Are doctors, nurses and hospitals evil for charging so much ?

Question

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People seem to want to blame the health insurance industry for the increased cost of medical care.

But it is the doctors, nurses and hospitals who have increased what they charge for medical services,

That has made health care treatment unaffordable for many.

Is it time the Federal Government nationalized health care workers, and forced them to be federal employees,

So the government could set the rates that they are allowed to charge ?

Christine, again, your blaming your insurance company, for your doctor charging $713.00.

If your doctor only charged $124.00, then 100% would be covered.

If doctors, nurses and hospitals didn't charge so much, no one would need health insurance.

Most Americans did not have health insurance untill after WW ll, they could afford to pay the fees thier doctors charged.

Now, doctors, nurses and hospitals charge such outlandious fees, no one can afford to pay them, unless they have health insurance.

So lets fix the root cause of the problem, which is the high fees that they charge.

Answer 1

Yes, they have increased their charges. Wanna know why? It is necessary to cover the incredible costs of malpractice insurance. My Father's heart surgeon paid 125,000 $ a year, just in malpractice insurance. Hospitals pay in the millions to protect themselves from lawsuits. Yes, the government should do something. They should limit the amount of money that can be awarded in law suits. 50 million to someone for a surgury that a Doctor leaves a clamp inside , but causes no harm is exorbitant. The costs of these lawsuits translates into higher insurance costs across the board.

Answer 2

To answer your topic question. No, they are not evil.

The cost of doing business in health care increases thus increasing the fees to patients.

A graduate of medical school has a debit from school well over $100,000 alone depending on the school etc. Insurance for any medical practitioner is expensive. Let alone the overhead costs of administering a medical practice is staggering.

The federal government has enough incompetence already running business. Which, by the way, it is not designed to do. Look at the postal service. Its federalized and its still increasing postage rates! So your idea only will suffer the same fate with the current system.

The more govenment intervenes in a business sector, the more screwed up it becomes.

I agree the Pharmaceutical industry isn't helping the runaway costs and could be less greedy.

There are a whole lot more changes to the current U.S. government that need to occur before your idea is close to being workable.

Answer 3

You are not getting it. Doctors are required to carry and pay for malpractice insurance. It's very expensive and overhead costs are high. It is not your healthcare provider.

It's the lawyers and people who are sue happy. The pay outs on these malpractice claims are often in the millions. The facilities must spread that risk of payouts among a group of members. If they have a payout, their insurance premiums go through the roof. Healthcare is not an exact science and providers are human and flawed, like everyone else. They are biased and narrow focused. Everyone individual bodies and medical histories (most of the time the patients do not provide accurate information) repond differently to proceedures and medications. They have different risk factors environmental exposures., genetic...

When you go to the doctor you are paying for doctors human mistakes, that he learns from. It is a practice. Imagine the awesome responsibilty as a human. They have to pay for their schooling and mistakes. Translates into we have to pay for the providers experience, good and bad. They have more education and experience than we do. Use them as a consultant for information, take notes. Make them work for it. Request more time.

Do us all a favor and take control over your risk factors and decisions regarding your health. You know your body best. Be kind to it, so all you'll need is an annual check up. You'll thank your providers when they make you well, when you can't do it on your own.

There is need for government intervention in health care. There needs to be a limit on the payout of medical malpractice insurance claims. Unfortuanately you can't put a value on human life or disability.

The provider starts fresh out of school ready to help the community and then gets quickly jaded to the reality of the situation and how little he can help people. There aren't enough resources or providers to help everyone. You are a statistic in an insurance companies database. Especially in an HMO.

The farther the risk is spread amongst the healthy and unhealthy population lower the premiums will be. Health insurance should be required, like property casualty insurance, or car insurance. Mostly unhealthy people are the people who purchase insurance hoping for a payout, they are playing the odds. I don't understand why it's not required.

Take care.

Jen

Answer 4

Under the American system EVERYTHING is drastically over-priced. A pill that costs 35 cents in Canada costs 2.50 in the U.S.. A medical procedure that costs 400.00 in England costs 4000.00 in the U.S.

The insurance companies cut deals with hospitals to lower their costs. They pay 40% for the same thing that someone off the street pays 100% for.

