Patients Should Pay Their Own Bills

IBD Editorials ^ | November 19, 2010 | Staff

[Kaslin]

Big Spenders: Increases in health care costs rival the rising of the sun for inevitably. Should we blame greedy doctors and drugmakers? No, blame should be placed on the system the government has promoted.

The tax code encourages employers to buy health care insurance plans with pretax dollars. Because these plans are exempt from federal income and payroll taxes, employers salaries. Nearly 60% of American adults are covered by an employer-based plan.

For most, these plans work well. But the arrangement that so many have become accustomed to has driven health care spending ever higher. The cost of medicine increased 98% between 1992 and 2008, a period when the consumer price index rose 53%. Health care spending now makes up 17% of the economy, a far bigger slice than it did before the 1965 creation of Medicare and Medicaid, when it never went beyond 6%.

Why has this happened? Devon Herrick from the National Center for Policy Analysis has the simple answer: We have become big spenders on health care because our motivation to be thrifty has been legislated away.

"A primary reason why health care costs are soaring is that most of the time when people enter the medical marketplace, they are spending someone else's money," Herrick wrote in "Why Health Costs Are Still Rising," an NCPA report released last week.

Because Americans who have employer-based coverage see little money coming out of their pockets when they visit a doctor or go to the hospital, they have little incentive to keep costs down.

"When patients pay their own medical bills, they are conservative consumers," Herrick writes. "Economic studies and common sense confirm that people are less likely to be prudent, careful shoppers if someone else is picking up the tab."

[GailA]

That was the way it was when I first entered the work force in the 70’s. Ins paid for ER visits with a co-pay, hospital stays, dr when in hospital, (and tests). Other wise it came out of your pocket. You didn’t run to the doc with every hang nail, because you didn’t want to spend the $$ on it. I still use that method in determining if I should make an appointment.

Ditto for dental, which I totally pay for out of pocket.

Much of the high cost of medical care comes from doctors ordering extra test to cover their tails from lawsuits.

I don’t need a doctor’s visit to treat a simple cold or muscle strain. Most minor illnesses can now be treated with OTC meds, you just have to be smart enough to know when they don’t do the job, then go see the doctor, as it may be a more serious condition.

[Jacquerie]

I have in my possession a medical bill from 1968. It was for my future father in law. He was beaten with baseball bats in a robbery.

The bill for ambulance, five days in a hospital, two operations (one of which was to his skull), doctor fees and drugs was $1,168.

That works to about $7,400 today.

[Graybeard58]

My brother (Born 1937) has a receipt from the doctor that delivered him at home. The receipt is for $30.

[Jacquerie]

Not many of us are left who remember the time when dealing with a doctor was like dealing with anyone else one did business with. A doctor could no more charge outrageous fees than a plumber and expect to remain in business.

[Melas]

Amen. Insurance should be used to cover catastrophic & major hospital expenses. Everyday office visits, checkups and minor illnesses should be paid out of pocket.

Ok, but they're going to have to quit charging me just shy of a grand a month to insure a family of 4. As long as I'm paying outrageous premiums, I want outrageous coverage.