Millions risk losing cover as Justices take up Obamacare Challenge

That's not actually true, for the most part. There are certainly anecdotes of it, but most got a policy that was comparable or better. Some certainly may pay more, but far more got subsidies making the polices more affordable. There's a reason coverage rates skyrocketed.

This part is just completely factually untrue. Just because you don't know what is in the law doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Every study covering costs over the last few years has attributed it at least partly to ACA effects.

Good thing these aren't the two choices they have.

 

absolutely

Keep the state accreditation regime if you must, but free people should be free to ignore it. It would create some actual competition in the accreditation industry, improving the quality and lowering the cost of accreditation.

I don't see why a demand for emergency care could not be satisfied by the market.

 

Umm, because when you are having a heart attack, you don't have the luxury of researching prices or the best ER or whatever else.

 

I'm really happy people like you are fringe. It's only because of the Internet that getting rid of license requirements is not being laughed in your face. Seriously go tell a crowd of voters and say that on CNN lol. Why do you love the 1700's so much anyone can be a doctor, any drug can be made with rat poison etc.

 

Also when you are having a heart attack, you don't care how much it costs, you are just glad that you live in Houston and that they took you to Methodist so you end up surviving the heart attack. No one trades that for being in an inferior hospital in a country that had free healthcare.

 

Except we do have inferior health care where not every hospital is Methodist. You could end up somewhere else and the research shows that the hospital makes a difference in survival rate.

 

it's like there is a demand for a means of communicating your preferences in an emergency

sounds like a market opportunity

 

Permissionless innovation is what made our country great. For early adopters, it can be very rewarding (and very risky).

In areas like health, education and finance, we've largely strayed from that ethos and instead transformed into sclerotic, bureaucratic, costly, arcane behemoths.

 

Just went through this experience with my family a couple of weeks ago.

A 911 call (real emergency), fire fighters first responders (did an awesome job!!!), followed by EMS Ambulance. These guys were a bit rude. Single transport to local hospital, checked in ER. 2 nurses, 1 Dr visit. Vitals checked and reviewed, 1 IV set, used 2 Saline bags. 1 urine culture test, tested negative. Checked out of ER after about 45 minutes.

Received 3 invoices.

1) Ambulance, Paid $1300, no insurance coverage.
2) ER + Room, Total $6500. I paid $1500, insurance the rest.
3) ER Dr. Bill. Total $900. I paid ~$300.

Also, when they found out we had insurance the ER Dr. wanted to order a bunch of other random tests, we told him no and asked to be checked out.

Seems legit.

Side note, had really bad cold/allergies last week. Decided against going to our normal family Dr., it's a b**** to get an appointment and they never are on time. Easily kill half your day. Instead went to a walk in clinic. Got a shot and 2 culture tests (strep and flu, both negative) for $50. Did not use insurance. I was in and out of the parking lot in 20 min. Was feeling great the next day.

 

IMO that's a big part of the problem, you assume that there's no other way to pay for things without insurance. Things wouldn't cost more than the market could bear, insurance allows the market to bear A LOT higher prices than it otherwise could which is one of the reasons why healthcare costs are as inflated as they are.

Also, there is an incentive to over-charge when insurance is in the mix. When you charge less than what most people pay for deductible, you might not get paid, so if you charge a lot more than the average deductible, you can be sure to get paid at least that portion of the bill.

The entire insurance system is a big part of the problem honestly, but it's so ingrained that it would take radical change to fix it.

If you go to a totally government run health system, you run the risk of turning almost every hospital into Ben Taub in the long run. The result would be poorly run, poorly staffed, poorly supplied, overcrowded hospitals for the masses and private care for the super rich only.

The reason this problem is such a problem is because there is no palatable easy answer. Maybe a combination of what we have now and enhanced spending for "affordable" health care facilities for the poor, facilities built to operate at a loss, would work but funding would always be a problem.

 

What can the market bear when it comes to life and death? Pretty much everything you own and own in the future. Free market forces doesn't work when the other choice is dying.

 

One of my Pet Peeves is 'professionals' that price gouge
I see this mechanics, computer techs and Medical Facilities

People have so much respect for them . . . .they think 'Well, they know what's best'
So then end up with useless test/crap that do nothing but inflate the bill

Rocket River

 

Wife had this exact same scenario happen. And then a week later was still sick, went to an ENT and got diagnosed with a serious infection that was cleaned up in a week. ENT doc didn't know how any doctor could have missed it.

 

If you can determine ways for unconscious people to communicate (and do research in seconds), you'll make billions. I highly recommend developing that system BEFORE moving to a system that requires it to function.

So only wealthy people should get medical care? If you're poor and get a cold, cool. If you're poor and get cancer? Death for you.

The rest of the world has universal insurance and doesn't have runaway prices...

 

You misunderstand, the choice is between paying them and not paying them. Hospitals have no choice but to provide care for those who need it. Hospitals make their money by charging insurance 100K for a heart attack, if they were actually charging people those rates, how many would pay it? Next to no one, meaning they'd have to go down on their rate (which they easily could) or go out of business.

Insurance is the ONLY reason they can get away with charging those astronomical rates. Insurance is what artificially inflates healthcare prices.

 

And they ship their people here when cases get really bad....

The point is without insurance, hospitals and pharmaceuticals would have no choice but to make their products more affordable, or no one would pay for them. Since hospitals have no choice but to treat sick people, they'd go out of business if they kept their rates as high as they are now.

The insurance system is a large part of the problem.

 

You have to know, somewhere in there, that such measures would never pass in 2015.

 

a priori, like organ donor cards

never said they would

 

It's simply not true that we would provide quality care to all Americans at a fair price without any mechanism in place to pay for it (such as insurance.)

Wealthy people would have access to high quality care that they could pay for, but most Americans would end up relegated to lower end hospitals/wards/charity hospitals/etc.

The overall quality of care would decrease as the likelihood of making a great deal of money would go down.

Health care costs rising has also lead to advancement in medicine, medical technology and increase of the quality of doctors and hospitals that are available. The rest of west's socialized medical systems are also possible because Americans subsidize the cost for everyone.

There is no silver bullet on healthcare.