Are all these facts true?

Just the bidding sounds so reasonable. Why didn’t the RX program for Medicare go through a bid process? Why didn’t we include Canadian pharmaceutical companies? The hip replacement parts make perfect sense.

 

Who is happy with the way things are pre-ACA?  What do you like about your current health care?  What do you fear losing?

17 Thoughts to “Why ARE our health care costs so high?”

  1. Scout

    I may have recounted this in a comment at some other time in the past, so I apologize if I am repetitive in my dotage.

    A few years ago. I sat next to a Canadian MD on a flight from Vancouver. He explained his practice (he was a U.S. educated GP). He said that a patient comes to see him, swipes a national health care card, leave and he (the doc) gets a check from Ottawa about 30 days later for that visit. No muss, no fuss. He said he probably made about 10 to 15% less than a US doc with a similar practice, but he didn’t have to maintain a large office staff to administer billing, there’s very little paperwork burden, he can focus on practicing the healing arts, and he wouldn’t trade it for all the tea in Missoula (or name your favourite US location). Completely anecdotal, but I found it interesting.

    1. That is interesting. Just cutting down on the huge office staff ups his pay a great deal.

      My friend Roger in UK who is by anyone’s standard, a conservative loves his NHS. He doesn’t even mind the high gasoline prices. Of course, they have a lot less distance to travel than we do.

  2. BSinVA

    I listened to my more conservative co-workers tell me every Canadian that they had spoken with hated their health care system. I met a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman who was attached to the Canadian Embassy. I told him about the discussions with my co-workers. He said that he didn’t know which Canadians that my colleagues were speaking with but he did not [editor with permission] know one Canadian that did not like their system over the US system.

    1. Did you mean to say did NOT know?

      My Canadian pals love their health care system. Their rx’s are lots cheaper than ours also.

  3. Scout

    The one criticism I’ve heard from Canadians about their health care system is that there are sometimes longer waits for non-emergency surgeries there than we usually encounter here. This seems to be a matter of convenience/annoyance more than a reflection on the actual quality of the care when provided. They have pretty good stats on basic measures of national health.

  4. BSinVA

    Yes I meant “not know”. Thanks@Moon-howler

    1. I will fix it for you if I can find it again.

  5. BSinVA

    I heard the same thing about waiting times for non-critical surgery. They also mentioned that they can pay out their own pocket if they want quicker service.@Scout

    1. The Brits have a policy that they can buy that reduces wait time. They pay for that out of pocket.

  6. Second Alamo

    No way paying for faster service would work here. Someone would be screaming it isn’t fair to those who can’t afford the added expense, and there we go again … blah blah blah. That is the entire argument over healthcare alone that not everyone can afford insurance, and so it’s brought us to this forced solution rather than a nationally discussed at length agreed solution.

    1. We already have insurance that allows some of us to have better service than others.

      Do you seriously think someone with a premium plan gets the same service everyone as a Medicaid patient? Not even close.

  7. BSinVA

    Quick Second A. Call your Congressmen and tell them to start drafting bills that will improve upon the ACA. The sooner they get started the sooner we will have a nationally discussed at length agreed solution.

    1. We have also had about 20 years to talk about it. SA must have forgotten.

  8. Ray Beverage

    The young man in the video has done a great job of presenting all the issues…and he is dead on with his facts. Have heard them in more than one presentation across Aging & Disability.

    I chuckle all the time when I hear references to British and Canadian NHS. The model for the NHS was developed in 1942 by an Economist as part of not only how to care for all the war-wounded to include post-war, but also for the general public. That Economist is Sir William Beveridge, a distant cousin of mine 🙂

    1. We expect you to take a bow, on his behalf.

      I have never heard a person using the NHS grouse that they hated it.

      When you look at what we pay a month vs what they pay a month, they are way ahead of the game.

  9. Ray Beverage

    @Moon-howler
    On behalf of the greater family, I take the bow 🙂 Even if the Beveridge spelling of the family name is all those highfalutin’ relations…LOL!

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