SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : A US National Health Care System?
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: Road Walker who wrote (14494)3/16/2010 3:34:59 PM
From: TimF2 Recommendations  Read Replies (1) of 42652
 
I'm 100% certain that we can save a lot of health care $'s by changing some habits.

I'm not quite 100% certain, but I think its a very reasonable statement.

The problem is that changing habits is hard, and while actually changing habits may be cost effective (esp. if your considering worse health care outcomes as a cost, and if your considering all payers of the costs not just government programs that pay), the attempt to get people to change might not be.

You try to change 30 people, you get one person that changes in a durable way. That person dies anyway (our mortality rate is 100% after all), probably of something expensive, but maybe a decade later. The cost a decade later should be discounted for time, so even if its the same (or if its slightly less but you have small ordinary health care costs occurring before the end 10 years later that wouldn't have occurred if the patient died earlier), the fact that the costs are incurred later makes for a real savings for that person case.

But is it enough to still be a real savings when you consider the ineffective effort on the other 29?

And all that assumes that the change your trying to make is the correct one. A number of government health messages have been questionable at best.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News