DO you ever wonder why health care is so expensive .?

Question

1 - 10 of about 18,200,000 for Lawyers and health care - 0.29 sec. (
Thats a lot of people involved in health care that have no medical training at all .

Just type in lawyers and health care and maybe you will see one of the problems .

That many people leaching of a system to help people is unconscionable .

Hey you may not like it but we are all going to die .

Do you some how think that a doctor intentionally wants to kill a patient .

I think if he did not try saving your life you would be dead in 99.9% of the cases .

Answer 1

Insurance companies and lawyers.

Answer 2

The AMA limits medical school seats to an artificially low number relative to population growth. This is done to ensure high quality but not everyone needs it for every purpose, and isn't lower quality better than no service at all?

Additionally this translates into lower usage of high-cost diagnostic equipment. The idea that "it costs $2,000 to do a scan" is not accurate - they're just assigning the cost to analyze it and the cost of the equipment divided by the number of uses - - if they used the equipment more often, which they would if there were more doctors qualified to operate it, then the cost per use would go down. It's like when Congress reduces an order for new military jets and the cost per jet jumps... you're just dividing a primarily fixed cost over a lower number of units.

Also most of the R+D for the last 40 years has been in keeping people alive longer - - - also one of the reasons for the growing wealth gap, since the next generation doesn't get its inheritance until its 50s rather than its 40s..... But we extend people's lives beyond the point where the parts start to break down, and then the next generation of R+D was in replacement parts and caring for people with illnesses generally sustained by older people. There are more sick people because there are more old people.

Lastly, kids get insufficient exercise growing up and they have more and worse health problems when they get older. When we think of extending school days, we should be thinking a 1.5 hour gym class at the beginning and end of each day.

Answer 3

1) Lawsuits obviously
2) The cost of bringing a new drug to market (this also effectively bans natural cures and naturally occurring chemicals since there's no proprietary profits)
3) Overuse - 20% of sinus infections are bacterial, but doctors prescribe antibiotics 80% of the time.
4) No incentive to a cure - doctors make more money selling mood altering and pain relieving drugs for a lifetime rather than curing an issue once
5) Someone else pays mentality. Since most of the cost doesn't come out of pocket, there is a disconnect between what people think it costs and what it actually costs, driving up demand.

A universal plan does not address any of these issues that are causing major cost increases, in fact, it may make costs rise even faster.

Answer 4

You are correct in this aspect.

However, when you walk into a Dr.'s office, the first thing on their mind is, "how is this person going to pay me?" and the second thing on their mind is, "how am I going to treat this person, and is the health insurance going to allow me to treat this person?"

The way our system is set up, a doctor only makes money off of illness. They can't make any money unless you are sick. It's actually in their best interest for you to smoke or have high blood pressure. Under a Universal Health Plan, the healthier you are, the more they get paid. If they get your blood pressure down and stop you from smoking, they get paid more.

Preventative medicine would save our country billions right off the bat. The healthier the public is, the less needs to be spent on their health care.

The question is, do you think your Health Insurance Comapny would want to save you if you were in need of some seriously expensive health care?

Answer 5

Everything is built around greed. Now they will tell you tales of malpractice and what not. The insurance companies are little more than legalized racketeering. Medicine is not a business it is a service. It seems to me they have forgotten The Hippocratic Oath.

Answer 6

Insurance, insurance, insurance.

I get a flu shot every November. Last year, I forgot my membership card, so I asked if I could just pay cash. The cashier told me it would cost me $10. That seemed like a very good deal, so I asked her how much they would charge the insurance company (had I remembered my card). She said they charge insurance $35.

I'm no mathematician, but I got to thinking...why shouldn't I just drop the dang insurance and just pay for my health costs out of pocket? Wouldn't that be cheaper in the long haul?

Answer 7

Don't forget the billions spent by HMOs and the medical industry in campaign contributions to influence politicians to allow defrauding US citizens out of benefits.

Answer 8

The USA will simply need to change its ideology of "each one for him/her-self and God for us all" to one of being each other's keeper in the post-Cold War era. If the USA were to spend a fraction of the huge resources currently devoted to interfering in other countries' affairs and fighting unwinnable wars on its own more vulnerable citizens, the richest country on earth could also become the closest to paradise on earth.

Answer 9

We need some serious tort reform. Maybe we could toss about 75% of our lawyers over Niagara Falls.....

Answer 10

While lawyers and jury awarded payouts are a major reason health care is so high, there are other reasons. Doctors and Administrators will both tell you that they have to perform many unneeded tests to keep from being sued, but the biggest costs in health care can be traced to end of life care where most of the health care dollars are spent.