How to reduce health care prices 80% in two easy steps:

you mean we should switch to capitalism?

 

Sure

Works well in an emergency

 

not sure why it would work better or worse in a emergency. Why not try to explain.

 

most companies in most industries allow it so insurance is no different. Do you understand?

 

jamesM, on your #1 idea, I agree 100% !!!!
It also raises the question, how did costs of healthcare get so outrageously high?

The answer is, the government and the entire system changed, beginning in the late1970's, where it put the burden on the employers to pay the majority of healthcare premiums in the form of an employee benefit. To the employee, this meant they only saw a very small amount taken out of their paycheck. Gradually, over the years, premiums rose and the employers took on most of the burden.

But as you suggest, if the employees were given that healthcare premium benefit money directly in their paycheck and then allowed freedom to spend it on healthcare and keep anything remaining, I truly believe that the costs would never have skyrocketed as they have now.

I'd go even one step further. Transfer all employee healthcare benefits directly to the employee's paycheck and allow the employees freedom to opt-out of the healthcare system if no affordable plans are offered.

Sometimes you need to create some chaos in order to get back some control. Unfortunately, that's what those in power often do to us little guys, but it's time we smartened up and did it back to them.

--pete--

 

Well we've tried heavily managed markets for decades and you see where we are

 

You really want to take time to shop around when your leg is about to fall off?

 

Cancer is a lucrative business.

 

I have no idea what you are talking about or what you are up to. I guess you need to feel better and consider me a good choice to try to mess with. Have at it.

 

so do you want to switch to capitalist health care to reduce prices 80% and add 10-20 years to our life spans?

 

so are automobiles. Do you know what point you are trying to make?

 

shopping is done long before you have the need in most cases. if you win the lottery you know beforehand Rolls has the most luxurious car and Ferrari the fastest. Now do you understand?

 

yes and so liberals want to solve the problem by going to full blown communism which conservatives know will only make matters worse.

 

No matter who does not agree with you, this is the sole way to get prices down and under market control.

Both insurance and government use funds not of their creating, but what they collected from the public.

 

I assume you agree with idea # 2 too?

 

It is not in the nature of Democrats to understand economics. But we shall keep trying.

Take the expensive auto. I am not in the head of all humans, but common sense tells me they first decide to check out cars. They will go to dealers and check them further. They will test drive a number of autos. They will haggle to figure out where prices will end up at. They will check out sites such as Kelly Blue Book. They might ask friends.

Doctors can do the same thing. We can save a lot by getting away from the idea we must have insurance or government pay for our bills.

 

Yes capitalism instead of corporate welfare(socialism). Businesses competing is what keeps prices low and creates new and better products. How do hospitals figure into this? They are mostly non-profit organizations, as far as I know.

That's pretty much what I've been saying.

I don't see what the big deal is. It isn't going to happen, just like the tax plan doesn't look like anything resembling the bill sent to Congress.

 

Not quite sure what #2 means. It needs more details. Compete, on a national level in a free market?

 

probably best is to require published prices and published quality

 

That's because the guys with the ability to implement it stand to gain the most by doing so. The kinder, gentler way to siphoning off public wealth and enriching yourself in the process

 

How do you quantify "quality" of a healthcare plan?

 

Customers like it, and voluntarily buy it

 

quality of health care. Govt would require reporting of results: hospital readmission, hospital acquired infections, patient reviews etc

 

Oh yeah!!!! Absolutely. One big problem with all that is the record keeping and analysis that would be required and that alone could increase the general costs of healthcare nationwide.

I like the general idea, but if government is going to require something like "quality reporting" it should probably be an automated a system developed by a neutral entity that utilizes data already in the system and analyzes it uniformly on a national scale. This way it could be an efficient and low cost system without adding a lot of extra work and expense by the individual health services.

Good ideas, but difficult to implement.

--pete--

 

Manufacturing implies a factory and an assembly line, and more importantly a recognizable brand and uniformed style. A people taking it upon themselves to build their own cars implies they did it in their garages with whatever parts they could find