Posted on 01/29/2018 8:58:00 AM PST by spintreebob
The idea that spending more on preventive care will reduce overall health care spending is widely believed and often promoted as a reason to support reform. It’s thought that too many people with chronic illnesses wait until they are truly ill before seeking care, often in emergency rooms, where it costs more. It should follow then that treating diseases earlier, or screening for them before they become more serious, would wind up saving money in the long run.
Unfortunately, almost none of this is true.
Let’s begin with emergency rooms, which many people believed would get less use after passage of the Affordable Care Act. The opposite occurred. It’s not just the A.C.A. The Oregon Medicaid Health Insurance experiment, which randomly chose some uninsured people to get Medicaid before the A.C.A. went into effect, also found that insurance led to increased use of emergency medicine. Massachusetts saw the same effect after it introduced a program to increase the number of insured residents.
Emergency room care is not free,
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The Big Lie of Preventive Care http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2564707/posts
I’m not going to pay money to read an NYT story...
If the ER costs the patient no money, it is free care and will be over utilized.
Anything that saves people’s lives from trauma or acute disease,vastly increases costs from long- term chronic degenerative diseases.
Which is OK in my book. Life costs more than death, every time. I choose life.
bump
It’s a business.
They try to maximize their profit margin.
Sure, a lot of the practitioners would like to save lives and do good in the world. But the system see those things as secondary goals. The system is in place to make money. Preventive Care doesn’t have to get results. It brings in money.
And, of course, the Death Panels help cut losses when the ROI in sick patients isn’t pleasing.
And many Medicaid patients think they’ll get better care at the ER than they will from the doctors willing to see Medicaid patients. And there’s a lot shorter wait involved, too, and some Medicaid patients seem to think they shouldn’t have to wait for care.
I get checked for skin cancer twice a year. Total cost runs around $300-400/year, a bit more when they find something. I’m guessing 20 years of that would be less than the cost of a single chemo treatment...
Sure it is, if you're an illegal. All your costs are transferred to the next US citizen who walks through the door.
Memphis has 1 public hospital it is flooded with Illegals who use it as a doctor’s office. Better be prepared for a 12+ hr wait. Then the Nic U, and Trauma Center is flooded with premies from drug addicted mothers, crime, accidents hit the Trauma center from not only Memphis but AR and MS as we border those states and are the closest Trauma and Nic U in the Tri State region. Also goes for TN Tri-County. All the Illegal Drug Addicts who OD are also there as they are likely not to have any health ins. Medicaid Picks up the Tab..FREEBIE from those of us who pay taxes.
They beg each year for MORE funding from State/Fed/County, City is Bankrupt from it’s social spending and over budget beautification/rehab old districts projects. Over paying city Councilmembers, under paying Police/Fire/Education. They have deannexed 2 areas because they can’t provide the promised services that are required when you annex.
It is a War Zone NO GO.
The point here does not have to do with the overall cost of healthcare, the POINT here is that we have been lied to for decades by those promoting one-payer - government-paid - universal healthcare, ala Britain and Canada, etc. Nevermind that it has been shown not to work and that the exorbitant costs are controlled only by rationing care.
I very rarely need to see a doctor (except maybe a physical every year or so) but recently I had the unfortunate and disheartening experience of the emergency room of a major hospital. I had to take a family member of mine there. I think we were the only two English speaking people in the entire room. The majority of them appeared to be there for minor issues. We sat there for hours and hours as they were all shuffled around. I have no way of knowing but it appeared that none of them were on an insurance program - all welfare. It was the middle of a workday too and I was the only one wearing a tie and dressed presentably. Everybody else were in sweats, ratty sneakers and the men unshaven and had horrible posture. Most of them had the listless appearance of those who never had to get up for work and never will have to get up for work. Nobody was reading anything, there was some women's talk show on the TV and they were all lazily watching that.
I was keeping in touch with the office so I had my laptop and cell with me and I was taking conference calls and typing out emails. The others looked at me like I had two heads.
It was depressing.
Link does not form in first comment section when posting a article, unless you do HTML.
The Big Lie of Preventive Care http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2564707/posts
Exactly what you said. Beyond a fairly low bar, so much of “preventive care” turns into referral to one after another “specialist” just to check things, which evolves into many thousands of dollars worth of tests and treatments, which may not have been needed in the first place.
Sounds like they might have thought you were acting too white or some other racist type inference based on your appearance and that you were trying to salvage some productive work time while at the hospital.
Have you ever been to an emergency room? If not, there is no way any sane person would choose going to an emergency room rather than their own doctor. My wife went to one a few months ago. We were there for about 16 hours, it cost $10,000, and there was (fortunately) nothing wrong with her.
If that is your ONLY option, fine. Otherwise, a visit to a GP is much-preferred.
The Other BIG LIE is the FDA Approved drugs that cause those Degernerative Chronic Diseases. Every OA drug is Black Boxed for GI/Heart. PPI's, Nerve Blocks, Steroids injections, all cause Osteoprosis. Those drugs are Flagged for A-Fib, A-Typical Femur Fracture and Jaw Degeneration. Forteo the 6 month shot is Black Boxed on top of that for Bone Cancer. I should know, I'm 1 of their Victims. Those ER Trips for A-Fib are long and Not pleasant.
Chemo..BIL died on the OR table from strain on his heart, weakened bones caused his Femur to fracture in a sit down shower bath his daughter was assisting with. I'm sure we all have medical horror stories we could tell.
We have that 'government controlled' health care...Medicare/Tricare Life. It is quite restrictive. Only freedom we have is choice of Doc or Hospital. Hubby a 20 yr Career Ret. SCPO excceeds VA $$ Cap. Neither are what they are promoted as being.
I guarantee you that I have spent more time in the ER than most FReepers. IOW, one helluva lot. I have witnessed what I wrote about.
I was taking issue with this:
“And many Medicaid patients think they’ll get better care at the ER than they will from the doctors willing to see Medicaid patients.”
I am on Medicaid, and there is no way I would rather go to an ER or think that the care there is better.
There are plenty of Medicaid recipients in my neck of the woods who think different.
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