Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
Dec 2nd 2012, 10:53 pm
#31
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
That is very true. Once you've had your initial visit they want to see you every six months, in perpetuity. For instance I asked my doctor "what are these blemishes on my skin could those be pre cancerous lesions?". So he said, I don't really know but I'll send you to the dermatologist. So after a couple of months wait, I get to see the dermatologist who examines me and identifies pre cancerous lesions! She zaps them with the liquid nitrogen or whatever it is.. Come back in six months! Now I'm on that treadmill, see the dermatologist every six month and she zaps me. Only costs forty dollars a time, no biggie, but then there's the urologist too.. Sometimes I feel I need to retire just to free enough time to visit these various specialists every six months.
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Dec 2nd 2012, 10:59 pm
#32
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
Dec 3rd 2012, 12:19 am
#33
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
Yes they do want to see us regularly. It is just like going to the hairdresser, only more expensive. Of course, my hairdresser tells me all the salacious gossip and gives me the latest on her UT infections & kidney problems, never mind her husband's latest peccadilloes.. All the doctor wants to talk about is hockey (being Canadian.)
Dec 3rd 2012, 12:42 am
#34
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
A lot of people seem to believe that malpractice lawsuits are the main culprit behind soaring health-care costs. They argue that the direct cost of medical malpractice lawsuits, and, even more, doctors’ fear of being sued, leads to "defensive medicine,"—unnecessary tests and procedures to protect doctors from lawsuits. But would reforming our tort system, by for example, capping the amount plaintiffs can receive for pain and suffering and other jury awards, actually save enough money to control overall health care costs?
Perhaps surprisingly, the evidence is that it wouldn’t. The direct cost of malpractice insurance premiums and court verdicts, plus the cost of defensive medicine, together account for less than 2 percent of overall health-care spending, according to a 2009 study by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office*, which came to a similar conclusion when it reviewed the idea during the Bush administration.* Tort reform might cut those costs by 0.5 percent, saving roughly $11 billion of a total $2.5 trillion annually—barely making a dent in overall health care costs.
http://news.consumerreports.org/heal...re-system.html
Dec 3rd 2012, 12:52 am
#35
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
That old chestnut.
A lot of people seem to believe that malpractice lawsuits are the main culprit behind soaring health-care costs. They argue that the direct cost of medical malpractice lawsuits, and, even more, doctors’ fear of being sued, leads to "defensive medicine,"—unnecessary tests and procedures to protect doctors from lawsuits. But would reforming our tort system, by for example, capping the amount plaintiffs can receive for pain and suffering and other jury awards, actually save enough money to control overall health care costs?
Perhaps surprisingly, the evidence is that it wouldn’t. The direct cost of malpractice insurance premiums and court verdicts, plus the cost of defensive medicine, together account for less than 2 percent of overall health-care spending, according to a 2009 study by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office*, which came to a similar conclusion when it reviewed the idea during the Bush administration.* Tort reform might cut those costs by 0.5 percent, saving roughly $11 billion of a total $2.5 trillion annually—barely making a dent in overall health care costs.
http://news.consumerreports.org/heal...re-system.html
A lot of people seem to believe that malpractice lawsuits are the main culprit behind soaring health-care costs. They argue that the direct cost of medical malpractice lawsuits, and, even more, doctors’ fear of being sued, leads to "defensive medicine,"—unnecessary tests and procedures to protect doctors from lawsuits. But would reforming our tort system, by for example, capping the amount plaintiffs can receive for pain and suffering and other jury awards, actually save enough money to control overall health care costs?
Perhaps surprisingly, the evidence is that it wouldn’t. The direct cost of malpractice insurance premiums and court verdicts, plus the cost of defensive medicine, together account for less than 2 percent of overall health-care spending, according to a 2009 study by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office*, which came to a similar conclusion when it reviewed the idea during the Bush administration.* Tort reform might cut those costs by 0.5 percent, saving roughly $11 billion of a total $2.5 trillion annually—barely making a dent in overall health care costs.
http://news.consumerreports.org/heal...re-system.html
The article is talking about INSURANCE. Insurers and doctors are not the same!
Dec 3rd 2012, 12:54 am
#36
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
Yes they do want to see us regularly. It is just like going to the hairdresser, only more expensive. Of course, my hairdresser tells me all the salacious gossip and gives me the latest on her UT infections & kidney problems, never mind her husband's latest peccadilloes.. All the doctor wants to talk about is hockey (being Canadian.)
Your doc pro has no time to develop his/her hobbies. Next time pass on some salacious gossip to brighten the docs day.
Dec 3rd 2012, 1:07 am
#37
Septicity
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
That article is discussing tort reform. I can tell you from personal experience that doctors DO worry about being sue by patients and their kin for malpractice and DON'T want to spend time talking to lawyers and going to court.
The article is talking about INSURANCE. Insurers and doctors are not the same!
The article is talking about INSURANCE. Insurers and doctors are not the same!
