Thread: How to make healthcare in USA cheaper?

Why dosent the U.S have a standardised health care system like we do in the UK? (the nhs)

Its not the best system in the world, but every one gets treatment, is is a very nominal amount out of your wages each month (a few pounds rather than the 100`s of dollars you guys pay) and you always have the option of going for private treatment if you want to pay for it.

I ask this because i`m sure i herd somthing in the news about this not so long ago. And it seemed to me most americans didn`t want this system. And i found some of the reasoning behind it strange. The word comunist was banded around some what, and people seemed to think that people would be dieing in corridors and slumped on the pavement out side.

Originally Posted by BigIan

Why dosent the U.S have a standardised health care system like we do in the UK? (the nhs)

Its not the best system in the world, but every one gets treatment, is is a very nominal amount out of your wages each month (a few pounds rather than the 100`s of dollars you guys pay) and you always have the option of going for private treatment if you want to pay for it.

I ask this because i`m sure i herd somthing in the news about this not so long ago. And it seemed to me most americans didn`t want this system. And i found some of the reasoning behind it strange. The word comunist was banded around some what, and people seemed to think that people would be dieing in corridors and slumped on the pavement out side.

It would be a joke if it wasn't so tragic. One of my best friends is 62 with no insurance and not in the best of health. He becomes enraged at the thought of NHC and starts the communist rant if anyone (me) is for it. The insurance companies, the American Medical Association, and the pharmaceutical companies spend billions in lobbying and advertising to keep the public perception of gov. health care negative. Vested interests. There is also the "rugged individualist, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" perception peculiur to our culture here in the USA. A remenant of the frontier days that we all grow up seeing in the movies.

a work college of mine is originally from america, and has just become pregnant, she said her first reaction was (oh my god how are we going to afford this.
then she remembered she lives in the uk and so its free.
apparently it costs several thousand dollars to give birth over there.

Originally Posted by BigIan

a work college of mine is originally from america, and has just become pregnant, she said her first reaction was (oh my god how are we going to afford this.
then she remembered she lives in the uk and so its free.
apparently it costs several thousand dollars to give birth over there.

if there are complications the sums go to tens of thousands of dollars.

WhenI had my ACL surgery, I was admitted as outpatient , spent a few hours in a room to get prepped, then a few hours before I can leave. Total stay at the hospital ~7 hours cots ~$28000, I am not sure if anywhere in the world there is a Hotel that offers an apartment that expensive per day, might be wrong though. My total bill was ~35k , for a simple knee surgery...

seriously how do pleople afford it?

there must be a roaring trade in back street hospitals....

cut the waste - I expect this is closest to cut the cost of services in your three options given

Waste in the U.S. Healthcare System Pegged at $700 Billion in Report from Thomson Reuters - Thomson Reuters

Here are some of the study's key findings:

• Unnecessary Care (40% of healthcare waste): Unwarranted treatment, such as the over-use of antibiotics and the use of diagnostic lab tests to protect against malpractice exposure, accounts for $250 billion to $325 billion in annual healthcare spending.
• Fraud (19% of healthcare waste): Healthcare fraud costs $125 billion to $175 billion each year, manifesting itself in everything from fraudulent Medicare claims to kickbacks for referrals for unnecessary services.
• Administrative Inefficiency (17% of healthcare waste): The large volume of redundant paperwork in the U.S healthcare system accounts for $100 billion to $150 billion in spending annually.
• Healthcare Provider Errors (12% of healthcare waste): Medical mistakes account for $75 billion to $100 billion in unnecessary spending each year.
• Preventable Conditions (6% of healthcare waste): Approximately $25 billion to $50 billion is spent annually on hospitalizations to address conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes, which are much less costly to treat when individuals receive timely access to outpatient care.
• Lack of Care Coordination (6% of healthcare waste): Inefficient communication between providers, including lack of access to medical records when specialists intervene, leads to duplication of tests and inappropriate treatments that cost $25 billion to $50 billion annually.

Journalists may request a copy of the report from David Wilkins at (734) 913-3397 or [email protected].

And no, I didn't order the report, so I have not rigorously researched

This from Messiah Obama on July 22 '09:

We have estimated that two-thirds of the cost of reform to bring health care security to every American can be paid for by reallocating money that is simply being wasted in federal health care programs.

Welcome back.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

This from Messiah Obama on July 22 '09:

700 billion is about 30% of the total cost - seems like a lot of room to improve.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

cut the waste - I expect this is closest to cut the cost of services in your three options given

So 40% is in the first of my categories - patients should get less health care. That's why I think it's practically unsaleable to the public.
You can't just take people's right to choose from large amounts of garbage and instead throw some pearls before them, and expect them to like it.

Likewise another 23% in administrative overhead and poor coordination are necessary to avoid the fall into socialistic unified system.

Seems like the only ones left are the hard ones - fraud (19%), medical errors (12%), prevention (6%). That's in total about 10% of the health care costs and even if by some miracle they can be halved that'll be a 5% decrease in the overall cost.

If any of you have been in a hospital in the U.S and studied your bill you will easily see why things are so expensive. Every cotton ball and piece of tape they use is billed at many many times beyond the most reasonable cost. This model is passed from drug companies and hospital suppliers to all layers of middlemen and the hospital and finally to you. It's like if you went to buy a typical automobile which cost 15 grand to produce and you paid 100 grand for it. The system is set up to ensure generous profits for all involved.

30 years ago medical cost were nothing like this. What's happened. Are Doctors making more money? Are health workers in general making more money? Are hospitals suddenly paying that much more for construction and upkeep? Have government regulation changed that much? The answer to this is no. The costs have been pegged to the guys who supply the items and the middlemen and the insurance companies.

The whole health care model in this country is terminally ill.

One thing that is hidden in very wedge of the pie is what percentage each pays out for lawsuits. My doctor who is a GP pays $150,000 a year in insurance. We need Tort reform and regulation reviews. Both parties refuse to go there because the vast majority of the people that make the laws are laywers.

Hospitals cost 5 times what any other buildings cost per square foot without all the special gear because it is overseen by a special set of government inspectors, for instance. We are being strangled by needless regulations by people that constantly need to justify their jobs. These are just two things that would make medicine cheaper for everyone and are, once again hidden in every slice of the pie.


Take Care,
Richard