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Hospital Prices Are About To Go Public in the US (ajc.com)
Prices hospitals charge for their services will all go online Jan. 1 under a new federal requirement, but patient advocates say the realities of medical-industry pricing will make it difficult for consumers to get much out of the new data. From a report: A federal rule requires all hospitals to post online a master list of prices for the services they provide so consumers can review them starting Jan. 1. The health care industry nationally has a reputation for having little price transparency, which can make it difficult for consumers to price compare. But the hospital's master list prices, sometimes called a chargemaster, is also not a complete look, consumer advocates say. That's because the final bill a patient receives is almost never the same as the sticker price for the services they received. Insurance companies negotiate discounts on the sticker prices. Co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles also add other layers of complexity that bring discounts or increased costs before a final charge is determined.
To make a long story short, it's fallout from WW2.
Wage/Price controls during WW2 made it difficult for businesses to recruit talent - it wasn't like you can pay them more to get them to leave their current job.
So, someone had the bright idea of offering Medical Insurance as part of the pay package. Legal, since Medical Insurance wasn't covered by the Wage/Price controls.
Anyways, by the time the notion of Single-Payer got some momentum, Medical Insurance as a benefit of your job was so embedded in the economy that getting rid of it was next to impossible.
In the long run, Medicare will probably be gradually extended to cover everyone, which will give us Single-Payer by default. But it's hard to deal with the economic disruption (the Insurance Industry is HUUUUGE! and will pretty much vanish with Single Payer) quickly, so it'll be a while.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
The meme among American conservatives is that the only reason other countries can afford universal healthcare is because they have weak militaries.
It's completely bonkers for many different reasons:
1) Universal healthcare is much more economically effective in relative and absolute terms.
2) Countries with strong militaries (Sweden during the Cold War, France now) still "afford" healthcare partly because of 1).
3) Sweden gives 1.4% of its GDP to foreign aid compared to 0.2% of the US and still "affords" healthcare partly because of 1).
4) The US gets a fuckton of influence and business because of its strong military.
Once they realize what an utterly stupid argument this makes, they turn to the argument of "diversity". Sweden is a less "diverse" country (read: has fewer mooching n*****s) so therefore it magically somehow works.
I have a friend who lives in Denmark, When she was younger she had to have a double mastectomy because she was unable to get the care needed prior to this for breast cancer because of their financial system.
Just recently her husband had died because he was unable to get into a doctor for breathing trouble for around 4 weeks. Turned out he had a pulmonary embolism. Great health care system there.
And for those that are wondering, she pays about 50% income tax, plus around 25% VAT (this is from random conversations, so not sure if 100% accurate)
Great. Because, there won't be any abuse of the system problems with that.
You should use evidence based reasoning.
Plenty of countries have healthcare that is free at point-of-use. They have mechanisms to prevent abuse that work well.
In many countries, when you "go to the doctor", you see a screening nurse or PA first, when you walk in the clinic door. 80-90% of the time that is as far as you get, because your ailment is something routine, and the nurse just hands you some pills and tells you to go home and get some sleep and drink plenty of fluids. Many times there is ZERO paperwork. There isn't even a record that you were there, and the nurse may not even ask for your name. You just walk in, get some quick advice, maybe some free pills, and then you walk out. The cost to the healthcare system is maybe $5, if that.
In America, even a sniffle means 30 minutes sitting in the waiting room next to people coughing up phlegm, several insurance forms, and a whole team of people to interface with the insurance companies, prepare and clean the treatment rooms, confer with the malpractice attorneys, etc.
Cadillac plans are taxed, but most employer provided health insurance is not. This is a problem, because involving employers in the health insurance business adds a whole additional layer to the process that insulates the people receiving care from the people paying for it.
Having your employer provide heath insurance MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER and you only think it does because you are used to it have been conditioned to think it is normal.
In Maoist China, each factory ran their own school for the children of their employees. So if you changed jobs, your children had to switch to a new school. That is obviously completely idiotic. But you can only see that because you are outside the system and you have seen a better way.
Employer provided heath insurance IS JUST AS STUPID. If you work for, say, an auto parts store, and they provide health insurance, then your major healthcare decision is being made by someone who:
1. Knows nothing about healthcare.
2. Has zero bargaining power.
3. Has no particular incentive to care about quality of service
We should remove all tax benefits of employer provided health insurance and transition to a system that makes sense.