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To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (20702)	6/27/2001 7:57:59 PM
From: Master (Hijacked)	Respond to of 24042

OT How is it that medical services are able to increase at a rate of 8-12% annually when the economy is growing (at a normalized rate for the previous 5 years) of about 2.5%? One word: ABUSE There are too few companies involved in the medical industry. Medical equipment suppliers, pharmaceutical companies, and even too few doctors. This is an oligopoly which inevitably leads to higher prices. We all want to live and are ready to pay any price....and they know it. Master

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (20702)	6/27/2001 9:55:19 PM
From: Tunica Albuginea	Respond to of 24042

OT, because of patient's " fear of disease factor ", coupled by ever increasing in complexity and costs of medical technology to look for disease, the fear of doctors of getting sued if they miss something, compounded bt the docs willingness to leave no symptom uninvestigated because they get paid well to do that, they got big bills to pay, and a short time to make the big bucks after lengthy medical training and quick obsolescence into middle age. Last but not least , " the entitlement mentality " that permeates medical care plus the desire of patients " to get my part of the beef ", " from this lousy company ", TA

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (20702)	6/28/2001 12:19:21 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24042

OT re: How is it that medical services are able to increase at a rate of 8-12% annually when the economy is growing (at a normalized rate for the previous 5 years) of about 2.5%? Because: 1. medical services are taking up a steadily increasing fraction of the GDP, and all efforts to stop this trend run into a brick wall of powerful special interests 2. the industry is structured so that everyone can charge monopoly prices 3. doctors are punished (get sued) if they underdiagnose, undertest, undertreat, but the penalties for over-diagnosing/testing/treating are minimal. 4. Doctors are still the main decision-makers in the system (not patients, not the government, not cost-controlling administrators). And, for doctors, the first priority is treating the patient, not costs. 5. medicine is an art; reaching the right diagnosis and treatment is often a process of trial and error; technological advances have given us many more tools to test and treat with, and we use them lavishly (patients demand this). 6. technological advances have made medicine less efficient.