If the pay out for malpractice is so low, then it's not costing the doctor very much. That's the reality. I can't stop them worrying about it legally unless they live in Oregon or Colorado.
Dec 3rd 2012, 1:18 am
#38
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
People worry about all sorts of sh!t in America -- FIL has dug a hole on the ranch to bury his guns for that time soon when Obama comes to take them off of him personally. There doesn't need to be any reality to their worries.
If the pay out for malpractice is so low, then it's not costing the doctor very much. That's the reality. I can't stop them worrying about it legally unless they live in Oregon or Colorado.
If the pay out for malpractice is so low, then it's not costing the doctor very much. That's the reality. I can't stop them worrying about it legally unless they live in Oregon or Colorado.
So the cost is greater than mere monetary figures.
BTW is that true about your FIL??
Sounds a character! Do you own a gun, too?
Dec 3rd 2012, 4:34 pm
#39
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
This article highlights the many problems with ObamaCare as currently written.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2220152.html
Whilst on the one hand you cannot blame private business for responding to ObamaCare this way, it brings the US closer and closer to tax payer funded healthcare for large groups of the population... Just for 2-3x the cost of what other countries pay, and with less coverage...
So is it time to go the whole way??
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2220152.html
Whilst on the one hand you cannot blame private business for responding to ObamaCare this way, it brings the US closer and closer to tax payer funded healthcare for large groups of the population... Just for 2-3x the cost of what other countries pay, and with less coverage...
So is it time to go the whole way??
Dec 3rd 2012, 9:57 pm
#40
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
Malpractice insurance can be very expensive, though.
According to this report on the North Shore LIJ health system website, an Ob/Gyn in Nassau or Suffolk Counties, NY faces malpractice insurance of $204,000 a year. Miami-Dade County, FL, ob/gyns are at $201,000 (2010 prices, I think).
In comparison, CA ob/gyns pay $13,400 a year, but then CA has a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering damages, so reducing premiums.
According to this report on the North Shore LIJ health system website, an Ob/Gyn in Nassau or Suffolk Counties, NY faces malpractice insurance of $204,000 a year. Miami-Dade County, FL, ob/gyns are at $201,000 (2010 prices, I think).
In comparison, CA ob/gyns pay $13,400 a year, but then CA has a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering damages, so reducing premiums.
Dec 4th 2012, 12:07 am
#42
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
As far as fast food joints having low profits, Papa John's pizza claims that the cost will be prohibitive and can't afford to pay for health care for it's employees. However after a firm investigated the claim, it was discovered that the average price of a pizza would need to be increased between $0.11 and $0.15 to cover the cost of health insurance for employees or they could reduce executive salaries by 5% to cover the cost. I think that is a pretty low price to significantly reduce the number of people in the underclass in the US.
$3 for Labour
So 5% is 15c
Let us be generous and say that the average employee earns $20,000 a year.
That would be $1,000 a year.
Where do you get cover for that much?
Insurance may be logical for some minor aspects of Healthcare, but certainly not for the 90% plus of the activity associated with Healthcare.
Dec 4th 2012, 12:09 am
#43
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
Say a Pizza costs $10
$3 for Labour
So 5% is 15c
Let us be generous and say that the average employee earns $20,000 a year.
That would be $1,000 a year.
Where do you get cover for that much?
Insurance may be logical for some minor aspects of Healthcare, but certainly not for the 90% plus of the activity associated with Healthcare.
$3 for Labour
So 5% is 15c
Let us be generous and say that the average employee earns $20,000 a year.
That would be $1,000 a year.
Where do you get cover for that much?
Insurance may be logical for some minor aspects of Healthcare, but certainly not for the 90% plus of the activity associated with Healthcare.
I don't understand the logic behind this question and the appearingly random figures. Please explain in greater depth
Last edited by JRG67; Dec 4th 2012 at 12:12 am.
Dec 4th 2012, 12:11 am
#44
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
Malpractice insurance can be very expensive, though.
According to this report on the North Shore LIJ health system website, an Ob/Gyn in Nassau or Suffolk Counties, NY faces malpractice insurance of $204,000 a year. Miami-Dade County, FL, ob/gyns are at $201,000 (2010 prices, I think).
In comparison, CA ob/gyns pay $13,400 a year, but then CA has a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering damages, so reducing premiums.
According to this report on the North Shore LIJ health system website, an Ob/Gyn in Nassau or Suffolk Counties, NY faces malpractice insurance of $204,000 a year. Miami-Dade County, FL, ob/gyns are at $201,000 (2010 prices, I think).
In comparison, CA ob/gyns pay $13,400 a year, but then CA has a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering damages, so reducing premiums.
Dec 4th 2012, 12:14 am
#45
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Re: Is it time for Obama to push towards single payer universal healthcare?
To this:
As for where you should go, I know where I'd tell you to go, but you're safe from evil socialism here in Floriduh while Rick Scott's at the helm.
Last edited by Ethelred_the_Unready; Dec 4th 2012 at 12:19 am.