What is the real cause behind skyrocketing health care costs?

Question

In a word, malfeasance.

Your health care dollars are not being lost to any significant degree to "frivilous lawsuits." That is a lie intended to stear you away from the truth, that American medicine is corrupt to its very core. No politician has been willing to expose what all of them must know: The problem cannot be solved by installing a new health care regime over the top of a system infected by fraud and incompetence. Here are the facts:

Shocking statistical evidence is cited by Gary Null PhD, Caroly Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD and Dorothy Smith PhD in their recent paper Death by Medicine - October 2003, released by the Nutrition Institute of America.

"A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good. The number of people having in-hospital, adverse drug reactions (ADR) to prescribed medicine is 2.2 million. Dr. Richard Besser, of

. . . the CDC, in 1995, said the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections was 20 million. Dr. Besser, in 2003, now refers to tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics. The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed annually is 7.5 million. The number of people exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million. The total number of iatrogenic deaths shown in the following table is 783,936. It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate, 553,251.

For those of you unfamiliar with medical jargon, the word "iatrogenic" (seen above) means "caused by a physician." That statistic tells us that 800,000 people die every year due to the actions of their physicians. If that is not terrorism, then nothing is.

Answer 1

The reason medical cost have soared is because of the insurance industry. If you go to the emergency room with a wad of cash seeking treatment, they list you as indigent. An insurance polity means more to them than cash. They want to run your insurance company through the ringer for all they can get. Not what you actually need. The insurance comapanies are giving the doctors and medical providers all that they ask for with no questions asked. If medical insurance were made illegal, everything would return to normal and the freedom of free enterprise would make everything level out. You are not only paying for the greed of many doctors and nurses who think they are worth more than they are, but the greed of the insurance companys executives and employess are getting a large portion of your hard earned money, for doing nothing. This is the root of the problem. Imagine for a moment if the ER had to do like Wal Mart and list thier prices on every item. They put a 50 cent arm sling on me and then billed the insurance company for $75. and ten dollars for a thirty cent pill etc.. They are fleecing the people by making it where the actual consumer who pay has no accountability in the matter. Many insured people who only feel bad, with no other symptoms or real problem are quick to run to the doctor and run the cost of it up for everybody like communism. It could only get worse if government gets involved.

Answer 2

My husband's MRI saved him from having a biopsy on his lung, which would have been major surgery, costing far more than the MRI. Your logic is just not logical. What are you going to do about people living longer? Kill them? I agree with the dire need for tort reform....stop the frivolous law suits and bring down the immense cost of malpractice insurance and the unneeded testing that doctor's order to avoid the damn lawsuits! I completely disagree with taxing medical benefits or expenses! I pay enough. And I do not belong to a union, nor does my husband.

Answer 3

I think some of the reasons for the unnecessary surgeries and prescriptions are the enormous expenses that doctors are forced to handle in order to comply with numerous regulations. Some of these expenses include substantial fees towards their liability insurance that they are required to pay if they are to keep their licenses. On top of that, large debts in medical school loans. Those alone take years to repay.

Answer 4

A lot of what you say is true...but the biggest reason for our failing health care system is the fact that almost 47 MILLION Americans have NO health insurance at all and another 53 MILLION Americans are underinsured...Why?

They can't afford the premiums.......

Answer 5

Do you often just plagiarize someone else's articles? This is the hallmark of someone who is not capable of independant thought. Bottom line...drug development costs lots of money, patients who do not pay are a drain on the system and yes, folks are overly eager to sue. Susie.D hit the explaination right on the head!! GOOD ANSWER!

Answer 6

too many physicians with deep pockets and too many patients with the urgings of a lawyer,who are willing to tie up the legal system for a hangnail

Answer 7

You haven't got clue one about what really happens in health care.

You want to know why medical costs are like they are --- because Americans are overweight, smoking, inactive blobs who want a pill for every thing they thing ails them and they refuse to take of themselves. Our ER's a backlogged with people who want prescriptions for their sniffles and hemmorhoids. The 2 pack a day smoker wants the doctor to "cure" the lungs he abused to 50 years. We keep people alive to the nth degree when it is clear that it is no quality of life possibly left in them -- but Junior just can't bear to loose his Mommy (even though she is a contractured turnip and the highlight of her day is shitting herself). We treat diseases that we know we cannot cure.......but we do it because people assume they have a right to receive futile care instead of accepting the fact that guess what --- WE ALL DIE!

Why is the health care in the shape it is in -- Because Americans MADE it that way.....and will continue to make it worse because they think it is their right! Buck up - lose weight, stop smoking, and doctors need to step up and say "NO" to ridiculous requests that will not impact the outcome and when the whiney patient tries to drag them to court they whiney patient gets the bill!

Answer 8

Dude american healthcare sucks. I want to see Michael Moore's "SiCKO," its about this subject.

Answer 9

You got it right. America has a mess and nobody and I mean NOBODY wants to take this ball and run with it.

Answer 10

You did not want my answer here, did you?
You should have put this on Yahoo-Soapbox.