WHEN EXACTLY DID HEALTH CARE COSTS START TO SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL???????

self | 08/07/2009 | Captain Peter Blood

[zerosix]

There are more than one instances, in my recollection when prices began to hike, but just to list a few:
(1) Medicare;
(2) ABA OKs "advertising" for lawyers and advertising for wills, trusts real estate law and adoptions just doesn't create the "need" so let's advertise personal injuries, etc.;
(3)hospital insurance became "health" insurance;
(4)large union contracts which demanded virtually no-pay office visits and prescriptions (later national companies followed suit and these types of insurance which comes out of paychecks without anyone knowing just how much is coming out of their own pocket has created the concept that "IT's FREE);
(5)government (liberal) mandating policies to doctors, hospitals and insurers and every other aspect of medical treatments.

Car insurance; life insurance; home insurance; boat insurance, motorcycle insurance, etc. are based upon situations NOT happening, whereas, "health" insurance (including dental) are based upon sure things happening, i.e. doctor's visits, "wellness exams," dental check ups.

All of the above do happen and regularly -- what's more, it's encouraged not only by doctors but insurance companies as well (not to mention the busybodies in various government agencies.) These things drive up costs as all people covered by some sort of insurance feel that they should go to the doctor even when they feel well. All of those things plus class action lawsuits have driven costs out the roof.

Lump into the mix, non-insured going to emergency rooms for sore throats and illegal aliens taking their families to emergency rooms for basic care, force hospitals, doctors and others to pass those costs along to those who are paying the bill.

[reformedliberal]

IMO, you covered it and I remember when there was no medical insurance, the doctor came to the house and if you were poor, you worked it out with the MD in labor or produce or whatever you had. I recall one family with 3 kids, the husband was a ne'er-do-well and the synagogue gave him a job as maintenance man. The wife cleaned houses and was a wonderful cook and baker who paid her doctor bills in that manner.

My parents told a story about a rough patch in their economic lives and they missed a insurance payment. The insurance agent had a drawer full of cash. He opened the drawer, took out enough to pay the premium and told them to make it up as they could, which they did.

That was over 60 years ago, of course.

[Danae]

I would imagine there are statistics proving that.

Capping Awards, and holding Insurance companies accountable under RICO standards would have a BIG effect. Putting the teeth back into RICO would have a great effect in and of itself!

Another possibility would be federally legally capping the dollar among Insurance companies can charge and making it progressive with risk etc.

Just Capping awards will have a big effect, the rest will more than double that I think. But I don’t have stats to back that claim.

I do know that it would have an across the board effect and would save Billions of dollars and make Medical care cheaper for everything.

We could make Medical Insurance a not for profit entities. That would REALLY make it a LOT cheaper! FREAKING HUGELY cheaper! Insurance companies are the middle man, and they siphon off BILLIONS into their own pockets every year. Eliminate that and BLAMO, costs go WAY WAY down.

[FreedomPoster]

Insurance companies are already very highly regulated in most states.

And there are plenty of non-profit hospitals and medical insurance companies. They aren’t noticeably cheaper or more effective than their for-profit counterparts, as a group.

The real issue is over-regulation, if anything. See the recent David Limbaugh commentary on this subject for a good exposition on why.