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Forget ObamaCare, RyanCare, and any Future ReformCare--the Healthcare System Is Completely Broken
Of Two Minds ^ | 26 March 2017 | Charles Hugh Smith

Posted on 03/29/2017 10:33:55 AM PDT by Lorianne

It's time to start planning for what we'll do when the current healthcare system implodes. __

As with many other complex, opaque systems in the U.S., only those toiling in the murky depths of the healthcare system know just how broken the entire system is. Only those dealing daily with the perverse incentives, the Kafkaesque procedures, the endlessly negative unintended consequences, the soul-deadening paper-shuffling, the myriad forms of fraud, the recalcitrant patients who don't follow recommendations but demand to be magically returned to health anyway, and of course the hopelessness of the financial future of a system with runaway costs, a rapidly aging populace and profiteering cartels focused on maintaining their rackets regardless of the cost to the nation or the health of its people.

Ask any doctor or nurse, and you will hear first-hand how broken the system is, and how minor policy tweaks and reforms cannot possibly save the system from imploding. Based on my own first-hand experience and first-hand reports by physicians, here are a few of the hundreds of reasons why the system cannot be reformed or saved.

Say 6-year old Carlos gets a tummy-ache at school. To avoid liability, the school doesn't allow teachers to provide any care whatsoever. The school nurse (assuming the school has one) doesn't have the diagnostic tools on hand to absolutely rule out the possibility that Carlos has some serious condition, so the parents are called and told to take Carlos to their own doctor.

Their pediatrician is already booked, so Carlos ends up waiting in the ER (emergency room). Neither the school nurse nor the parents see the symptoms as worrisome or dangerous, but here they are in ER, where standards of care require a CT scan and bloodwork.

Hours later, Carlos is released and some entity somewhere gets an $8,000 bill--for a tummy-ache that went away on its own without any treatment at all.

Since the Kafkaesque billing system rewards quick turn-arounds, observation is frowned upon unless it can be billed. So if observation is deemed necessary (to avoid any liability, of course), Carlos might be wheeled into an "observation room" filled with other people, where a nurse pops in every once in a while. This adds $3,000 to the bill.

(Never mind the stress on Carlos being in such unfamiliar surroundings; he might have felt better if he hadn't been subjected to the anxieties that come with being enmeshed in the healthcare system's straight-jacket of standards of care.)

If Carlos doesn't feel better after all this, then the bill is set to balloon bigtime because an overnight stay in the hospital is the next step--and if there isn't a 100% certainty that there is no chance of his stomach-ache becoming something serious, then the system will insist on overnight observation as the only legally defensible option.

There are other ways to increase the fees without actually providing additional care; was Carlos receiving "critical care"? Of course he was, because, well, it pays better, and by definition any ER visit is critical care.

This example is just the tip of the iceberg, but you get the point: all institutional care decisions ultimately revolve around thwarting future liability claims and maximizing the billing value of each interaction or procedure.

You've probably seen some of the racketeering that passes for "business as usual" in the pharmaceutical arm of the "healthcare" industry. A pharma company that spent $500,000 trying to keep pot illegal just got DEA approval for synthetic marijuana (via Chad D.)

Pinworm prescription jumps from $3 to up to $600 a pill (via John F.)

Off-patent medications double or triple in cost, and then double or triple again with a few years, without any justification. To extend expiring patents, Big Pharma corporations petition the FDA to change the target audience for the med, and this trivial administrative change awards the corporation years more of lucrative patent protection.

The scams are endless, the skims are endless, the fraud is endless, the waste is endless, the fortunes expended to limit "winner take all" liability claims are endless, the paperwork churn is endless and the perverse incentives and negative unintended consequences are endless.

Everyone knows the system is unsustainable, perverse and insane, but they are powerless to change it within the system as it is. The usual sort of political horsetrading that passes for "reform" yielded ObamaCare, which did essentially zero to limit costs or cartel rackets.

A system based on parasitic predation by all the cartel players cannot be reformed or saved from its own perverse incentives and skyrocketing costs. The foundations of U.S. healthcare are rotten to the core. "Reform" is an appealing delusion, but the rot is so deep and so pervasive it is embedded in the society and the culture, beyond the reach of legislative overhauls, no matter how well-meaning.

This chart-fest reflects the trends that cannot be reversed by policy tweaks and tucks: The U.S. spends more than twice as much per person than our advanced competitors such as Japan and France.

SNIP


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 03/29/2017 10:33:55 AM PDT by Lorianne
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To: Lorianne

They should just repeal obamacare and put things back like they were. That was much better.


2 posted on 03/29/2017 10:36:20 AM PDT by Cubs Fan (Modern day liberals are the most intolerant, hateful, and violent people in America)
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To: Lorianne

Health care works just fine for us. It’s because we don’t have insurance. It’s like buying an oil change or groceries. “Cash, check or charge?”

