Managing Health Costs
© Diana Lindstrom All Rights Reserved
Health care costs continue to rise faster than the rate of inflation. What’s the cause?
Republicans will tell you that mal-practice litigation is the cause. But that’s not even close to the truth. Are there too many personal injury attorneys? Maybe. Are there too many law suits blaming doctors for deaths that should have happened anyway? Maybe.
But what if you were hurt badly in an auto accident? Wouldn’t you want to make sure the insurance companies didn’t make decisions based on money that affect your health and welfare? Wouldn’t you want to have all of the physical therapy you need in order to have the most function possible? Of course you would.
If your child died because a surgeon was addicted to pain medication and made a stupid mistake, wouldn’t you want that surgeon and hospital to pay dearly? The surgeon for continuing to do something deadly while impaired, and the hospital for failing to either know about the addiction or stop the doctor from practicing there? Of course you would.
So here’s the bottom line. Insurance companies are causing the health care costs in the US to rise so fast. Health care insurance and auto insurance. And they’re the same companies!
Just think, without health insurance each person would pay for doctor’s visits. Doctors would have to price office visits to meet the market. So if the market in your town would only pay $25 for an office visit, that’s all any doctor there could charge.
Without health insurance, hospitals would have to price their services for the market, too. If buying an MRI costs $100,000, the hospital would have to settle for paying it off with 1,000 patients paying $100 each.
Doctors, hospitals, clinics, etc. could go back to the business of providing health care. Instead of answering to non-medical people who have never met the patient.
Is there a Democrat in Washington ready to take on the insurance lobby?
Health care costs continue to rise faster than the rate of inflation. What’s the cause?
Republicans will tell you that mal-practice litigation is the cause. But that’s not even close to the truth. Are there too many personal injury attorneys? Maybe. Are there too many law suits blaming doctors for deaths that should have happened anyway? Maybe.
But what if you were hurt badly in an auto accident? Wouldn’t you want to make sure the insurance companies didn’t make decisions based on money that affect your health and welfare? Wouldn’t you want to have all of the physical therapy you need in order to have the most function possible? Of course you would.
If your child died because a surgeon was addicted to pain medication and made a stupid mistake, wouldn’t you want that surgeon and hospital to pay dearly? The surgeon for continuing to do something deadly while impaired, and the hospital for failing to either know about the addiction or stop the doctor from practicing there? Of course you would.
So here’s the bottom line. Insurance companies are causing the health care costs in the US to rise so fast. Health care insurance and auto insurance. And they’re the same companies!
Just think, without health insurance each person would pay for doctor’s visits. Doctors would have to price office visits to meet the market. So if the market in your town would only pay $25 for an office visit, that’s all any doctor there could charge.
Without health insurance, hospitals would have to price their services for the market, too. If buying an MRI costs $100,000, the hospital would have to settle for paying it off with 1,000 patients paying $100 each.
Doctors, hospitals, clinics, etc. could go back to the business of providing health care. Instead of answering to non-medical people who have never met the patient.
Is there a Democrat in Washington ready to take on the insurance lobby?
posted by Diana Lindstrom @ Monday, February 07, 2005
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