Most effective to decrease healthcare costs?

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Aug 24, 2016
10:02:15pm

conetah All-American

What do you guys think? What policies could be enacted to decrease healthcare costs substantially in the US?

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conetah

Bio page: conetah
Joined: Feb 27, 2011
Last login: Jun 10, 2024
Total posts: 21,281 (2,839 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

Most effective to decrease healthcare costs?

conetah

8/24/16 10:02pm

Mandatory weight limits

RC Vikings

8/24/16 10:04pm

Tort reform and...

Zlaty Bazant

8/24/16 10:04pm

Medical malpractice costs are down 27% while health care costs are up 64%

BIG XII Coug

8/24/16 11:01pm

What about the costs of the threat of malpractice claims (malpractice insurance)

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:06pm

What are you talking about?

BIG XII Coug

8/24/16 11:20pm

Was that figure included? Doctors pay those costs and it factors

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:25pm

Up front menu costs of all procedures.

tebowned

8/24/16 10:04pm

This. Everything else in life has a price tag when you buy it, why not HC?

ballen

8/24/16 10:06pm

Because health care is complex and unpredictable

Littlerich

8/24/16 10:12pm

True, but I don't see why it would be impossible for a doctor to say, "That X-

ballen

8/24/16 10:15pm

some transparency can happen but it would take a lot of changes to get there

Littlerich

8/24/16 10:19pm

I know it is more complex, but why can my mechanic tell me how much it costs to

ballen

8/24/16 10:23pm

Because the Doctor doesn't know how much it costs.

Littlerich

8/24/16 10:25pm

That just seems insane to me. Why not have a set price and insurance agrees to

ballen

8/24/16 10:30pm

Good question

Littlerich

8/24/16 10:43pm

There are set contractual prices

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:12pm

Hogwash. Whoever is in charge of the business side will know. You cannot have

Spine

8/25/16 12:35am

exactly

bald man

8/25/16 5:39am

which has nothing to do with the actual cost of running the xray machine.

bald man

8/25/16 5:39am

You should be more concerned over the markup for the radiator

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:08pm

I bet it is more than 100% markup.

bald man

8/25/16 5:40am

At least with the radiator I can call 5 different mechanics and get a quote

ballen

8/25/16 5:42am

are you a doctor?

conetah

8/24/16 10:18pm

Yep. I wish healthcare was less complicated, but outcomes are unpredictable

Littlerich

8/24/16 10:20pm

agreed.

conetah

8/24/16 10:24pm

See above, prices vary based upon the negotiated rates with insurance companies

Littlerich

8/24/16 10:26pm

That is how Medicare is starting to pay as we speak

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:14pm

bull honkey. don't bring outcome into a discussion about costs of set

bald man

8/25/16 5:46am

I wish it wasn't as complex at is, but the cost might be "set" but what they

Littlerich

8/25/16 6:07am

It's complex because of insurance. They know the cost to everything

bald man

8/25/16 5:37am

Exactly

Littlerich

8/25/16 6:08am

Sure its complex for certain procedures but it cannot be that tough.

conetah

8/24/16 10:20pm

Prices for individual things could be posted, but true bundled care will

Littlerich

8/24/16 10:21pm

what do you mean bundled care?

conetah

8/24/16 10:25pm

The govt wants to pay X dollars for a disease, no matter what happens.

Littlerich

8/24/16 10:29pm

It's actually the opposite. Doctors are insentivised to cure patients

Schultz is back

8/25/16 2:53pm

And that sounds great in theory, but medicine isn't that simple.

Littlerich

8/26/16 6:04am

I work in the business side of healthcare, and I can tell you

Schultz is back

8/26/16 8:29am

Bingo. there is no secret to fixing costs to things.

bald man

8/26/16 9:53am

Sure we can make individual costs transparent, but it will be difficult to

Littlerich

8/26/16 10:22am

No, not really. Every cost is known. Every step to diagnose a disease and then

bald man

8/26/16 10:31am

The costs might be know for individual steps, the unknown is how many steps it

Littlerich

8/28/16 12:42pm

You aren't familiar with medical coding or bundled payments are you?

