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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: Ilaine who wrote (204291)9/25/2006 3:35:17 PM
From: ThirdEye  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
The simple fact remains, Americans spend more on health care because we DEMAND more and GET more.

That statement is so ridden with assumptions, questions and fallacies I don't know where to start.

1. Americans may spend more on health care premiums than anyone else, but that doesn't mean they are getting expensive health care.

2. The difference between what is billed to insurance companies for care and what is actually paid to the provider is large. So how are those costs calculated? By what the providers charge? Or what the carriers pay?

3. Health care costs include drug fees. Everyone knows we pay more for drugs than anyone else in the world. And we also use more drugs than anyone else. We also have a drug industry that markets directly to consumers, encouraging even more drug use than ever, including the creation of ever new "conditions" and "syndromes" that require "treatment."

4. The 45 million people who are not covered by health insurance create a massive drag on the system because they do not seek care until a condition reaches emergency status, which ends up costing MORE than it would have otherwise.

5. The vast majority of health insurers are for-profit entities, which means their bottom line is more important than the care they authorize. They constitute a massive bureaucracy that is dedicated to restricting care and paring their customers to the most healthy.

6. The boomer generation is not a worldwide phenomenon. It's unique to this country, which means our health care costs will reflect the aging of that generation, at least temporarily raising costs relative to other countries.

7. Do you actually believe that a cost overhead of 20-25% to administer health care claims is better than a cost overhead of 2%?
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