Opinion: The U.S. can slash health-care costs 75% with 2 fundamental changes

[glenn1]

You leave the corpses out by the curb on Mondays and Thursdays. Up to 5 corpses. For Holiday weekends, it's Tuesday instead of Monday.

So what do you do when it's a bulk pickup, like when 7 or 8 guys get whacked at once in drug related gang warfare in Chicago?

 

[fskimospy]

You leave the corpses out by the curb on Mondays and Thursdays. Up to 5 corpses. For Holiday weekends, it's Tuesday instead of Monday.

But then you're relying on the government to pick up the corpses. Help yourself and build a corpse processing/cremation facility and then go around town picking up dead bodies in your spare time, don't rely on some bureaucrat to do it!

 

[obidamnkenobi]

lolwut.

I love these little glimpses into how deeply brainwashed conservative trolls view the world, especially those "evil, failing democrat" led areas, or most of Europe for that matter. When they try to square why almost all economic activity (and human joy) seems to occur in places that reject their FYGM attitudes.

You got cancer? Well should have pulled your self up by your bootstraps and have saved up $900,000 for medical bills then! Slacker!

 

[glenn1]

But then you're relying on the government to pick up the corpses. Help yourself and build a corpse processing/cremation facility and then go around town picking up dead bodies in your spare time, don't rely on some bureaucrat to do it!

Must be why inner city hospitals are closing at such high rates to move out to the suburbs.

 

[Blackjack200]

Must be why inner city hospitals are closing at such high rates to move out to the suburbs.

Good reminder how efficient capitalism is, moving resources away from the people that need them.

 

[fskimospy]

Must be why inner city hospitals are closing at such high rates to move out to the suburbs.

You must be right! Once people stopped relying on government bureaucrats to handle corpse pickup and disposal there just wasn't enough business left for those hospitals. Really though we should be happy as finally we don't have people relying on collective action and they're taking matters into their own hands.

 

[fskimospy]

I love these little glimpses into how deeply brainwashed conservative trolls view the world, especially those "evil, failing democrat" led areas, or most of Europe for that matter. When they try to square why almost all economic activity (and human joy) seems to occur in places that reject their FYGM attitudes.

You got cancer? Well should have pulled your self up by your bootstraps and have saved up $900,000 for medical bills then! Slacker!

Yeah, glenn's an odd one. When he feels like it he can talk about things in an interesting and well thought out way that I really like. Then there's times like this where he's just ranting like a lunatic. Personally I've decided to treat him seriously when he wants to be serious and treat him in a silly way when he's being silly like now.

 

[JSt0rm]

Or the more honest change 3 that would actually save money, repeal the "emergency room must treat you regardless if you can pay" law. Unpaid ER visits as primary care both make the system suck for all the rest of us (via delays and such) while hugely driving up costs. Progressives who claim to care about "the uninsured" can fund charity clinics for them and hand out (with their own money) as much free care as they want.

this is a horrible idea.

 

[Jhhnn]

Even when being halfway reasonable you manage to engage dick mode. Don’t be a dick.

Well, yeh, but it's apparently what he lives for.

 

[ch33zw1z]

So what do you do when it's a bulk pickup, like when 7 or 8 guys get whacked at once in drug related gang warfare in Chicago?

7 or 8, lol...how about 58 dead, 422 directly injured, 851 total injuries in less time than a sitcom.

 

[ch33zw1z]

this is a horrible idea.

Yea, fuck you, got mine tho.

 

[brycejones]

7 or 8, lol...how about 58 dead, 422 directly injured, 851 total injuries in less time than a sitcom.

They should have used their bootstraps.

 

[SMOGZINN]

There are no capitalistic solutions to the problem with medical costs. Medicine does not follow supply/demand structures. The demand for medicine is vertical. If you need it you will pay what ever the provider asks.

 

[Jhhnn]

There are no capitalistic solutions to the problem with medical costs. Medicine does not follow supply/demand structures. The demand for medicine is vertical. If you need it you will pay what ever the provider asks.

Sure there are. Can't afford it? Sux to be you! Buh-bye now...

 

[Atreus21]

Price tags don't work when there are a million. insurance companies in the middle. Hell, that's part of the reason why we can't get a price. You have which provider? Which plan? In network or out? Is this one of your covered annual visits or not? The list goes on.

Then just post the uninsured price. At least it gives the buyer an idea, regardless of their insurance coverage.

 

[dainthomas]

Or the more honest change 3 that would actually save money, repeal the "emergency room must treat you regardless if you can pay" law. Unpaid ER visits as primary care both make the system suck for all the rest of us (via delays and such) while hugely driving up costs. Progressives who claim to care about "the uninsured" can fund charity clinics for them and hand out (with their own money) as much free care as they want.

"Just hold a towel on that spurting jugular while we run a quick credit check, sir."

Corporatist paradise.

Must be why inner city hospitals are closing at such high rates to move out to the suburbs.

Hospitals in rural red state areas closing because the folks in poverty can't afford to pay is the bigger issue. Enjoy the 70 mile ambulance ride when you're dying of a heart attack.

 

[shortylickens]

The guy wrote an article to get some attention, not because he knows what the heck he's talking about.
You wanna cut costs?
Tell the government to stop protecting the legal monopoly the AMA has on us.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Tell the government to stop protecting the legal monopoly the AMA has on us.

While I agree that the AMA has a bit too strong a hold on the system, we want to be carful about lowering prices by lowering standards. The AMA keeps standards high, something I think we can all agree is a good thing in the medical field.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah, glenn's an odd one. When he feels like it he can talk about things in an interesting and well thought out way that I really like. Then there's times like this where he's just ranting like a lunatic. Personally I've decided to treat him seriously when he wants to be serious and treat him in a silly way when he's being silly like now.

He can? I must have missed that, as I don't think I've ever seen anything particularly interesting or well thought out, even when he's not just making shit up so he can rage about it (and then raging about people supposedly being mean to him after he starts calling other people names...), he just says the most obvious statements. Bad things are bad. Who knew?

I'm 50/50 on it being multiple people using the account or him suffering from the same issue that Turmp is where he's always a buffoon, but sometimes he takes it up an extra several notches and makes an ass of himself.

The guy wrote an article to get some attention, not because he knows what the heck he's talking about.
You wanna cut costs?
Tell the government to stop protecting the legal monopoly the AMA has on us.

So you're more of an authority on it and we should take your claim's more seriously? Which I don't agree with him, but its not like he's just saying shit with nothing to try and justify it.

And where would this competition that would magically drive prices down come from? From the Free Market that looks to actively exploit people for profit and has done nothing but balloon pricing in the medical industry? The same one that had cigarette companies paying doctors to say "our brand cigarettes are good for your health!"? The one where they used to put cocaine, amphetamines, opiates, and any and all other things in soft drinks? The one that enabled companies to push synthetic opiates (that they knew were addictive just like real ones) to get people hooked on them, leading to drug epidemic? The one that enables people like Gwyneth Paltrow, Scientology, Mercola, and a whole bunch of others to shill bullshit?

I don't doubt the AMA might need some reform, but I'm not really sure how you think that will improve things. Ok, well to be fair you said cut costs. Which I don't doubt it would, just you know, its not going to actually treat anything better and will likely create a whole host of other problems that will end up costing us far more.

Hell, look how we're having to deal with that type of shit now. Anti-vaccine people spreading lies leading to outbreaks of diseases, people like Alex Jones pushing tainted supplements, a whole bunch of crazy shit being spread on social media, and that's before we get to the type of shit that corporations pull to cover their asses or boost their sales.