It’s also a LOT cheaper.


3 posted on 03/29/2017 10:50:14 AM PDT by Mr. Douglas (Best. Election. EVER!)
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To: Lorianne

The present system is NOT reformable. There are too many skimmers, scammers on the supply side, and too many free-riders on the demand side. There is no political will, nor is there anyone smart enough to reconstruct this hairball of complexity.

The smart thing to do - continue subsidies, as is, for a certain period. BUT create a legal framework for doctors, providers and patients to organize everything in cash, between only themselves. Create a parallel free market. It will need to incentivize and remove all barriers. from tax to liability. The Left and crony-capitalists will use any method possible to kill it.

A true free-market will grow quickly and provide stability while the government-mandated, 3rd party payer system collapses. It will be a reference in price and service to the corrupt, cronyist, high-cost system we have now.


4 posted on 03/29/2017 10:57:22 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Mr. Douglas
Health care works just fine for us. It’s because we don’t have insurance.

How do you do it? Negotiate with doctors directly? What about chronic conditions? Drug costs? Please explain

5 posted on 03/29/2017 10:58:45 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Lorianne

NO

The health care insurance gambit is completely broken.


6 posted on 03/29/2017 11:01:34 AM PDT by Delta 21 (The minority demands NOTHING !)
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To: Lorianne

7 posted on 03/29/2017 11:07:53 AM PDT by Slyfox (Where's Reagan when we need him? Look in the mirror - the spirit of The Gipper lives within you.)
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To: Lorianne

I agree. And it irritates me to no end the constant barrage of spam mail of affordable health plans available.

Kill it, bury it. Too tempting for political abuse.

Just build factories for an at home autodoc.


8 posted on 03/29/2017 11:12:07 AM PDT by Daniel Ramsey (Thank YOU President Trump, finally we can do what America does best, to be the best!)
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To: Lorianne

It truly is broken. Oh, if only people knew the extent of it.


9 posted on 03/29/2017 11:21:19 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: PGR88

We’re 63. We don’t do drugs. We directly negotiate with doctors. We are HUGE fans of natural medication. Yes, it works. In fact, an acquaintance had stage 4 breast cancer and has been cancer free for six years now. Sh used the Gerson method.

Health care is just another good/service. Like carpeting or auto repair.


10 posted on 03/29/2017 11:25:01 AM PDT by Mr. Douglas (Best. Election. EVER!)
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To: PGR88

My brother negotiated a cash transaction with his surgeon when he didn’t have a policy and needed surgery on his back.

The price was cash up front and that was much cheaper than if he had insurance.... as I recall. It was a long time ago.

Also-I wonder if there is a release you can sign basically saying you wont sue for malpractice... and you’ll get a MUCH lower price.


11 posted on 03/29/2017 11:27:25 AM PDT by SMARTY ("Nearly all men can stand adversity...to test a man's character, give him power." A. Lincoln)
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To: SMARTY

“you wont sue for malpractice”

In general, there is no contractual waiving of tort liability permitted by law.

Binding arbitration is permitted I believe.

Law can vary by state - lawyers would know for sure.


12 posted on 03/29/2017 11:37:05 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Mr. Douglas

“We’re 63. We don’t do drugs.”

If you had melanoma what would you do?

The drug for that is about $100,000/year.


13 posted on 03/29/2017 11:38:51 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Lorianne

Perhaps a 100% income tax on malpractice awards (except for corrective medical costs) plus a $5,000 filing fee tax.

The welfare state hungers for money, including for Medicaid expansion.


14 posted on 03/29/2017 11:41:29 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Brian Griffin

That makes sense. For a better price-I guess I’d waive that stuff for anything, EXCEPT brain surgery or heart surgery. :)


15 posted on 03/29/2017 11:41:37 AM PDT by SMARTY ("Nearly all men can stand adversity...to test a man's character, give him power." A. Lincoln)
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To: Lorianne

Barring state and federal coverage mandates would help.

No one should be guaranteed a gold-filled iron rice bowl by law - state mandates violate the Amendment XIV equal protection clause.


16 posted on 03/29/2017 11:44:33 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Lorianne

Floridians like me want Zero-care gone.

No Medicaid expansion
+
much higher premiums ($150/month -> $500/month)

If elected Republicans can’t do better than President Zero, join him in retirement please.


17 posted on 03/29/2017 11:47:59 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: PGR88

I don’t know why more people don’t sign up with Medi-Share. It is advertised on satellite radio and their commercials are getting more frequent and professional. That tells me it must work.


18 posted on 03/29/2017 11:48:10 AM PDT by ncpatriot
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To: Brian Griffin

I would die.

To live is Christ and to die is gain.


19 posted on 03/30/2017 4:42:35 AM PDT by Mr. Douglas (Best. Election. EVER!)
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