The Health Care Industry is Crooked

There is no getting around it in my opinion. The Republican position on health care is a weak one. I recommend that the president steer clear of making statements on the issue and seriously consider pulling his ads on it. Although an alternative to a government run health care system (as envisioned by the Democrats) would be desirable, just letting the current situation fester with virtually no government regulation is getting us nowhere fast. In her study of the health care industry, Hillary Clinton refused to address the issue of doctor greed, probably because many liberal doctors are among her most ardent supporters and friends. She placed all the blame for rising health care costs on hospitals, drug companies, and the insurance industry. President Bush, in contrast, has singled out trial lawyers and fraudulent malpractice suits as his personal whipping boy. Neither of these views, I believe, is honestly addressing the basic problem we are facing.

Doctors should not be in it for the money. They should be drawn from idealistic stock who want to help people, just as was envisioned by Hippocrates. It has gotten so bad these days that catastrophic health issues are no longer the major concern. You can't even have a minor procedure done without having to go back two or three times, paying through the nose for each visit until the doctor has made enough off of you to finally fix the problem. These guys have gotten to be no better than your average cynical auto mechanic who is out to nail your butt anytime you face the misfortune of a broken down vehicle that you are unable or unwilling to fix yourself. True, today's doctors simply reflect the state of our society, in general, where in the name of the unregulated free market, anything goes. As such, I've never been a big fan of businessmen or business interests for this very reason. The cost of living keeps going up and up largely because of this attitude that you should try to get the most for your goods or services regardless of what is truly a fair price. No doubt there are dozens of people on this forum who will argue the position that the marketplace alone should be allowed to determine the price of things, but this is precisely how we got into the fix we are in with regard to the skyrocketing cost of health care, and health care must be seen as more important, too important a commodity to be dealt with in the same manner as most everything else.

The American Medical Association limits the number of new doctors that are graduated each year and controls the mindset of those who are admitted to medical schools. Trust me, idealists who want to help their fellow man are discouraged in favor of those with comfortably bourgeois attitudes. In a society where money equals power, it was decided long ago that the more money the medical industry brings into its coffers, the better for all concerned. Who pays for this "pragmatic perspective?" Why, the American consumer, that's who. I think the health care industry absolutely MUST BE SEEN as a critical industry where government regulation of pricing, at the very least, is demanded. Dishonest doctors who are manipulating their patients for material gain rather than curing them as quickly as possible for the lowest possible price should be fined or have their licenses pulled. There is no need to sue everyone in sight for malpractice. Just get rid of the bad apples to begin with by taking the profit out of the game.

I wish it were as simple as you suggest, but its not. At present we do not have "unregulated" medicine.

One problem is that people do not want to take personal responsibility for their health care, " I have a Right" to free health care and furthermore I don't have to do anything to contribute to my health and "they" should help me if I smoke, drink or eat myself into illness." Another problem is that ---Wake up!---this is not 1952: we now have more medications, proceedures and medical advances than we did 40 or 50 years ago. Everyone wants The Best, all the time, right now and "Someone should pay for it!"

While there are many doctors who may be in it "for the money" there are also many doctors who don't like this system anymore than we do. Expensive treatments and equipment and specialized care costs money. Having to run endless "back up" tests and visits to protect themselves is the fault of trial lawyers.

Kerry panders to the "give it all to me for free and now!" thinking.
remember, socialized health care.....

All the efficiency of the postal service.
All the compassion of the IRS.

Pish tosh...the governemental regulations, HMO's and Insurance companies are the source of our ills today.

I have been in the pharmaceutical business for over 25 years. My wife has also been in the hospital and laboratory setting for close to 30 years.

It used to be, Dr's would fix a sick person, submit insurance claim, insurance would pay the bill.

In 1981-1982 the Insurance companies and HMO's started colluding to rip off the consumers, hospitals and the pharma business.

Basically, the Insurance Co's and HMO's decided to create and institute "Diagnostic Related Groups"--DRG's for short--so that any procedure would have a single, fixed cost to the insurance co. Thus, an appendectomy fee would be set at say, $1200 for the doctor, anaesthesiologist, drugs, bed, room, etc. If you did it for only $1000, then the favorability would be your "profit"...and that started it all...

Everyone started trying to cut their costs left and right so the insurance re-imbursement would cover the operation but, then other appendectomies with complications might cost $5000, you lose money on that one.

HMO's in the meantime, started to become "NO PAYMENT" centers, in that they would deny coverage on as much of a bill as they possibly could. This forced the consumer to resubmit claims over and over but others would simple never challenge the denials of coverage, letting the HMO and Insurance Co's pocket the profits.

And lastly, the "EVIL" pharmaceutical companies are being squeezed out as they just try to make back the investment costs for new drug development. It takes 10 years and $100's of MILLIONS of money to develope a new chemical entity, prove it works in animals, then humans and then prove all that to the FDA. Then two years later, you find out you have problems...a la VIOXX...Oooops...

PharmaCo's these days are starting to feel the pressure from overseas. In the USA we are faced with tremendous good manufacturing practices and labor costs just to make sure the documentation to make drugs is good. The facilities must be clean and well kept. Companies in INDIA and other ASIAN and European co's are coming into the USA with devices and drugs that are relatively safe, in fact probably exact molecular copies of the active ingredients, since INDIA doesn't impose PATENT Protection, however, I suspect the FDA hasn't inspected their facilities like they do US facilities. I don't know about you , but I like to have the windows in my drug plants closed because we have air conditioning and not next to a pig farm with chicken feathers flying into the sterile filling room...and God knows what they do with all those Sacred Cows running around...???

Just look at the UK Vaccine Co. CHIRON, they were to provide 50% of our US flu vaccine, but they had "contamination" in their batches, perhaps salmonella from some bad eggs? or some other bacterial or fungal infection...and in order to isolate and segregate good batches from bad they have to destroy some many lots on either side of the failure. So it goes, several million bucks down the drain, literally. There are not many companies that can afford to throw millions down the drain because some guy didn't clean a mixing tank properly, hence you only have a few companies making vaccine. And, certainly not here in the US where there are no limits on legal suits because little Tommy got a littlefever from his dose and was crying for two days but is fine now...

I'm completely convinced this is what has been going on in the years past. How do we fix it? Tort reform for one, that will be a big start. Erase this litigious society where stupid people get to sue because they didn't understand the risks of surgery. Medicine is NOT an exact science, doctors and nurses are human beings. They WILL make mistakes, hopefully not one that will kill you. When they do make a mistake that results in maiming or death, then fine--sue them. IF they did it because they were in a hurry and forgot or didn't read a label etc, then they are at fault. But when a Dr. does his best and nothing he did was wrong, it's not reasonable to award $50Million in damages because Uncle Bob was 80 years old and his heart transplant really didn't take, HE WAS OLD !!!

That's enough for now.

G

"Trust me"

LOL!

"I think the health care industry absolutely MUST BE SEEN as a critical industry where government regulation of pricing, at the very least, is demanded."

Who's your mentor, Mao, Castro, Il Sung, Stalin, Kerry, Edwards?

" idealists who want to help their fellow man are discouraged"

LOL! Which one, Mao, Castro, Stalin, Il Sung, Kerry, Edwards?

" the current situation fester with virtually no government regulation is getting us nowhere fast."

No regs? LOL!

" Just get rid of the bad apples to begin with by taking the profit out of the game."

It's Mao isn't it?

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