The America system is about enriching the Pharmaceutical companies, the insurance companies, the doctors, the hospitals and everyone else involved. Those who have coverage do OK, but they rarely have complete coverage so it's still a crap-shoot. Those who don't have coverage... have few or no resources.

So, is it an evil system run by evil people? It's a system built on the premise that health care is a privilege available to those who can afford it. That's wrong-headed and it sees people primarily as consumers. If you regard yourself as a consumer first and a human-being, second... then you're not likely to see that approach as evil.

Answer 5

Doctors, nurses, and hospitals are not evil for charging so much. This is a perfect example of the great competitive American Capitalistic System in operation. Every company in the United States "charges what the traffic will bear", and the doctors, nurses and hospitals are no different.
The government setting rates on one particular industry is not the answer, this is not equally fair.
One solution is to treat doctors as fireman and police, and put them on salary. A good well paying salary for all their dedicated education.
There should not be a link between what a doctor earns and profits.

Answer 6

I know a doctor who makes 100,000/ yr
That is great but he has to pay out 45,000/ yr in just malpratice
Some of that is covered by the clinic he works for so all said and done he takes home ~60,000/yr. Now he also has to be on call 24/7 and we expect him to make ZERO mistakes.

Now when people get all great when we hear about this malpratice cases and the victime wins and wins big the lawyers at a min. take 30% off the top. In WI a few years ago they wanted to limit their take to 70% and trail lawyers scream.
Now you know why Edwards lives the way he does.


Want to cut health care cost how about the next time you have a bad reaction to a medicine that you don't run to lawyer.

You think federal government can handle it look how they handle disasters.

You are going to trust them with your health care program?

What should strike real fear is when you hear these lines:
"We are here from the governmnet and we are here to help"

Answer 7

I don't favor nationalizing the health care industry. If you want to look at a good reason for that, check out AMTRAK.

Much of the cost of health care is due to the abundance of malpractice suits, some of which could be justified, but many of which are driven by attorneys who see an opportunity to earn a big fee. Doctors, particularly, but also the pharmaceutical industry, have been forced to raise their fees to pay for malpractice insurance.

I believe we could alleviate much of this through a stronger emphasis on preventative health care, but also through aggressive actions to limit malpractice lawsuits.

I would not object to some government regulation of fees charged for medical care, but I believe we would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater if we nationalized healthcare.

Anything that is bad about medical insurance would be worse under a government-run health industry.

We could help everyone by not getting sick as much, by using alternative medical procedures where they are practical and by shopping around for the best and most reasonable providers.

And, if not getting sick as much sounds like a pipedream, it is possible through diet, exercise and taking better care of ourselves.

Answer 8

No. They aren't the problem. They're going broke. Law suits have raised the insurance rates so high that they have to charge these outrageous prices to cover their rates. Illegal immigration has also contributed to the problem. The health care system has to charge high rates to cover the cost of caring for those that don't pay and yet they're still not making it. Hospitals are closing, Doctors and nurses are quiting because they can't stay afloat.

Answer 9

I really like your question here, mostly because you are using common sense and bringing out the true point of the issue. The reps and cons seem to want to make this a very very complicated decision, which it is not. I am sick to death at the hospitals, doctors, etc....they can charge you for everything, including light bulbs used in your room, every sheet, pillow case, cotton ball, not to mention the outrageous prices they put on using the high tech equipment for like 5 mins. to test your breathing, whatever.... I am in full agreement that these medical professionals should be federal employees and regulated on how much they can charge... We need more people thinking common sense in this country to make a difference..Health care is not suppose to be "big business" it's suppose to be a service and it should be a right for every American to have health care, just like the right to education. And those that say, it is illegal for any institution to deny health care, even if you don't have insurance....then they are in denial...because the hospital doesn't and will not "cure" you if you don't have insurance...they will only stablize you enough so you can go home, that's not really treatment now is it....

Answer 10

My first question is...how do YOU decide what is too much?

But the bottom line is that as such things as the administrative burden from complying with government reporting requirements, insurance company claims process, the rising costs of frivolous law suits, the rising costs of malpractice insurance, and the necessity to conduct unnecessary procedures to protect themselves from the potential for suits, doctors, hospitals, etc., have had to pass on the cost to their patients. What do you expect them to do...practice at a loss? Not going to happen.