dstieger wrote:I'm still extremely puzzled that the conversation is 99.9% about insurance. I'm not in the field and generally clueless about most everything, but I firmly believe that the problem that needs to be addressed first is not the insurance, but health care cost. Even if you stake out the position that costs are 'reasonable' due to ....idk...whatever......how the **** can we know????
Not just a lack of transparency, but a huge deliberate obfuscation. I have NEVER had a medical bill/statement that I understood even a little bit. When is the last time that you felt you could responsibly 'shop' for care...even preventative care????? It is impossible. Sure, the insurance companies benefit, but so do the corporate hospitals and conglomerates....fix the way costs are computed and communicated and then...and only then...can we even begin to address coverage issues....some day the curtain is going to get pulled back....even if just a little bit....and then we might be able to figure how to disperse the actual costs
I agree with all but one part of this. While searching for answers to the issues you raised, we still nemake sure we cover EVERYONE.
Before someone makes the point that it's not government's job to provide healthcare, there is an alternative. In nearby Baton Rouge we have seen what lack of healthcare does to the local market. Our Rhodes Scholar ex-governor Bobby Jindal shut down the charity hospital system in Louisiana. Unfortunately, he misdiagnosed the illness and the outcome wasn't what he expected.
When he shut down Earl K Long hospital in North Baton Rouge, the indigent had to search for an alternative. So they went to the next closest hospital which was the Baton Rouge General - Mid City. Well, that lasted a few years before the Baton Rouge General Mid City closed it's ER. They were losing about $12 million a month; or a year, not sure which.
As a result, they went even further south to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. That hospital was inundated with indigent. Hour wait times became 6-12 hour wait times. All of a sudden every spare piece of wall in the ER was used to park a bed. It's gotten so congested, you can't even drive into the emergency room parking lot without having to convince a guard you have a medical emergency.
In the end, the state is now paying more for indigent care in Baton Rouge. Because OLOL-RMC told the state that the only way they would increase capacity to treat the indigent was if the state reimbursed the hospital 100% of the insurance rate instead of the much lower Medicaid rate.
In other words the indigent are going to receive care regardless. It's much better to be part of the solution than the problem.