Part of the problem with health insurance is that very few people are paying for their own healthcare. In fact, 90% of the costs is paid by someone else (government,
insurance, company). It is interesting how doctors nor most health professionals can't tell you the price of tests, drugs, or other services. In fact Medicare has 7,500 different billing codes. According to Goodman there are actually Medicare 6 billion prices at any given time. Medicare by the way will go broke as the unfunded liability is around There is actually something called the International Classification of Diseases which is now on its 10th edition (starting in 2014) and will feature over 68,000 codes. Some of the codes are bizarre including people who get sucked into a jet engine and contact with dolphins. The codes seem to dumb down critical thinking and decision making. The way I understand these codes is doctors have to explain to the insurance company why a patient saw them. The "code" is suppose to explain what the purpose of the visit was and then is used to determine how much doctors get reimbursed. There is plenty of fraud and abuse in these codes. There will be bill padding, up charging, kickbacks, along with other shenanigans.
How confused would people be if we had food insurance and went to McDonald's and had no idea what a burger actually cost? We should make healthcare single payer in terms of having the individual pay of course. I will talk later about how we can actually do this using a free market system.
Health insurance is a very bizarre market. Employers offer what is known as group health insurance. Due to HIPPA rules in group insurance everyone has to be offered insurance (regardless of their health condition, age, or sex). Health insurance is tied to unemployment which is strange. Part of the reason why so many people are uninsured is their health insurance isn't portable. Could you imagine how many uninsured drivers we would have if your car insurance was tied to employment? Actually if you think about it you actually need car insurance to utilize your health insurance. Despite what some people say the insurance market is highly regulated by each individual state and if an insurance company wants to raise rates they first must get approval from the state to do so. The average profit margin of the insurance companies like Aenta, WellPoint, and Humana is only 3.5%. Compare this to the rich profit margins of broadcasting which has a profit margin of roughly 69% or software companies with an average profit margin of 18%. They are also told how much they can spend on "administrative costs" which is known as a medical loss ratio which requires 85% of their premium income on medical care and less than 20% on administrative costs. However, no one can seem to define what administrative costs precisely are. Could you imagine if bureaucrats were able to tell Wendy's how much they could spend on food?
Speaking of insurance President Barack Obama promised people that if they liked there plan they could keep it. However, employers may just drop employees as employers can always just just pay the $2,000 fine/employee if the employee amount is greater than 50 employees. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that 9 million will actually lose their healthcare insurance. In terms of cost Avik Roy at Forbes does an excellent job of summarizing the costs of both California (64% to over 160% increase) and the Ohio Department of Insurance which recently said they were going to be increasing premiums 88%. People fail to realize that since insurers will be forced to insure people with above-average risks they will recoup that money by charging healthy people higher premiums.
The average wait time for the emergency room (ER) has been increasing in recent years. In 2009 (the last year for which data is available) the mean wait time was 58 minutes (which is a 25% increase from 2003). Some patients wait and die in the ER. In 2008, this happened to Michael Herrara of Dallas, Texas who waited 19 hours at Parkland Hospital Retail and died waiting for care. Compare this to retail clinics (for-profit) which are often open around the clock, post prices online, and often have little to no wait time. This may explain why retail clinics have had a four fold increase with an estimated 6 million people using a retail clinic in 2009. What is even more surprising is that 91% of patients are satisfied with retail clinics. The only free market hospital in the country is the Oklahoma City Surgery Center which posts prices and one of the only free market doctors (Dr. Michael Ciampi) posts prices online, Even the Cancer Treatment for America posts success rates online.
When looking to other countries it seems the United States actually does have a decent quality healthcare system despite what critics like Michael Moore say. The problem with world rankings is that they take into account things that have nothing to do with healthcare. For instance the fact that Americans kill each other more, have more fatal car crashes, and other events distract from the quality of medical care. Another example is when the United States calculates things like infant mortality we count all births instead of other countries which use more liberal measures and only count the infant dead depending on various factors which would artificially make their infant mortality statistics look better.
Canada which touts its "free" healthcare isn't so free. Canada also outlaws private insurance. Of course Canadians are paying for healthcare in the form of longer wait times. The wait times in Canada are horrendous. 10% of patients wait more than 8 hours in the emergency room. 25% of Canadians wait more than 4 months to see a specialist. No wonder why close to 30% of Canadians find the length of wait time for a specialist unacceptable. Canada is also behind on medical technology as well. According to Goodman, the United States has 1,000 PET (positron emission tomography) units while Canada has only 24 units. This technology is used to diagnose cancer. What is astounding is that even the people uninsured in the United States get more access to medical treatment than other countries. In the United States even the uninsured get more preventive care in Canada (prostate exam, mammogram, etc). Also doctors in the United States typically spend more time with patients than nearly any other country.