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:14pm

<< Deleted >>

Littlerich

8/24/16 10:11pm

FWIW here is an article about a surgery center that started to do this.

conetah

8/24/16 11:32pm

This is a great model for low risk patients with outpatient procedures

Littlerich

8/25/16 6:09am

Right to die. Less end of life heroics. Incentives to living a healthy lifestyle/getting regular well checks/

SuperTank

8/24/16 10:05pm

I feel like this would just be a small drop in the bucket that would

conetah

8/24/16 10:27pm

I don't think so. Those aggressive cancer treatments, weeks in the hospital, etc

ballen

8/24/16 10:32pm

The last 3 months of a person's life account for like 50 percent of the total

I'mBatman

8/24/16 10:37pm

Dylan Thomas said it best.

friscokid

8/24/16 10:54pm

Correct. Lifestyle choices leading to acute illness

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:17pm

Disconnect health insurance from your employer. Make it more free market like

ballen

8/24/16 10:05pm

Not hardly. Employers make huge contributions towards the cost of employee

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:19pm

The problem is there is a HUGE tax advantage to the employer paying directly

Spine

8/25/16 12:39am

Agreed

BYU '80

8/25/16 6:32am

Employers could still contribute money to employee's healthcare as a benefit

ballen

8/25/16 5:36am

Do you not understand how expensive health insurance is?

bald man

8/25/16 5:49am

limit drug patents

CDV

8/24/16 10:05pm

I'm not sure we want to limit the incentive to improve drugs...

Lance71

8/24/16 10:38pm

I'm sure that the abuse of the current system is ridiculous and that we can

CDV

8/25/16 7:44am

what is your plan?

Littlerich

8/25/16 7:51am

for starters, no extensions based on new uses. Most abused part of the system

CDV

8/25/16 7:59am

I am typically for strong patent application, But I agree with this "loophole"

Spine

8/25/16 9:59am

repeal any laws that prohibit importation of drugs from other countries

conetah

8/24/16 10:08pm

RE: repeal any laws that prohibit importation of drugs from other countries

conetah

8/24/16 11:18pm

Death squads

Littlerich

8/24/16 10:09pm

repeal laws that require new clinics to get approval of established area clinics

conetah

8/24/16 10:09pm

That's a thing? I didn't know.

JoMax

8/24/16 10:20pm

RE: That's a thing? I didn't know.

conetah

8/24/16 11:00pm

Remove farm subsidies and eliminate tariffs on produce. Make healthy eating

yahtzee

8/24/16 10:22pm

Work camps for the aged and infirm.

cdr88

8/24/16 10:30pm

Stuff that would work. Soda Tax. Fast Food Tax. Covering less life extending

jbonita

8/24/16 10:35pm

Most people would laugh at this but

I'mBatman

8/24/16 10:46pm

We have couple big problems 1. We are fat. 2. We aggressively extend life.

jbonita

8/24/16 10:50pm

it also takes toooo long for many new, effective procedures to become FDA

Littlerich

8/25/16 7:52am

Decoupling insurance from employers would have the opposite inpact

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:21pm

Complete uncoupling including a change to the way it is taxed.

jbonita

8/25/16 12:31am

I don't know what the answer is, but it's a big problem in our country.

So it goes...

8/24/16 10:42pm

Reduce government oversight on just about everything

slowhiteguy

8/24/16 10:43pm

Bingo. The administrative costs in healthcare are enormous

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:22pm

A couple of things that would GUARANTEE cost reductions

Pacino

8/24/16 10:46pm

#2 is a pipe dream unless payments structures

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:27pm

Incentives could certainly be different but it is the current insurance

Pacino

8/24/16 11:46pm

It's the anti-Obamacare. Certainly a better direction.

Spine

8/25/16 12:43am

1) allow healthy people to sell their kidneys (I'm not kidding)

toadie

8/24/16 10:57pm

Let Market Forces Work

Celeritas

8/24/16 11:08pm

People don't understand the healthcare market concepts well enough for

BYU '80

8/24/16 11:29pm

It's an "easy to say" solution which is hard to implement.

conetah

8/25/16 12:38am

Article I believe touches on a lot of good ways to cut costs.

conetah

8/24/16 11:43pm

Dr should prescribe celery more often than pharma. In reality many of their patients just need more celery.

HarlemCoug

8/25/16 5:09am

Allow nurses to do more. Have Dr's do less.

HarlemCoug

8/25/16 5:10am

???

Littlerich

8/25/16 6:39am

Limit the number of different plans an insurer can offer. Doctors have almost as

bald man

8/25/16 5:35am

Or change it so the insurance pays the individual X amount for issues, and the

Spine

8/25/16 10:04am

Here is a real problem with that approach

bald man

8/25/16 10:14am

You example would definitely happen. There is no panacea, but over all costs

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