A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

To Zville MT and other interested parties


Posted: Jan 16, 2012

Starting a new thread because the old one is too hard to follow any more.

You've got me doing more googling than I ever intended but that is a good thing.  Total cost of health care in this country was up to 2.3 trillion a couple of years ago and undoubtedly higher now.  Frivolous law suits accounted for only 1 to 1.5% of the costs and unnecessary tests an even smaller percentage at 6.8 billion.  I couldn't copy the link but if you google frivolous lawsuits health care costs there is a very concise and interesting NY Times article and for those who want to tell me that the NY Times is a biased liberal paper, don't read it.

Another part of the health care costs I would like to see discussed is end of life costs.  Medicare spends approximately 25 to 30% of its total outlay on the last 2 months of life.  Whenever this subject is brought up some politician screams that we are trying to pull the plug on grandma.  Well, I am grandma as are many of my friends.  I do not want to spend the last 2 months of my life in the ICU with a tube in any place one can be inserted.  I have recorded my advanced directives as should everyone my age.  Many will want to hang on until the bitter end but I suspect that most will not. If we, as a nation, could discuss end of life issues without the hysteria, we might be able to lower costs dramatically.  The only politician I have ever heard bring this up is Mitch Daniels and although I am a Dem, I give him lots of credit for discussing it. 

I look forward to your comments.

 

 

;

Isn't google great? LOL! - Zville MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I'll check out the NYT article this afternoon. The percentage of lawsuits isn't what concerns me; what concerns me is that doctors prescribe many tests that may not be necessary out of fear of being sued - those lawsuits may never be filed, but the fear is always there, plus the cost of malpractice insurance goes up every year varying with the levels of risk (which it should) and the history of past litigation of those specialties (which it shouldn't).

I totally agree with your end of life costs assessment. I also have a living will and I'm 39. Everyone in my family knows I don't want to be kept alive by machines, etc and would rather have them pull the plug and let me be at peace. I also agree that we need to have rational discussions about this not only with our families, but as a country, but unfortunately you're right - there's too much hysteria about death panels and pushing grandma off a cliff whenever this is brought up.

I know I keep bringing the conversation around to it, but my only problem with the health care bill is the mandate - Congress does not have the power to demand I buy a product. If we give them this power, what are they going to demand I buy next, for my own good?

Intrusion of government - old and burned out

[ In Reply To ..]
I understand your concerns. The next thing you know, you will have me reading the U.S. Constitution and not just the passage you cited. Oh well, the weather is getting crummy and I don't want to clean.

As for the unnecessary tests, it seems they still add only a very small percentage to the overall health care costs.

Since I started this conversation to find out why people are so anti-Obama, is that the only policy to which you object? Is there is anything he's done that you feel is worthwhile? By the way, there is a web site called "What has Obama done." Just in case you have not seen it.

There are worse things than reading the Constitution... - Zville MT

[ In Reply To ..]
like cleaning - LOL!!

I have 5 psych evals to type tonight, but I want to check out the website you cited. There are other policies that I object to - most recently his recess appointments when congress was not in recess.

I can list one thing right now that Obama did that is worthwhile - I like he's giving tax incentives to companies hiring veterans. We owe more to our veterans than any other group of people in our country - they should be given every opportunity and benefit. I'm sure there's more, that's just what I got off the top of my head :)
Constitution-ZVille - Conservative
[ In Reply To ..]
The vets are where most of my money, time and services go in regards to charity. I am an avid supporter of our military. Without them, none of us would have the freedom of speech as we do here, not to mention so much else. Something else you may be interested in. Canada has a single-payer system. Due to the mounting cousts to administer this program over the last 10-15 years, services have been significantly reduced or eliminated altogether. Approximately 75% of all Canadians now carry an additional policy for medical care on top of the single-payer system they pay for through taxes set up by the gov. Hospitals are mandated, by law, to live within their budget. As costs per patient care increases, hospitals are forced to cut costs or reduce services provided. Not too good if you are the one needing the service they cut. There is way too much information to post it all here, but there are massive problems with the single payer system. The strong positive I could locate so far, was all care is determined between the patient and doctor (then it becomes a problem if it is a service no longer provided/covered by single payer/gov). Under Obamacare, gov decided from the beginning, what services will or will not be provided, regardless of what your personal MD may think. Their costs have not dropped as they orginally stated, but quite the contrary.

P. S. - old and burned out

[ In Reply To ..]
Googling "health care mandate constitutional" yields up a whole new batch of reading material.

Also, I had not read your earlier post because the thread was getting so long.

What I meant about a new legal subspecialty was this: I am assuming that the large insurance companies like Humana, United Health Care, etc., are licensed to sell insurance in all states but if someone tries to save money by buying insurance from a small company in another state, presumably that company would have to be licensed in the state in which it wants to sell insurance - more lawyers. If the idea of buying insurance anywhere means no individual state licenses then whose regulations are going to be followed, the state in which you purchased the insurance or the state in which you live? I'm sure I can be clearer if I google this too.

Okay, that makes sense. - Zville MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I hadn't thought about that, but it's definitely something to ponder.

I somewhat agree with you about the idea of a - mandate; however, what SM

[ In Reply To ..]
is the opposing view on uninsured people when they show up in the ER? Right now, we are paying for these people and it is costing us.

More reading material - old and burned out

[ In Reply To ..]
Have since read several articles by googling "health care mandate constitutional" and most of the articles I seen so far uphold the position of the mandate being constitutional. The problem with reading the constitution is that you would also have to read the decisions to see how the court has interpreted the constitution. I don't think I'm going to live long enough for that.

Comparing it to golf, my favorite pasttime, you can't just read the rules of golf, you also have to read the decisions on the rules of golf if you want to be fully informed. The decisions are about 4x longer than the rules.

Going to have to leave it up to the constitutional scholars to figure that one out.

Hi Zville - no moniker

[ In Reply To ..]
I deeply yearn for healthcare reform, but I too have difficulty with the idea that a citizen should be mandated to buy a product.

I am a supporter of President Obama, and I am committed to healthcare reform, but I am perplexed by this proposed solution.

I don't happen to believe that health insurance will cost less if everyone has to purchase it.

I think the military-industrial complex of yesteryear has been replaced by the medical-industrial complex of today.

I'm so with you on this... - Zville MT

[ In Reply To ..]
except being an Obama supporter :) I did actually consider him at one time until he started talking about single-payer and cap and trade. I consider myself an independent and it was with great misgivings that I voted for McCain.

I do believe there needs to be healthcare reform, but I don't see where forcing everyone to buy insurance helps that. I don't know what the answer is, but there just has to be a better solution.

I think, though, that the medical-industrial complex will take a backseat to the military-industrial complex before too long. With Israel ready to launch an attack on Iran, Iran close to having nuclear capabilities, and Germany financially taking over the EU, the military will be ramped up again and health insurance arguements will seem like small potatoes.
Other solution - old and burned out
[ In Reply To ..]
Well, Zville, found in the multiple articles I've been reading was an alternative to the mandate which basically levying a tax on those who do not buy insurance and giving a tax break to those who do. How does that grab you?

To the other poster, the way the mandate lowers costs is that many, many people tend not to buy insurance until they get sick. If the young and healthy must buy insurance presumably they will not need to use very many services for quite a few years. This brings in more money in the form of premiums and less paid out in claims. This should lower costs for all - unless the insurance companies find a way to make windfall profits. This is why I believe in single payer, government insurance with the profit motive removed from the equation.


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