British National Health Service found after 30 years access to healthcare was better than when the program started. Speaking of Britain in a survey that came out a few months ago 40% of people who work for the National Health Service wouldn't even recommend it to their family or friends!
The United States is also facing an increasing in shortage the number of drugs available. Data from the University of Utah shows there was a shortage of 74 drugs in 2005 and by 2010 increased to was 211 drugs. Some of these drugs are used to treat serious and life-threatening conditions. There are a few reasons why these drugs are in such short supply. A program known as the 340B program requires drug companies to give 23% rebates on brand named drugs and a 13% rebate for generic drugs to providers that treat a large number of people without means, clinics treating Medicaid patients, and hospitals and clinics in the Public Health Service, etc. Another reason why there is a shortage is because the FDA after 2010 began heavily regulating drug manufacturing plants. As can be seen on page 11 of this House Oversight Committee report the number of FDA warning letters to manufacturers increased 155% from 2010-2011 and 250% from 2009-2011.
Speaking of costs what I learned in reading Goodman's book was that even "preventive care does not actually lower costs. This study done in Health Affairs showed that preventive care actually increases costs. The study showed 20% of preventive options actually lowered costs while 80% of preventive options actually increased costs. Something else I learned was the price of lab tests are 50-80% lower in hospitals compared and also available within one day. Wal-Mart has multiple drugs that can be purchased for only $4 for a one month supply (Wal-Mart has saved people $3 billion on prescription drugs as of March 2013)
What will even make things worse is a bureaucratic led Preventive Services Task Force which will decide who should or shouldn't get a mammogram, prostate exam, or colonoscopy. I am not a doctor but I do know everyone is different in terms of how they respond to drugs, treatments, and the side effects they receive. A cookie cutter top down approach is a pretty ignorant way to run healthcare.
How confused would people be if we had food insurance and went to McDonald's and had no idea what a burger actually cost? We should make healthcare single payer in terms of having the individual pay of course. I will talk later about how we can actually do this using a free market system.
Health insurance is a very bizarre market. Employers offer what is known as group health insurance. Due to HIPPA rules in group insurance everyone has to be offered insurance (regardless of their health condition, age, or sex). Health insurance is tied to unemployment which is strange. Part of the reason why so many people are uninsured is their health insurance isn't portable. Could you imagine how many uninsured drivers we would have if your car insurance was tied to employment? Actually if you think about it you actually need car insurance to utilize your health insurance. Despite what some people say the insurance market is highly regulated by each individual state and if an insurance company wants to raise rates they first must get approval from the state to do so. The average profit margin of the insurance companies like Aenta, WellPoint, and Humana is only 3.5%. Compare this to the rich profit margins of broadcasting which has a profit margin of roughly 69% or software companies with an average profit margin of 18%. They are also told how much they can spend on "administrative costs" which is known as a medical loss ratio which requires 85% of their premium income on medical care and less than 20% on administrative costs. However, no one can seem to define what administrative costs precisely are. Could you imagine if bureaucrats were able to tell Wendy's how much they could spend on food?
Speaking of insurance President Barack Obama promised people that if they liked there plan they could keep it. However, employers may just drop employees as employers can always just just pay the $2,000 fine/employee if the employee amount is greater than 50 employees. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that 9 million will actually lose their healthcare insurance. In terms of cost Avik Roy at Forbes does an excellent job of summarizing the costs of both California (64% to over 160% increase) and the Ohio Department of Insurance which recently said they were going to be increasing premiums 88%. People fail to realize that since insurers will be forced to insure people with above-average risks they will recoup that money by charging healthy people higher premiums.
The average wait time for the emergency room (ER) has been increasing in recent years. In 2009 (the last year for which data is available) the mean wait time was 58 minutes (which is a 25% increase from 2003). Some patients wait and die in the ER. In 2008, this happened to Michael Herrara of Dallas, Texas who waited 19 hours at Parkland Hospital Retail and died waiting for care. Compare this to retail clinics (for-profit) which are often open around the clock, post prices online, and often have little to no wait time. This may explain why retail clinics have had a four fold increase with an estimated 6 million people using a retail clinic in 2009. What is even more surprising is that 91% of patients are satisfied with retail clinics. The only free market hospital in the country is the Oklahoma City Surgery Center which posts prices and one of the only free market doctors (Dr. Michael Ciampi) posts prices online, Even the Cancer Treatment for America posts success rates online.
