jobs with single payer healthcare.http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=13331
3/31/2011 9:28:31 PM
YEH, SOCIALISM!
3/31/2011 9:37:05 PM
the only way to conquer failed socialism at the city level is by expanding it to the state level. this could never fail.
3/31/2011 9:46:46 PM
The beauty of the separation of the states that we have is that every state can do things differently. Hopefully, for their sake, it works out better than Massachusetts' plan did. I guess we'll know in about a year or two if we start seeing reports of how Vermont has a 4 month long list of IOUs for their health care workers, a doubling of healthcare costs in 2 years, rate increases that rival the private insurance industry and no change in the number of people using the ER for their medical care.
3/31/2011 10:24:19 PM
4/1/2011 4:02:03 AM
4/1/2011 6:50:24 AM
Yes. At lease it was during the HC Bill debates. I haven't looked recently at it.
4/1/2011 7:54:18 AM
Socialism works, promotes business and is fiscally responsible in the health care field in which every person's life should be valued more than a money and receive equal treatment
4/1/2011 9:53:27 AM
I heard medicare is spending $93,000 for a treatment that extends the life of patients UP TO four months. Worth it?
4/1/2011 9:55:37 AM
Probably not.
4/1/2011 10:23:14 AM
and in the long term, we will all eventually suffer from horrible health care service... I believe there are a few foreign countries that are great examples of this.GREAT short term benefit. Horrible long. Good job looking out for the future America.[Edited on April 1, 2011 at 10:27 AM. Reason : .]
4/1/2011 10:26:48 AM
singlepayer healthcare system + medical marijuana laws = FREE POT FOR EVERYONE!!!!
4/1/2011 10:52:18 AM
Aww man, I haven't read the Valley Advocate for nearly ten years. Takes me back to my days living amongst the bluest of blues.As for the issue at hand, maybe you don't need to centralize it, but at very least they need to crack down and make health care into a regulated commodity like electricity. The fact is that with all the consolidation over the last couple of decades, you only have a small number of both insurance companies and health care providers remaining (kinda like how Moses Cone pretty much owns the entire medical system in Greensboro/High Point).
4/1/2011 12:59:01 PM
^there was a great article in Smart Money or Kiplinger's explaining why that is. You see medicare reimburses a certain amount for a code/procedure performed. However, medicare also allows for a hospital or hospital affliate to bill an additional facilities fee. So our great governments loop hole is paying these groups more for the same services as the private practice doctor. So the private docs feel the reimbursement cuts more, thus they are selling out to these bigger groups. Which not only get paid more for the same services but can negociate with private insurance companies better than private docs.So now you are seeing less private practice docs and more of these big hospital related offices which charge and get higher prices. Thus you have another reason why health care costs are rising.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/health/policy/26docs.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1That isnt the article that I read. The one article talked about how he closed the office on friday and on monday he was owned by the hospital. The only difference was the cost was now 30% higher to his patients. It was a great article.Just another example of govt shifting the market and it causing a shit storm which they will then blame on the free market. haha
4/1/2011 9:55:47 PM
ah, found it. Enjoy
4/1/2011 10:01:56 PM
cheap, fast, quality - pick 2
4/1/2011 11:18:54 PM
what makes you think you get two? you don't have to provide a product that's good, fast, or cheap when there's no competition.
4/1/2011 11:49:06 PM
Man, reading shit like this makes my head assplode
4/2/2011 10:43:58 AM
Why are people assuming that small private practices are better? Doctors are frequently dumbasses when it comes to running businesses. Consolidation also has benefits such as economies of scale and, hopefully, standardization of administration.I don't know how many of you have been to the doctor recently, but it's one of the worst bureaucracies that could possibly exist. Getting 2 different medical offices to deal with each other takes a fucking miracle. Getting private insurance to pay for anything but the most routine things is a bitch (Come to think of it, getting any kind of insurance company to pay out anything is a chore). The military might be the only thing that is worse.[Edited on April 2, 2011 at 11:15 AM. Reason : .]
4/2/2011 11:10:05 AM
The shortage of doctor idea is bullshit. Every kid wants to be a doctor. If anything, it would simply become easier to get into med school and you would weed out the people who were only in it for the money. Good things.
4/2/2011 11:32:17 AM
4/2/2011 11:42:37 AM
4/2/2011 11:43:10 AM
4/2/2011 11:58:44 AM
^ That is is because when a hospital owns a doctor, they can overburden the physician with patients because they pay him on a salary basis with small incentives for additional patients. At first it seems like a great deal to the physician because they get their overhead paid for and don't have to deal with insurance companies. But then, however, the hospital tacks on 40+ pts a day. So if he works a 8 hr day, 8 am - 4pm w/o lunch he would have to see 5 an hr or 1 every 10 or so minutes. Most private practices top out at 23-26 or so patients a day.If you let a physician practice the way he/she was taught instead of ct / mri/ expensive lab test everything you can save lots of money but unfortunately malpractice lobbying groups have both sides in their pockets. Also, the american public is not willing to accept the fact that physicians are human too and that they deserve 7-9 million dollars a settlement.
4/2/2011 3:58:38 PM
^ I would dispute the part of being overburdened: most of the primary care physicians I know become hospitalists because the private practice route is too hard. The hours are terrible, the insurance companies are a pain to work with, the respect is low, and the pay is the worst amongst the specialty fields.However, I think the weakness of hospitalists is that unlike traditional small practices, the doctor is likely to not be familiar with your medical history; you're not building the long-term relationship with them but are instead being diagnosed by someone who doesn't know anything about you and is relying upon incomplete medical records to figure out your background.You can think of it as the increasing institutionalization of what was one of the last holdouts of the old-school relational service. That personal knowledge is fading for a more industrialized system where the doctors are simply replaceable cogs in a machine.From the article:
4/2/2011 5:20:58 PM
4/2/2011 5:42:48 PM
4/2/2011 7:24:51 PM
4/2/2011 7:26:08 PM
You're advocating people pay out of pocket for their health care?
