What is causing the high price of health care in America?

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   alexandriaruthkposted 10 years ago

   What is causing the high price of health care in America?
   
   I can't understand this. More people are not even going to the doctor anymore.

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2. 70

   Rheaglposted 10 years ago

   The price of health care has to go up by design. 
   
   The Obamacare Tax was created to increase the dependency of the people on the Government.  Lowering what doctors can earn, lowering what they get paid per patient and increasing the "red tape" needed to receive the pay that they are "allowed" to charge are all tools embedded in Obamacare to bring health care under full control of the government. 
   
   My wife, who is disabled and on medicaid, lost all of her doctors (even though Obama said we would be able to keep them) that she had been seeing for 8 years because she has lupus (classified by Obamacare as potentially fatal and thereby needing "special" care).  It took several MONTHS to find a doctor that would even take the "special" medicaid and another 2 months to get an appointment. 
   
   After just 3 (THREE) visits, we were told that she was being dropped because the doctor could not AFFORD to continue seeing these "special" patients.  She was having to use one of her office staff to only do the paperwork and follow-up for just this one program (that she wasn't being paid 60% of her normal costs to begin with).  After several months, we found another rheumatologist, but we have to travel 68 miles one-way to see him, but he is not guaranteeing us how long he will be able to keep covering the program. 
   
   The problem is that the doctors have to raise their prices on all their patients just to "try" to cover the COST of seeing government patients. 
   
   Another major cost designed into the Obamacare Tax is a surcharge on medical equipment.  ALL new equipment is going to cost the doctors and hospitals more because the government is running up the cost of making the equipment. 
   
   As costs increase, insurance companies are the main ones getting hit because they have to pick up most of the bills.  To maintain a profit, they MUST increase their rates and thus everything costs US more. 
   
   The parts of the Obamacare Tax that are purposely scheduled for 2014 and 2015, include a government run plan that will be cheaper than the insurance companies. The bill was specifically designed to force insurance companies to have to up their rates so that small businesses will be unable to afford them. As income drops, insurance companies will be forced to submit to total government control or go out of business. Because the Obamacare Tax mandates participation, the employees will ultimately be forced to buy the government plan either directly or through the "government" companies.

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   1. 68

      alexandriaruthkposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the response! It is helpful.

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      JON EWALLposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      links of interest
      The Real Cost of Obamacare
      http://moneymorning.com/2013/02/11/the- … obamacare/
      2/8/13
      7 Biggest Obamacare Lies
      http://moneymorning.com/2013/02/08/the- … care-lies/
      Obamacare promises were Obamacare lies.

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3. 68

   LandmarkWealthposted 10 years ago

   The problem is there is not a competitive market place.  The Federal Gov't is now the largest insurer in the US through Medicare and Medicaid partnerships with the States.  The gov't is incredibly inefficient and riddled with insurance fraud.  As a cost cutting measurement, their solution has been to not pay the Doctors.  As result of this market dislocation the increased cost is passed onto the private insurers. 
   
   Additionally, in private insurance there is no real price discovery either.  Imagine if you sent a claim to your auto insurer every time you got an oil change, brake job, or tune up.   The cost to insure you car would be equal to that of your health insurance premium.  We have no ability to negotiate with the Doctor directly anymore.   Sadly, most Americans don't want to either.  They don't want to be bothered.  Yet they don't realize it's an economic detriment to them.  We negotiate the price for nearly everything but our healthcare.  Some people think that you can't.  You just have to pay what they say.  That's nonsense.   Insurance companies negotiate all the time with Doctors.  And for the most part, the average payment to a doctor for basic maintenance type visits is nominal.  They don't get anywhere near what they bill.  It would make more sense to pay them directly and eliminate the middle man.  Insurance works best when it is used to coverage catastrophic events of an unpredictable nature.  But Americans have gotten used to having it pay for everything.  They think it should be free.  But free stuff is the most expensive thing you can get.  Ultimately, if someone is providing a service to you, its not free at all.  You're paying for it somewhere.  In order to bring down cost, we need a system that allows the customer to negotiate with the person/persons providing the product or service.   As a great example....Cosmetic surgery generally is not covered by insurance with a few exceptions.  Yet it is more widely available than ever before.  At the same time cost has come down, while the technology is more advanced than ever before.

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   1. 68

      alexandriaruthkposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, I understand it better now.

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