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

To: Lane3 who wrote (6430)	3/22/2009 6:01:49 PM
From: i-node	2 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42652

You're making an assumption there that may not be valid. There are a variety of ways to respond to competition, some of them very positive in terms of quality. If people start going to the new medical facility on the other side of the tracks, the facilities losing business can improve efficiency, consolidate, focus, and generally improve their product in response. I don't see how you get more expensive drugs out of that. As for fewer physicians, well, you have fewer patients so having fewer physicians is a feature, not a fault. Lane I don't subscribe to the belief that health care costs are automatically saved by moving a patient's care out of the US to a less expensive location. You would kind of have to break things down and look at them, as providers, hospitals, and drug companies all have different cost structures. You just don't save a lot of money by reimportation of drugs, for example, since the difference in consumer cost ends up being forced into the American drug market. Hospitals, of course, have hugely fixed cost structures. If you literally overwhelmed health care facilities in other countries that are anywhere near the US's quality, I'm not sure the overall cost in the US would be changed even a tad. Most importantly, I think when it comes down to it few Americans would consider LEAVING this country for a significant medical procedure, even for cost savings. If you have a major medical problem there is no place else in the world you want to be if you can help it.