Health Care: The Next Bubble to Burst?

[SanDiegoDave]

With nationwide unemployment approaching double-digits, rampant inflation on the way sometime in the next 12-24 months (depending on whom you ask), and the threat of government takeover of some (or all) of the payment for health care, are we amidst a bubble?

Is this the “2005 of Health Care”?

I’m not certain, that’s why I am seeking opinions.

To me the evidence suggests we are near the peak of a bubble. With fewer people employed, the insurance companies have less cash with which to subsidize the high costs of treating the uninsured. Companies will be tightening up on paying for health care for employees.

There are hospital projects being put on hold in the Midwest already (where health care costs are much higher than in California).

I’m envisioning the prospect of health care – typically a recession-proof industry – facing major cash flow problems and leading to layoffs, hospitals & clinics closing, the best physicians bailing from high population, low paying areas like L.A. and into sparse higher-paying areas like TX and the frontier states.

Thoughts?

[34f3f3f]

This doesn’t fit my definition of a “bubble”, which is unsustainable hyper-inflation due to asset chasing and speculation, where demand exceeds supply. I think health care is in a crisis of a different sort. Investors haven’t been falling over each other to invest in it, but health related costs have been escalating to very high levels. The evidence for this is in the high costs of medical treatment, health insurance and drugs. While R&D may be one reason, large profits seeking corporations, and a litigious climate, may have something to do with it.

[34f3f3f]

This doesn’t fit my definition of a “bubble”, which is unsustainable hyper-inflation due to asset chasing and speculation, where demand exceeds supply. I think health care is in a crisis of a different sort. Investors haven’t been falling over each other to invest in it, but health related costs have been escalating to very high levels. The evidence for this is in the high costs of medical treatment, health insurance and drugs. While R&D may be one reason, large profits seeking corporations, and a litigious climate, may have something to do with it.

[34f3f3f]

This doesn’t fit my definition of a “bubble”, which is unsustainable hyper-inflation due to asset chasing and speculation, where demand exceeds supply. I think health care is in a crisis of a different sort. Investors haven’t been falling over each other to invest in it, but health related costs have been escalating to very high levels. The evidence for this is in the high costs of medical treatment, health insurance and drugs. While R&D may be one reason, large profits seeking corporations, and a litigious climate, may have something to do with it.

[34f3f3f]

This doesn’t fit my definition of a “bubble”, which is unsustainable hyper-inflation due to asset chasing and speculation, where demand exceeds supply. I think health care is in a crisis of a different sort. Investors haven’t been falling over each other to invest in it, but health related costs have been escalating to very high levels. The evidence for this is in the high costs of medical treatment, health insurance and drugs. While R&D may be one reason, large profits seeking corporations, and a litigious climate, may have something to do with it.

[34f3f3f]

This doesn’t fit my definition of a “bubble”, which is unsustainable hyper-inflation due to asset chasing and speculation, where demand exceeds supply. I think health care is in a crisis of a different sort. Investors haven’t been falling over each other to invest in it, but health related costs have been escalating to very high levels. The evidence for this is in the high costs of medical treatment, health insurance and drugs. While R&D may be one reason, large profits seeking corporations, and a litigious climate, may have something to do with it.

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