Answer me this one question

[il Padrino Ute]

Is our government worse than the governments of the countries that already do this? Their administrative costs are dramatically lower than ours, they spend less on healthcare as a percentage of GDP, their expenditures grow at a lesser rate than ours do, and they generally have better outcomes, at least in terms of life expectancy.

It is hard to argue that our system is not a system that could use drastic reforms.

They also have populations that are significantly smaller than the US. And how many of these countries use the medical devices that were invented in the US because of the free market? How many deny services because of rationing?

The federal government causes more problems than solves.

[New Mexican Disaster]

They also have populations that are significantly smaller than the US. And how many of these countries use the medical devices that were invented in the US because of the free market? How many deny services because of rationing?

The federal government causes more problems than solves.

What does size of population have to do with spending on administrative costs?
All of them use things invented in the US, and most of them do it for a much cheaper price than we do here. All of them ration, and so do we, ours just takes a different form.

The mess as it exists is a partnership between private insurance and government. Government ain't the only answer but it will be part of it, if there is an answer to be given, but clearly the system as currently conceived is rife with absurdities and one of those is enormous administrative cost.

[statman]

Two reasons for the inflation:

Defensive Medicine
CT imaging at all hospitals

Everything I've read about the cost savings of tort reform hae pointed to these two points as the major drivers - caused not by the lawsuits themselves, but rather defensive medicine caused by the FEAR of lawsuits.

Doctor - "I'm 95% sure the patient has malady X, and therefore treatment should be procedure Y, and medication Z. But...

On the off-chance that I'm wrong...

I'm ordering MRI A, with contrast medium B, bloodwork C, D & E, and I guess I'll refer him to Specialist F as well."

95% of the time, Y & Z would have been fine, but for fear of the 5% - when the doctor did nothing wrong - we all get stuck paying for A, B, C, D, E & F as well as Y & Z...



The pervasive practice of defensive medicine isn't simply going to stop with tort reform. But tort reform will impact it, and is going to be an important part in curtailing runaway costs...