibility for their own health and their own health care. Providers should be in place primarily to counsel patients. The market must be allowed to control costs, the corporations must have zero control of the health care process and, as well, the government should not be involved other than in a broad but non-specific regulatory manner.

This would create a system which would cater to the needs of patients, not the needs of corporations. Yes, there would be people who could not afford the "best," but now you have a situation where you are bankrupting the entire nation in order to provide the best technology but total s*** primary care [which is the most important, i.e., all the preventative measures].

You and most people have been brainwashed to believe that great health care is high tech instrumentation and miracle drugs. In the majority of cases, if you need this type of technology, you have already lost. You must do whatever you can to keep people healthy. This is suppose to be the purpose of a HEALTH care system.

The corporations that run this system could care less about your health. They are only interested in how sick you are because THIS is how they make money. Have you happened to noticed that there is now pre- this and pre- that? This is bs marketing as now everybody has to have at least one or two dis-eases to treat. It's the way you maximize profit.

 

If you are 71 then where are you manners? What the hell are you so angry about and why are you taking it out on me? Lighten up, we're from the same batch. Btw, you better tell those kids outside to get off your lawn!

The AMA is a joke. These fools support all the woke non-sense. And USD21M is nothing. Pfizer probably makes that every minute.[/quote]

Yes, the present system is horrendous. Everybody gets that.

The country cannot afford to give everybody state-of-the-art health care. The best way to provide services to the entire country is to allow the market to work. And I mean a real market, not one completely corrupt like they all are now. And you need oversight and checks and balances to insure integrity [as much as possible].

It's a fantasy to believe you can provide everybody with everything. How about a state-of-the- art house for everybody and a nice high end SUV in every driveway? These can't happen any more than it can in health care.

 

Yes, this is what happens when you have a system run by corporations.

But that's only one problem and not the most important one. The most important one has to do with the care given to patients. On the whole, it is horrendous for many of the reasons I have been laying out.

Although single payer is a more efficient way to handle transactions, it would be like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.

 

What technology do you want to eliminate?

What corporations are you wanting to eliminate and what would you replace them with?

Today, 80% of hospital admissions are to nonprofit hospitals. So, you can't really be complaining about those corporations.

Are you concerned about insurance companies? I certainly am. But, I haven't seen you advocate any replacement for the role that insurance companies play in the USA today.

 

The technology we cannot afford.

Well, have you ever gone to an attorney who said, "Well, Mr. WillReadmore, this is how I am going to rip you off today. Please sign here."

These corporations are not stupid. Doctors have no choice. You either do it the way they have designed it or you leave practice. Most simply rationalize it but if you would buy your doc a couple of beers, s/he will talk your head off for hours about the horror of this system. This should be widely understood at this point. It's been going full-force since the 80's.

 

Yes, the present system is horrendous. Everybody gets that.

The country cannot afford to give everybody state-of-the-art health care. The best way to provide services to the entire country is to allow the market to work. And I mean a real market, not one completely corrupt like they all are now. And you need oversight and checks and balances to insure integrity [as much as possible].

It's a fantasy to believe you can provide everybody with everything. How about a state-of-the- art house for everybody and a nice high end SUV in every driveway? These can't happen any more than it can in health care.[/QUOTE]
Now you are implying that some would get more than others. Please elaborate.

Beyond that, other countries give everybody healthcare, with the overall per capita expenditure on healthcare being far lower than the USA.

Since it is part of each of their democratic governments, the people can choose how much healthcare to supply to everybody.

Plus, their systems don't have the overhead of myriad for-profit insurance companies.

I still don't see you even starting to say what specific changes you want to make.

 

When it comes to hospitals, the problem isn't necessarily profit, it's the cost of everything. They have invested so much money in all of this technology because they thought that America's pockets would always be full of gold. It's not the case. The country is tapped out.

Eliminate corporate control and allow the corporations to devise products that the market can afford. No more instruments costing millions and millions, no more drugs costing a fortune. Nobody can afford this. It has created massive financial instability.

There will be no need for insurance companies. Insurance companies are essentially banks and their mission is to raise premiums as high as possible while at the same time paying out as little as possible. Not a healthy situation.

 

No, that's not an answer.

Would you accept MRI machines? Why or why not?

I don't believe I'm being ripped off. I don't have evidence of that.

I KNOW I'm paying insurance companies enough that they get a healthy profit. But, I have a choice of insurance companies with different ranges of coverage and price.

As I've said, I'm not in favor of treating health as a product in our free enterprise capitalist system. Health doesn't work like TVs. But, there has to be a system to take care of the problem that individuals can not cover the cost of the various problems that humans face through no fault of their own.

I think this is a combination of issues. For example, insurance companies decide what procedures they will pay for. Also, hospitals enforce standards of care that are supported by medical science. Etc.

You don't say what you weren't allowed to do when treating a patient, so it's a little hard to respond to your specific concern.

 

No, we will always choose to have some form of insurance.

Americans are more productive and live better lives because of care made possible by insurance.

This is true for other countries, too, where coverage is provided by the state - not for-profit insurance corporations. Those systems are FAR less expensive.

 

It's not sustainable anywhere. We have been in an era where all Western countries are printing money and going into massive debt. You also had the U.S. paying to keep the West safe from all the evil villains on the planet. This is ending as we speak. Real money is making a return sooner or later and it is going to be a real wake-up call for many.

Allow the market [all the patients and providers through their counsel] to decide what is worth it. The key is to cut off the tremndous amount of money that goes into research that delivers technology that is unaffordable. It's very similar to people who buy cars they cannot afford. How is it possible that somebody who practically has no savings can afford to by a USD45K car? They can't!

Governments understand that their citizens want EVERYTHING [especially if they believe it not going to cost them anything]. People have been taken on this 75 year ride to believe that all you have to do is create more and more debt and then counterfeit a few trillion on the side every once in a while. The wake-up call is coming soon!

 

Corporations that create medical solutions don't control anyone.

They offer solutions.

What solutions should your hospital have refused?

I would add that you clearly don't understand insurance.

 

Hospitals are allowed to do what you suggest in your second paragraph above TODAY. And, that IS what they do. Your second paragraph above is not a change to our current system.

Your concern about economics is great, but you haven't provided a solution for reducing healthcare costs.

AND, others on this board HAVE done that.

We are at the top of the list of per capital cost of healthcare. So, there are numerous examples of systems that don't cost what ours costs.