Hi Dave,
Nice to see you posting again.
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Pension or Penitentiary?
- Don McCombs
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- 10+ Years
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Redman, you have hit upon one of the major reasons we spend so much on health care. Many people are unwilling or unable to change life style habits that lead to deterioation of health. Many doctors have what I call the Clinton syndrome in that they wish to be liked by everyone. They have forgotten that a kick in the seat of the pants is a step in the right direction. The bad habits we have we are responsible for. In the movie The Man with the Golden Arm the interesting character is not the one played by Frank Sinatra but the pusher who had figured out how to get himself off heroin. It is do-able if you really want to do it. Same for all the other bad habits we accumulate over the years.
As for differences in pricing sometimes those make sense sometimes they don't. The likehood of physicians getting sued is much greater in FD than in NB. Therefore the insurance in Florida is much much greater than in NB. Inter-regional differences often can be explained but much more difficult to explain intra-regional differences. Part of this is due to the fact that the MBA's have taken over. Many more hospitals and large physician groups are run by MBA's than by physicians. When Merck's CEO was a physician it was a good a very good drug company, but look at it now. Good drug companies do not advertise on TV.
When I went to grad school in finance I was taught to purpose mgmt of the firm was to maximize the bottom line. But for the interested I suggest reading Adams Smith's Mistake capitalism has not improved much since the time An Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations was written. If physics had the same attitude then we would not know E = MC squared.
Personally as most of you know I favor a system of forced savings. As many of you also know by forced I do not mean a gun being pointed at your head but where money not saved is taxed double and money saved is untaxed.
Consumers paying for their health care from their own account immediately removes the cloak hiding prices. It also removes most of the perverse incentives in our own system.
Richard
As for differences in pricing sometimes those make sense sometimes they don't. The likehood of physicians getting sued is much greater in FD than in NB. Therefore the insurance in Florida is much much greater than in NB. Inter-regional differences often can be explained but much more difficult to explain intra-regional differences. Part of this is due to the fact that the MBA's have taken over. Many more hospitals and large physician groups are run by MBA's than by physicians. When Merck's CEO was a physician it was a good a very good drug company, but look at it now. Good drug companies do not advertise on TV.
When I went to grad school in finance I was taught to purpose mgmt of the firm was to maximize the bottom line. But for the interested I suggest reading Adams Smith's Mistake capitalism has not improved much since the time An Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations was written. If physics had the same attitude then we would not know E = MC squared.
Personally as most of you know I favor a system of forced savings. As many of you also know by forced I do not mean a gun being pointed at your head but where money not saved is taxed double and money saved is untaxed.
Consumers paying for their health care from their own account immediately removes the cloak hiding prices. It also removes most of the perverse incentives in our own system.
Richard
Si hoc legere scis,nimium eruditionis habes.
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Good Thread--Good Information.
For a bit of the other side of health care:
How many places (other than a hospital) can you go, demand service and get it regardless of ability to pay? Try that at your local auto dealer!
Yes, the pricing isn't always fair, but when gov't cannot or will not
provide assistance to Hospitals how do they survive? Unfortunately,
by shifting costs to those who can pay. I do not condone the process
as it penalizes those of us who do work hard during our lives.
Additionally, the legal profession and their exorbitant malpractice awards
add to hospital costs by creating a paranoia. If you enter the hospital
you are tested to a fare thee well (most often unnecessarily due to threat
of legal action) which obviously further increases costs.
Drug manufacturers also add to the expense through increased
advertising of essentially unnecessary drugs! (how many of you have
seen the Lunesta commercials) just imagine the advertising budget for
that!! And, the drug companies justify their costs by claiming the need to
recover Research and development expenses
Yes, I am a practicing Pharmacist and am still irritated at how the drug
companies hold out their extended release preparations as patent extenders!! Everytime you see a new extended release preparation,
you can count on the original compound going generic. So for the
advertised convenience of once-a-day dosing, you pay 2-3 times the
cost for 3 times a day dosing with the generic drug--go figure!
I'm not that enamored of Wal-Mart, but their $4.00 generic drug pricing
ain't a bad thing!
Thanks for allowing me to rant!!!
Bill
For a bit of the other side of health care:
How many places (other than a hospital) can you go, demand service and get it regardless of ability to pay? Try that at your local auto dealer!
Yes, the pricing isn't always fair, but when gov't cannot or will not
provide assistance to Hospitals how do they survive? Unfortunately,
by shifting costs to those who can pay. I do not condone the process
as it penalizes those of us who do work hard during our lives.
Additionally, the legal profession and their exorbitant malpractice awards
add to hospital costs by creating a paranoia. If you enter the hospital
you are tested to a fare thee well (most often unnecessarily due to threat
of legal action) which obviously further increases costs.
Drug manufacturers also add to the expense through increased
advertising of essentially unnecessary drugs! (how many of you have
seen the Lunesta commercials) just imagine the advertising budget for
that!! And, the drug companies justify their costs by claiming the need to
recover Research and development expenses
Yes, I am a practicing Pharmacist and am still irritated at how the drug
companies hold out their extended release preparations as patent extenders!! Everytime you see a new extended release preparation,
you can count on the original compound going generic. So for the
advertised convenience of once-a-day dosing, you pay 2-3 times the
cost for 3 times a day dosing with the generic drug--go figure!
I'm not that enamored of Wal-Mart, but their $4.00 generic drug pricing
ain't a bad thing!
Thanks for allowing me to rant!!!
Bill
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