Because of hospital rules and a Medicare loophole, a one-day observation stay brings a $600 tab for medications that Germantown man already had on hand
Come on now!!!
Health care prices are out of control.
Why?
Reasons people give:
1. Illegals and uninsured don't pay their bills, so the rest of us have to absorb the cost.
2. Drug companies and other health care CEO's need to buy a third house.
3. Drug companies spend billions on research and need to come up with new cures.
4. What else can we say?
We need to figure out the actual reasons for this out-of-control industry and fix it.Health care costs are the reasons some businesses have to cut workers (high cost of health insurance).School systems have less teachers than needed.Some businesses have little or no coverage.It is a major problem and it needs to be SERIOUSLY addressed
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Hefty medicine bill a bitter pill
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7 comments:
Scorpion says---
What goes on in a hospital emergency room is incredible. These
individuals demand treatment for totally non-emergency problems,and
become belligerent and out of control if not catered to immediately.I SHOULD not be charged
more because someone else screws the health care system.
you make a good point and this is DEFINATELY one of the problems.
Some say it is people being irresponsible and lazy so they don't go to the doctor when they need to, forcing them to go to the ER which cost everyone more.
Some say it is the system and the country not caring about people who have no insurrance...
Part of the problem is the Shysters Union, Liberal Socialist politicians, and deadbeats.
Hospitals do overcharge their paying patients and insurance companies because they have no other way to make up for people who don't pay their bills.
Shysters like John Edwards drive up all costs with their class action suits against doctors and hospitals. This brings up a tangent issue about Shysters and Courts that make up law as they go along.
The biggest problem is people who don't pay but tie up the ER's and call 911 for hangovers, taxi service for impending births, and the like.
We aren't going to solve this problem as long as the PC crowd has ANY say in the solution.
Okay...so far I agree that
1. people not paying drive up costs
2. People not going to the doctor but the ER for problems drives up costs
3. Lawyers drive up costs...
but you are also correct that PC liberals will not accept these as reasons...only evil coorperate "big drug" or "big health care" as the problem.
That does not mean I think these are the ONLY things that are wrong...there are more
Please site reputable evidence that lawyers drive up the cost of healthcare.
Malpractice costs comprise LESS than 2% of overal healthcare expenses. That's total costs of malpractice, not the cost of frivolous lawsuits or legal expenses but the cost of legitimate cases of injury or harm caused by malpractice and incompetence. Believe it or not, malpractice does occur often and causes harm to patients.
Maybe someone knows the average cost of malpractice insurance that Doctors or hospitals must pay to protect themselves. The fact is, that frivolous lawsuits occurred enough to force medical people to feel they need such protection. But there is a difference between negligence and human error. Either can be described as malpractice for the sake of lawsuits and that doesn't seem proper. How can we expect doctors to be perfect and never make mistakes? To sue one for a mistake seems wrong if it wasn't a result of something like intoxication for example. Sometimes shit just happens and in our society, too many people feel that they deserve compensation for any negative thing life throws at them. What pussies. Though a situation may call for stiff punitive damages, some get awarded where it's not warranted. Yet I don't agree with caps on them. So as far as malpractice insurance goes, I've only heard that it's expensive.
As for the cost of medical care, another cause of its being so high is all the health care talk, with HMO's and PPO's and other such crap, has removed the free market aspects of the business of health care. And if Hillary gets her way it will be worse. One needs to have the freedom to choose one's doctor for his ability, not because he's in the plan. Like the feds offering money for college, when the costs are unnaturally fixed or regulated, and the money to pay bills comes from insurance companies rather than the individual, docs and hospitals can charge what they want knowing they'll be paid by the insurance companies. Notice how people are less likely to go to the dentist if their company plan doesn't include it? If the dentists and doctors received their pay directly from their patients, they'd have to adjust their rates to accomodate them, or they would lose some of them to another doctor who works more cheaply. So another cause of high medical costs is the fact that there are too many insurance companies and that some want all to be covered in the same way.
I also have to say that I don't care if a company can't offer health insurance for it's employees. Such things were meant as perks in order to get the good employees rather than lose them to competition. Now it's expected as if anyone has the right to have such expectations of someone they don't even know. Of course that's not to say that a prospective employee can't negotiate any kind of compensation he can get, but taking care of one's health is the responsibility of the self and not others. So then people don't take care of themselves and eat right and exercise and avoid harmful foods and behaviors, because what the hell, I've got insurance, they'll pay for it. Screw that attitude. It's done the most for raising costs in my opinion.
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