Someone , elderly, that I know, just got a battery of ROUTINE tests, NO procedures. MRI and a sitting stress test . Total billed to Medicare and Co Insurance, $10,000 All this for something that took a few hours at most. Not a scam? Really? Multiply this by millions and you know why insurance costs obscene amounts. Until there are prosecutions for price fixing and fraud, there will be no end to it.
We need to hold "Healthcare providers" to the same standard as any other business in the U.S. are. Prices should be clearly available to all consumers. Customers should be charged the same regardless of their insurance affiliation. No services should be provided and charged without a customers consent. A binding estimate should be provided prior to any medical services being provided. A consumer of medicine should be able to buy their medication ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. Why is it we are constrained by geography? Why can't a person bitten by a scorpion In Texas buy anti-venom in Mexico for 100 bucks instead of the 10,000 dollars charged by U.S. providers? "Healthcare" is close to 20% of GDP in the U.S. whereas it is closer to 10% in most other developed nations. It isn't a problem you say? The federal government spends 1.145 trillion dollars every year on healthcare. Can we afford that and the annual increases of 5 to 10% per year?
So how much did the elderly person have to pay? Zero, right. Maybe a small "co-pay". You will never fix health care when the person buying the service doesn't care what it costs. Lasik and plastic surgery have both come down in cost, even after adjusting for inflation. Neither one is covered by insurance.
I can tell you stories, if they were an auto shop or a home repair contractor any lawyer in the phone book could sue them into the next county.
I like the Japan system. I think you pay about 20% roughly of the cost of the dental or medical procedures, and insurance covers the rest. people still over use it but it does make them think twice before opting for something
Progressive deductibility. We could probably sell that. Or I guess actually that would be flat deductible. Don't think we can sell that.
In all other industrialize nations there is a third party payer, just as in the U.S.; yet costs are half as high, or less. Therefore I believe your observation goes only partway to explain the extraordinary cost of medical care in the U.S. And although your observation re plastic surgery and Lasik would seem to support your argument, the presence or absence of a third party payer can not be the primary difference because, as I have pointed out, there is a third party payer in all other countries; yet costs of both regular medical care and optional procedures are much lower elsewhere. Of course there are multiple factors at play. In the U.S. for example, regulatory capture is significant. There is one factor behind much of medical pricing, however, that regardless of country, if allowed to, will dominate all the other factors affecting price. And this is the inherent inelasticity of pricing for many medical procedures. That is to say, the buyer is not free to walk, so there can't be a two way market. Whereas many U.S. politicians play deaf and dumb when it comes to recognizing inelasticity in medical pricing, this is not so in other countries. All other industrialized nations except the U.S. have solved the inelasticity problem by giving the government monopoly power to dictate prices. As a result, all other countries have drastically lower medical costs ; yet results are much better everywhere else.* Obviously you, in general, get far less than you pay for in the U.S.!!! In the case of plastic surgery and lasik you are observing what happens when there is a two-way market. ____________________ *Check out the WHO rankings if you question this.
Maybe the person buying the service does not have the knowledge to judge whether the cost is realistic or outrageous.
Correct, you pay 30% upfront and the rest of the bill goes straight to the insurance company. On top of this: if the medical expenses (those 30% paid) in a fiscal year exceed a certain threshold this can be used as a deductible on the income tax. For elderly people are additional provisions available to reduce the financial impact.