7 thoughts on “Unexpected

  1. I love how the trained parrot for HHS tried to spin this as evidence of healthy competition, when the regime refused to allow insurers to sell across state lines. That competition would have REALLY lowered the costs of healthcare for everyone.

    Of course, when the whole goal of Obammycare is to have a single payer system, I guess that anything goes when that goal is threatened.

  2. Most of the medical products and services that lengthen lives are fairly cheap. Most of the services sold to Americans make people more comfortable, and to preempt conditions that were highly unlikely to occur in the first place. Much is spent giving hope to the hopeless, and “never giving up, no matter what”, a popular American sentiment. If there is a 2% chance of a serious condition, an American doctor will order the expensive test and often treat the non-existent condition, because to not do so is to risk a malpractice suit. Americans expect something expensive to happen when they visit the doctor, and the doctor knows how to satisfy that expectation.

    If, on the other hand, you have a state-run system where everyone gets the same health care, dollars are short, so doctors are encouraged to be more efficient, and to pamper the patient less. There is less defensive medicine because suing doctors is far less lucrative than in the US.

    Finally, in most systems outside the US, there is one provider or the providers are allowed to form a monopsony cartel to bargain with doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and hospitals. That strong bargaining position leads to many medical professionals making far less if they are not American, particularly specialist doctors.

  3. We can’t afford a medical system where every doctor can afford to give every test and have every procedure performed that might conceivably benefit a patient. In all cases, somebody is deciding what is worth the cost, and in any shared risk pool, public or private, that somebody is neither the patient nor the doctor.

  4. Look at Emery, explaining Death Panels. You go lil cowboy!

    When Obamacare hits a critical mass, and it’s not far off, all the states that set up their own shops will have to start back feeding the scam with state income taxes. The best scenario is that happens while the perps, Gov Jim Beam in your case, is still around to take responsibility.

  5. It is as if the architects of the Health Insurance Deform Act were unaware that sometimes the uninsured don’t have insurance for a reason the actuaries can explain. What a shame nobody warned about that, except of course for the whole Republican party and any credible conservative or libertarian.

  6. Every civilized nation in the world has a health system just like Obamacare!
    Oh, wait, none of them has anything like Obamacare.

  7. In all cases, somebody is deciding what is worth the cost, and in any shared risk pool, public or private, that somebody is neither the patient nor the doctor.

    In our case, the somebody forcing that decision are the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

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