Quote Originally Posted by honedright View Post
You say we pay too much and get too little, but I don't know if this is true in every case, or even in most cases. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "too little."

Outcomes are worse than most countries? What countries and what outcomes exactly? Personally I've never experienced a less than expected medical outcome. Mistakes do happen, but once again, is this the exception? If our system were that bad wouldn't Americans flock to other countries for care? If they are, is it a big secret?

Health insurance companies could only be wealthy if they are doing something right. A company doesn't become wealthy by making mistakes, does it? No one forces individuals to pay health insurance companies. So if people are paying voluntarily, there must be some perceived benefit. Unless we are to believe that all those people, including all of us, are just plain stupid with money. I prefer to give people more credit than that. And insurance companies are not going to price themselves out of the range that people can pay for their services. That would be suicidal and stupid.

Besides that, what do you think all of those wealthy insurance companies do with all that wealth? Don't they pay employee salaries which pays for living expenses? They purchase business supplies, computers, software, etc. Possibly invest. What's wrong with all of that? I don't begrudge any business or individual for using their ingenuity and guts to become successful and wealthy. Who, with the same abilities, wouldn't want to do the same?
Excessive corporate greed in any type of industry is a shame and IMO ends up causing more damage than good for most. However, placing blame with insurance companies and viewing them as reaping endless profit is not correct. I'm in agreement with you there. It's a long established game between health insurance companies and their contracted providers; providers increase their R&C charges (Reasonable and Customary) on services and insurance companies set a lower contracted rate. The contracted rate increases each time the R&C increases. If the R&C for a doctor visit in a certain area is $150 today the insurance company may pay $100. Next year the R&C may be $300. The insurance company may then pay $200, etc.

One thing no one talks about is the dramatic change, skyrocketing overall health costs that started in the early to mid nineties and I believe in large part due to drug companies being allowed to advertise in the media. I believe the rise in health care costs if viewed on a chart would climb like the Matterhorn in correlation with the change in drug laws.

There are a lot of players contributing to this mess. Group health offered by ANY employer other than large corporations? That will simply be an impossibility for the average employer very soon and already has been for many small businesses.

Chris L