Comments on: Health care costs in the United States http://rc3.org/2009/11/02/health-care-costs-in-the-united-states/ Strong opinions weakly held Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:37:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Rob http://rc3.org/2009/11/02/health-care-costs-in-the-united-states/comment-page-1/#comment-7063 Rob Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:10:42 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=10241#comment-7063 <p>I would encourage you to look up 'DRG' in wikipedia if you are concerned that universal insurance coverage is unrelated to managing costs.</p> I would encourage you to look up ‘DRG’ in wikipedia if you are concerned that universal insurance coverage is unrelated to managing costs.

]]> By: Nathan L. Walls http://rc3.org/2009/11/02/health-care-costs-in-the-united-states/comment-page-1/#comment-7005 Nathan L. Walls Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:44:39 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=10241#comment-7005 <p>Beyond health care reform, someone needs to speak plainly about the perverse incentives in the US food industry (diabetes, cardiovascular issues) and plain inefficiencies in insurance administration.</p> Beyond health care reform, someone needs to speak plainly about the perverse incentives in the US food industry (diabetes, cardiovascular issues) and plain inefficiencies in insurance administration.

]]> By: Rafe http://rc3.org/2009/11/02/health-care-costs-in-the-united-states/comment-page-1/#comment-7003 Rafe Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:12:22 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=10241#comment-7003 <p>The truth is that the more liberal Democrats want to create a public option that reimburses at Medicare rates (or Medicare rates plus 5 percent) but the "moderates" won't go along with it. So we're stuck with reform that will not address the cost issues at their source. The reform will still greatly expand access to health care, which I'd be happy about, but the same people who profess to be most concerned about controlling costs are also adamantly opposed to any measure which will effectively bend the cost curve. This is a huge problem.</p> <p>The bottom line is that strong steps toward controlling costs will piss off doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and so on. It's hard enough to pass reform over the protests of insurance companies, if you add all of those other groups to the "against" column would scuttle the possibility of reform entirely.</p> <p>If anything, what the reform process has really shown is that meaningful change is nearly impossible to achieve with the system of government we have. Conservatives should probably take some comfort in that.</p> The truth is that the more liberal Democrats want to create a public option that reimburses at Medicare rates (or Medicare rates plus 5 percent) but the “moderates” won’t go along with it. So we’re stuck with reform that will not address the cost issues at their source. The reform will still greatly expand access to health care, which I’d be happy about, but the same people who profess to be most concerned about controlling costs are also adamantly opposed to any measure which will effectively bend the cost curve. This is a huge problem.

The bottom line is that strong steps toward controlling costs will piss off doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and so on. It’s hard enough to pass reform over the protests of insurance companies, if you add all of those other groups to the “against” column would scuttle the possibility of reform entirely.

If anything, what the reform process has really shown is that meaningful change is nearly impossible to achieve with the system of government we have. Conservatives should probably take some comfort in that.

]]> By: Jeff http://rc3.org/2009/11/02/health-care-costs-in-the-united-states/comment-page-1/#comment-7002 Jeff Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:02:06 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=10241#comment-7002 <p>I'm beginning to think that this health insurance "reform" is really nothing more than a power grab by the Democrats. If it were about health care reform, there would be discussions going on about how to address the cost of health care at a fundamental level as your linked post discusses.</p> <p>If health care is expensive, insurance (whether private or public option) will be equally as expensive. Trying to get insurance companies to bully health care providers into reducing costs is going to fail spectacularly. If that's what democrats think will happen, they certainly aren't advertising how the "cost curve" will bend other than by magic?</p> I’m beginning to think that this health insurance “reform” is really nothing more than a power grab by the Democrats. If it were about health care reform, there would be discussions going on about how to address the cost of health care at a fundamental level as your linked post discusses.

If health care is expensive, insurance (whether private or public option) will be equally as expensive. Trying to get insurance companies to bully health care providers into reducing costs is going to fail spectacularly. If that’s what democrats think will happen, they certainly aren’t advertising how the “cost curve” will bend other than by magic?

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