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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (1794)	8/2/2007 3:43:25 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

I think you have something of a point but not a huge one. People and doctors can take more time going over the costs and benefits when it makes sense to do so, and not take the time when it doesn't. And the doctor wouldn't have to take an hour running down all possible costs and benefits. The doctor probably wouldn't and wouldn't have to figure out the costs of most life style changes (except in rare cases the changes are massively expensive and even then cost information wouldn't directly be a medical cost and wouldn't be something the doctor would have to know in great detail). As for the costs and benefits of various pills the doctor would probably spend more time, but not a lot more time. If the doctor just makes the decision now and proscribes the treatment and the patient is fine with that, then the doctor could probably just do the same thing, but just take costs in to account. To the extent the patient does decide after hearing the pros and cons than the cons can include the price of the treatment. Prices are easier to convey then the medical pros and cons, adding information about prices would not require a great deal of additional time.