4/2/2011 7:46:08 PM
4/2/2011 9:15:52 PM
4/2/2011 10:07:24 PM
4/2/2011 10:24:25 PM
4/2/2011 11:24:58 PM
4/2/2011 11:28:39 PM
aaronburro just makes shit up.
4/2/2011 11:42:02 PM
riiiiiiiight. all of that shit is common knowledge, dude.
4/3/2011 1:35:50 AM
4/3/2011 7:39:29 AM
4/3/2011 9:01:22 AM
4/3/2011 9:57:53 AM
But I thought it was these expensive end of life care with new-fangled technology that is driving the cost of health care up?What percentage of the "inflated" costs is coming from using it for everyday care and using it for expensive procedures?
4/3/2011 10:46:01 AM
You tell me. Look at the last EOB you got for your last general checkup. Would you pay your doctor $200 for a 10 minute visit if you were paying in cash?
4/3/2011 10:51:41 AM
D0120 - Periodic Oral Evaluation - $42D1110 - Prophylaxis Adult Cleaning - $77D1204 Topical Ap. of Flouride - $32D1330 - Oral Hygiene Instruction - $0D0431 - Veloscop Screening - $25 $176 total is what the OOP would be for hr worth of attention. That isn't bad. And for whatever reason I actually HAVE dental insurance that I think I pay like $23/month for my wife and I that covered $88.I can't imagine these costs being less if I didn't have insurance. That isn't a ton of money for healthy teeth.
4/3/2011 12:12:48 PM
You'll notice that dental coverage is almost nothing like most people's medical coverage. Mine (and likely yours) spits out the benefits something like 80% for routine, 60% for minor surgical and 50% (or less) for major surgical, and usually all benefits are capped at $1000 / year. As a result, dental costs typically reflect the fact that patients are paying at least 20% for all their services, and as the services get more expensive, paying even more.Same with vision insurance, most cover very little, usually at some percentage. As a result, vision care is also generally affordable and hasn't seen the year over year cost increases that routine medical has.By comparison, doctors office procedures reflect the fact that patients are usually paying some flat co-pay and only when they get to an emergency room do we start seeing co-insurance. In this case, doctors are incentivized to continue to raise their prices because the patient will not be paying more (at least not until their premiums increase) and the doctor gets paid based on usual and customary rates, so the higher his rate, the higher the UCR.
4/3/2011 12:42:19 PM
4/3/2011 2:26:24 PM
4/3/2011 3:16:51 PM
What I don't like is the fact that OOP payees are often penalized by the current health care system due to the insurance companies. With no major leverage individual OOP payees end up making up for the subsidization the insurance companies receive due to strong-arming health care providers.
4/5/2011 8:09:07 PM
^most of the time private practices and hospitals give cash payers discounts. This is directly bc you are only allowed to charge ONE fee per code, per medicare guidlines. So you actually set your fee a little over your highest reimbursement rate.However, some people look at it like this. Those cash payers also saved a ton of money by NOT buying insurance per month and thus should pay more when the gamble loses.The general rule of a free market is the more choices and consumer control the better the market can respond with a drive to provide the best quality at the cheapest price.Funny thing about dentists, as the only health care profession to avoid medicare they can actually go after the patient for the difference in reimbursement and fee. (not with SOME dental insurances though) That is why you have seen dentists maintain a high salary, even higher than ER docs... sad huh. Although people will gladly pay 400 for some white teeth, but ask them to pay 20 bucks from some blood pressure meds and they lose thier mind. If they need it it should be free, my money is for my wants...type attitude.
4/5/2011 9:39:12 PM
^ I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the dichotomy in the way dentists and physicians are viewed by the general public. The average dentist certainly earns more per hour than the average primary care physician, and I'd wager more than quite a few specialists too. When is the last time you heard someone vilified as a "rich dentist"?On the contrary, I think dentists are more likely to be viewed in a positive light, analogous to a small business owner. The fact that dentists are more likely to be in a small or single-professional practice and dentists deal with insurance and government meddling that is orders of magnitude away from those experienced by physicians can't be overlooked in explaining this difference.
4/5/2011 10:09:47 PM
Yet I would note that there is still a fundamental difference in perception between a doctor and a dentist. While good dental care is an important part of proper health, very few would view it as a sort of "life or death" type of care. About 99% of all procedures are comparatively simple "outpatient" type of matters, and the overall range of tools isn't nearly as large.However, doctors conduct a range of procedures far beyond what dentists do using equipment and facilities far beyond what even a large dental practice would require including procedures that require hospitalization. You can't compare the extraction of wisdom teeth to say open heart surgery or even an appendectomy.There is also a significant difference in the amount of risk that a dentist faces versus a doctor. While I'm sure that a botched dental job can lead to some lawsuits, I don't think those lawsuits would be equivalent to say something that an Ob/Gyn would face. Also, dentists are rarely facing life and death situations and thus patients can look at it a little more rationally, doctors however are dealing with patients who are probably less worried about the economics of the situation with death facing them down.Maybe doctors are making the field overly complex and going overboard with tests and equipment, but it's hard to compare the economics between the two.
4/6/2011 5:56:41 PM
actually, lawsuits are making doctors go overboard on tests and equipment. you've probably done a good job of explaining some of the differences in price, as a result[Edited on April 6, 2011 at 6:06 PM. Reason : ]
4/6/2011 6:06:09 PM