Posted on 06/20/2019 4:04:25 AM PDT by Kaslin
Every politician running for president has a plan for our health care system. Unfortunately for us, they’re all varying degrees of government control that will lead to rationing care to keep costs down. However, as I’ve written about multiple times, while there’s no silver bullet for making everything work better, there are tweaks that can be made to improve the system, increase access, and keep costs under control. It’s just a matter of having the will and the good sense to do them, and in Washington, nothing is as rare as good sense.
You’d think everyone involved in the health care system would have one objective – making everything work better for as many people as possible. That’s not always the case. When there are trillions of dollars on the table, some will move to grab as big of a slice of that pie as they possibly can.
That’s why every interest group even tangentially involved in the health care industry has lobbyists, societies, and organizations designed to protect their slice of the pie while fighting for pieces of others. It’s not a bad thing, per se, and not unique to health care. It’s just that there is no other pie quite as big, so even crumbs represent more than the GDP of many countries.
Each little piece may seem small but, like with an engine, if one part isn’t working it has repercussions for the whole thing.
There’s a distinct populist, anti-large company strain running through both political parties right now. The idea to regulate or break up large tech and pharmaceutical companies and banks is strong on both sides of the aisle. So the idea of consolidation in health care seems like it would be met like an unwanted houseguest. But sometimes mergers are the only option to ensure people maintain access to care and facilities stay open.
But the Physicians Advocacy Institute does just that. Makes you wonder why. Then you realize, as my friend pointed out to me, that many members of PAI’s board hold positions that are dependent upon money from the health insurance industry – running state medical societies that are funded by big insurance companies. And health insurance companies don’t like mergers, it gives facilities more leverage in negotiations with them on costs. Hand-in-glove, everyone is fighting to protect their slice of the pie.
Needless to say, the whole thing is a mess. Again, lost in this is the interest of the patients. And the most pressing interest of the patients is access to care. Driving hours for a routine check-up versus driving to a small rural hospital can be the difference between life and death. If mergers are what it takes to keep these lifelines open, so be it.
Yet, because so much money is involved, something that makes perfect, common sense can be opposed by a non-profit physicians group under the guise of competition.
Everyone knows which buzzwords to use, but lost in this scramble is what’s best for patients. This leaves a void that can easily be filled with empty promises from politicians of a utopian system where the government makes sure everything runs smoothly and everyone gets everything they need. That’s a false promise; a lie. But it’s a lie advanced by relationships and self-interest behind the scenes that most people will never see or know about. This isn’t the only instance, there are more than you can possibly imagine. And in the end, if these players don’t put down their forks and become content with what they have, we’re all going to end up with nothing but those empty promises.
The term “harm” has been redefined. After all some deserve what’s coming to them since they are conservative or don’t hate Trump or both.
I read this anti-large company strain... For the author to even suggest the political parties are not large company focused, is a denial of the root of healthcare and many other sysemic problems.
Every time bernie or anyone else proposes a plan.. someone should ask if congress is exempt from that like Obamacare and insider trading.
If we didn’t have to work and feed our families we zhould have our own mob asking that single question everytime.
It is the best question to ask the American socialit ruling class.
‘...while there’s no silver bullet for making everything work better”
BS.
It’s called “the free market”.
What is stopping it is Federal and State Governments.
Friends and family members recently came down with a few obvious infections that just got worse waiting on doctors appointments. Went to urgent care instead to get the signed scripts for the necessary medicines prescriptions and paid the $150 for the prescription.
Same thing for monitoring of long term drug treatment for simple things like statin drugs for high cholesterol- monthly 15 minute “doctor” visits with a nurse practitioner to check blood pressure to get your prescription refilled. At the same time, new legislation forces tighter and tighter control of prescription drugs and drug prices skyrocket for no legitimate reason
Checked the price of insulin in the US lately? It’s insane and insulin is a very mature product with no patent issues. Insulin costs a fraction of the price US consumers pay for in pretty much every country other than the US
Our politicians are screwing us massively on healthcare
Sure there is.
Make Health Insurance ILLEGAL. You would instantly eliminate probably more than half the people who have jobs in the health care industry. Look at your doctor's office the next time you go. There's a lot of paper pushers in there. And they push their papers to people in humongous insurance buildings. All these people need to get paid, and none of them existed when I was born. (Which is why my father, who was an office clerk at the time, was able to pay the hospital bill for my mother and me in cash for our stay there during the first week of my life.) Return to the system where the indigent went to hospital clinics (rather than emergency rooms) for their medical care.
ML/NJ
After obama’s plan, my premium went up 100%,, government, stay out of American healthcare!!!!
That is true. And there are fewer paper pushers in a clinic like Kaiser. But look at Kaiser next time you go. Everyone there is a paper pusher. Your primary care doc is a paper pusher. Her main job is to put up bureaucratic road blocks for speciality care. Back when I was still with Kaiser I was sent for an x-ray of my knee. The primary care ignored the result because that would have meant seeing a specialist. After pushing for PT I finally found out I had a bone spur from the PT.
The paper pushers are not filling out forms for no reason. They are doing it to control the moneys paid out to actual doctors. It's rationining but at least with my current HSA plan I get to decide what I want and pay for it out of the HSA. My HSA gets a company contribution and I put in the rest and have 10k after 3 years and few expenses. If I have to see a specialist, I call one and make an appointment or get the free service provided by my employer to do that. In that case the insurance will pay part and my HSA will pay the rest.
WIthout that kind of system, everyone will be sent to the clinic and it will literally be run by a company like Kaiser under a corrupt government contract and your choices for care will be greatly reduced.
The medical/health insurance industry has devolved into a pre-burial/cremation record keeping enterprise.
NEXT!
The Hippocratic Oath does not and never has contained the phrase, “First, do no harm,” although something similar to a watered-down version was added in the 17th Century.
That is technically correct. However, it has long been regarded as implicit and essential to the meaning of the Oath.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.