When looking to other countries it seems the United States actually does have a decent quality healthcare system despite what critics like Michael Moore say. The problem with world rankings is that they take into account things that have nothing to do with healthcare. For instance the fact that Americans kill each other more, have more fatal car crashes, and other events distract from the quality of medical care. Another example is when the United States calculates things like infant mortality we count all births instead of other countries which use more liberal measures and only count the infant dead depending on various factors which would artificially make their infant mortality statistics look better.
Canada which touts its "free" healthcare isn't so free. Canada also outlaws private insurance. Of course Canadians are paying for healthcare in the form of longer wait times. The wait times in Canada are horrendous. 10% of patients wait more than 8 hours in the emergency room. 25% of Canadians wait more than 4 months to see a specialist. No wonder why close to 30% of Canadians find the length of wait time for a specialist unacceptable. Canada is also behind on medical technology as well. According to Goodman, the United States has 1,000 PET (positron emission tomography) units while Canada has only 24 units. This technology is used to diagnose cancer. What is astounding is that even the people uninsured in the United States get more access to medical treatment than other countries. In the United States even the uninsured get more preventive care in Canada (prostate exam, mammogram, etc). Also doctors in the United States typically spend more time with patients than nearly any other country.
British National Health Service found after 30 years access to healthcare was better than when the program started. Speaking of Britain in a survey that came out a few months ago 40% of people who work for the National Health Service wouldn't even recommend it to their family or friends!
The United States is also facing an increasing in shortage the number of drugs available. Data from the University of Utah shows there was a shortage of 74 drugs in 2005 and by 2010 increased to was 211 drugs. Some of these drugs are used to treat serious and life-threatening conditions. There are a few reasons why these drugs are in such short supply. A program known as the 340B program requires drug companies to give 23% rebates on brand named drugs and a 13% rebate for generic drugs to providers that treat a large number of people without means, clinics treating Medicaid patients, and hospitals and clinics in the Public Health Service, etc. Another reason why there is a shortage is because the FDA after 2010 began heavily regulating drug manufacturing plants. As can be seen on page 11 of this House Oversight Committee report the number of FDA warning letters to manufacturers increased 155% from 2010-2011 and 250% from 2009-2011.
Speaking of costs what I learned in reading Goodman's book was that even "preventive care does not actually lower costs. This study done in Health Affairs showed that preventive care actually increases costs. The study showed 20% of preventive options actually lowered costs while 80% of preventive options actually increased costs. Something else I learned was the price of lab tests are 50-80% lower in hospitals compared and also available within one day. Wal-Mart has multiple drugs that can be purchased for only $4 for a one month supply (Wal-Mart has saved people $3 billion on prescription drugs as of March 2013)
What will even make things worse is a bureaucratic led Preventive Services Task Force which will decide who should or shouldn't get a mammogram, prostate exam, or colonoscopy. I am not a doctor but I do know everyone is different in terms of how they respond to drugs, treatments, and the side effects they receive. A cookie cutter top down approach is a pretty ignorant way to run healthcare.
As someone who is interested in technology even I thought electronic medical records (EMRs) would have done a world of good. These records started around in 2004. Recently one of my doctors learned the EMR system for one hospital but now is no longer seeing patients at a different hospital because he doesn't want to learn their EMR system. He told me he spent 12 hours just learning the EMR system for one hospital. President Obama years ago wanted to "invest" take $50 billion of taxpayer money over 5 years to look into EMRs and the results haven't been too great. This Washington Post editorial finds that after the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia added electronic prescriptions resulted in a threefold increase. The EMRs also add about half an hour more because part of the program is the person using them having to keep okaying hundreds of messages the EMR system might have. Even the New York Times published this article that showed that EMRs did not help doctors help increase productivity or quality benefits.
Medicare and Medicaid are two more future train wrecks waiting to happen. The Medicare unfunded liability $89 trillion. Not to mention Medicare fraud is about $60 billion a year. Between both Medicare (for people over 65) and Medicaid (people with few resources) the waste is about $100 billion per year. Medicare is expected to go broke between 2016-2024. A survey from the American Medical Association (AMA) shows that about 20% of doctors are already reducing the number of Medicare patients they see. According to Goodman about a 1/3 of doctors don't take Medicaid patients. What is tragic is that children on Medicaid wait 22 days longer than children on private insurance. According to Goodman an experiment in Florida showed that when Medicaid enrollees could choose between private managed care plans the cost was lower and patient satisfaction was much higher than traditional Medicaid.People like to say how efficient and cost saving Medicare is. However, the facts tell a different story. Robert Brook at the Heritage Institute shows that actually private insurance spends less on administrative costs than Medicare (which is quite amazing given how much private insurance companies can spend is heavily regulated).
