Does anybody think our healthcare system is not broken?

Question

Here is a real life example. My daughter had tubes put in her ears about 3 years ago. They are supposed to naturally fall out but one did not, so she needed a simple out patient procedure to remove the one that did not fall out. The procedure took 5 minutes to do and she was in and out of the doctor's office in 1 hour.

We get the bill and even with my health insurance, I have to pay $300 out of pocket. Not a big deal for me, but that could be a lot of money for some people. I start looking at the bills and it turns out that if I did not have insurance my out of pocket costs would be $5500. Remember this is for a 5 minute procedure.

How is somebody without insurance expected to pay for that. Who is too blame? Are the doctor's offices charging more to everybody else to make up for underpayments by insurance companies? Are medical lawsuits to blame? I don't have the answers, all I know is that system is bad and getting worse all the time.

Answer 1

You got it. That is the reason it is broken. The high prices charged by doctors and hospitals drive up the insurance premiums. That being said, part of that is the ridiculous lawsuits and money paid when someone screws up. Doctors and nurses are going to make mistakes. There needs to be a limit on lawsuit amounts unless gross negligence can be proved.

Answer 2

Yup, it's definately broke. I read the above answers and it's just amazing, that someone can go "to the county hospital and have the same procedure done, they just have to wait longer" People without insurance just don't have the procedure done. Or they go to the hospital, when they know they can't pay and it eventually gets sent to collections, it ruins their credit, then they cant get a decent place to live even if they have the opportunity to get a better paying job that maybe has insurance. It's a vicious cycle and it's not getting any better.

I believe it's ultimately the HMOs fault, we didn't have these problems back in the day before HMOs. LIsten to the tapes of Nixon talking about Kaiser Permanente, and hear the death knell of insurance as it was known.

A really good book about this is "Uninsured in America-Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity" by Susan Starr Sered. It's an eye opener.

Answer 3

It's broken because Congress made laws effecting a thing that should be driven by market forces. Ever tried to squeeze a balloon? It will bulge elsewhere or pop. Doctors offices are paying HUGE amounts of dollars to insurance companies. They pass the cost on. Hospitals spend HUGE amounts of dollars to comply with (very silly) laws. I'll guarantee you, the system is broken. The problem is, most people want the same people who broke it, to fix it. Government is not the solution. Taxes are not the solution. They will only make things more expensive. People have no interest in keeping their own costs down. Why should they when the "insurance company" is paying for it. No one shops around for lowest price. Why should any Doctor or hospital offer that.

Answer 4

I know a man that had a simple staff infection and needed iv antibiotics, and the hospital charged him (w/o insurance) over $30,000 for 2 nights stay.
When he disputed the ridiculous charges, they said, "Well we saved your life!"
American medicine is surely good quality, but mainly for those who have money. Germany has socialized medicine (boo! freak out!Are you scared?) and their quality is tops. They also aren't bogged down in lawsuits all the time,and since the govt can negotiate good prices with hospitals and drs, it doesn't cost the national health system as much as it costs all the private insurance, HMO's, Medicaire, and uninsured here. Could it be that the investors in our private insurance co's and hospitals have a say in keepng prices high for meds in USA ? Blame the welfare children only if you're a bully!

The nuts above that are criticizing Canada's system probably have never been there nor talked to Canadians. They just heard Sean say it. Also, tis only Canadians with big money that can come here and pay for US medicine. They can also pay extra up there and expediate their processes with their good old Canadian dollars, but many winter in Florida, so they count in the numbers of those that go to the doctors here while snowbirding. They have to pay big time or use insurance that's valid in the USA

Answer 5

Yes, in so many words, it is broken. However, the U.S. Government is NOT the answer to saving our health care system. They've run enough programs into the ground. I think we need to start with tort reform and end the ridiculous lawsuits that doctors and other medical professionals are subjected to. Every time you see a commercial from a lawyer telling you that you might be eligible for "compensation" think about what this is doing to our health care system. Certainly there are some LEGITIMATE lawsuits, but fraud in this area of health care is out of control.

Answer 6

There are many things wrong with our health care insurance. The first being greed.
Washington making policies that protect the medical industry is another problem. Not letting people go to Canada to get their meds. 20 million illegals using our health care with no insurance.
There are frivolous lawsuits but that is a very small % of the insurance expense. It's a great propaganda tool to make you think that is the problem. They are making huge profits.
2 million americans lost their health care insurance just last year alone. 47 million americans don't have health care insurance.
It's a sad state of affairs when a huge corperation like Walmart advises their employees how to get medical from the state.

Answer 7

The health care system is fractured.

I worked for a family MD for 10 years and a hospital for 5 yrs.
When they find out you have insurance especially an HMO they DO overbill!! Doctors get pre-paid or capitated by HMOs. They get more money for the elderly and children. If they do more office surgeries and procedures they get paid even more.

It's a sham, and definitely needs reform.

Answer 8

Price is out of control/broken. Here's what I'd recommend to DRASTICALLY reduce the overall cost and increase the health of the American public by preventing the most common problems before they develop:

-Increase the supply of doctors by offering educational financing via loan forgiveness for doctors who practice in the states for a few years

-Decrease cost of doctor's insurance by putting caps on lawsuits related to accidents and unexpected consequences (no caps if the doctor is shown to act maliciously or motivated by greed)

-Increased testing for diabetes, Celiac disease, allergies, food intolerances. ~50% of diabetics, 97% of Celiacs, and most allergies and food intolerances go undetected, leading to expensive to treat cancers, autoimmune diseases, bs diagnoses like IBS or 'anxiety' or 'depression' that are treated with lifetime medications that do not prevent serious consequences from developing (for reference, 3 million American Celiacs are undiagnosed, 10-15 million undiagnosed diabetics, 10s of millions of others who have diet-related health issues.

-Tell the truth about milk. Have you seen the "Truth" commercial where they state milk is statistically more dangerous than second hand smoke? They play it off sarcastically but its true. 90%+ of people of Asian and African decent can NOT tolerate milk and it leads to lifelong problems like blood pressure, osteoporosis, and chronic pain. Millions of Americans are sick from the side-effects of milk intolerance, but the ads target 'multi-cultural' consumers anyway. At least the tobacco companies don't go around saying cigarettes are good for you like the dairy companies insist milk is so good.

-End subsidies to wheat, soy, corn, and milk. These are agricultural products of convenience and they are so cheap to produce that they end up as fillers and preservatives in almost everything. Misleading campaigns about 'whole grains' and the health benefits of soy are based on selective research. (Asians with a diet high in organic, fermented soy have good health - Americans eat GMO soy protein isolate, a chemical first patented for use in cardboard.)

-End the embargo with Cuba and import real sugar. Phase out fake sugars like 'high fructose corn syrup' (the prevalence of this half-sugar sweetener actually took off right after we stopped importing sugar from Cuba)

Answer 9

It has been broken since the inception of HMO's, when profits became more important than quality care. It needs some serious reform, but the AMA lobby is very strong.

Answer 10

Keep in mind that the "5 minute" procedure the doctor did on your little girl, probably took him 8 years post his undergraduate degree to learn how to do. And he probably had to take out a loan to fund his latest equipment with which to do that procedure.

If you want folks of that caliber to operate on your family, it's going to cost a little.

Now, folks without insurance can simply go to the county hospital and get care. They might wait many more hours or days, but they can still get adequate care.