[quote=bubba99]The solution to health care is relatively simple – redefine the role of doctor, and pubicly fund it.
For 80% of all medical procedures/visits, a nurse practitioner is adequately trained. 10 years of med school and residency is not required to set a simple fracture, or treat a cold. Reduce the investment in “Dr.” and reduce the price.
Private medical insurance has not lived up to the high ideals of “privatization”. We have seen no innovation, no cost reductions through productivity increases, nor any capital efficiencies pushed into the industry. Each year we are seeing cost increases of 25% and more. This is hardly a great track record. The state could not be any worse.
When you start to look at the embedded capital costs created by privatization of true “Non-profit charitable Hospitals” you see where the giant increases in costs comming from. As a child I broke my arm. The doctor at the hospital emergency room set it and put on a cast after x-rays at a total cost of $100.19. This was done at a church hospital run by nurse/nuns Recently when my nephew did the same, the cost was closer to $10,000.00 The hospital for my nephews treatment was a former community hospital sold to Blue Cross, then resold three more times to “Private” non-profit entities owned by Caremark among others. Each time the “profit center” was repriced upwards creating new debt to be loaded on the “non-profit” entity. The end result, 25% year over year price increase to service un-necessary capital ocsts.
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I go to a PA and the one I go to has excellent skills. You would have to limit malpractice suits because if you give primary health care for routine matters over to PA’s then they will begin to get sued as Docs are now. We have to get the lawyers out of health care if we ever want the costs to be reasonable.
I say do away with insurance, get rid of lawyers and let the Docs compete on price and service.
I had disc surgery in 2001 on my lower back. I had no insurance. The Doctor had his secretary call around and get bids on use of an operating room and a 24 hour stay. I got the MRI at half price because I paid cash and the Anethesologist also gave me half off since I paid him up front. The Orthopaedic did it for $2k, the fee under insurance would have been $5k.
All total the operation cost $6750. It was $3350 for the room. When I paid the clerk upon admittance she told me that I would be getting a bill for $10k in the mail because that is what they would have billed the insurance company had I had insurance.
If I had paid insurance rates the whole thing would have been around $20k.
I say just let everyone compete and get rid of the stupid lawsuits and insurance companies.
