3 ms·

>Is the healthcare industry just charging too much money? Yes. Twice as much as the rest of the world in fact. Mostly due to lack of competition (25 year monop

>Is the healthcare industry just charging too much money? Yes. Twice as much as the rest of the world in fact. Mostly due to lack of competition (25 year monopolies for simply adding a antacid to an existing drug) and zero negotiation on pricing. The President Elect said as much yesterday. https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/11/trump-on-drug-prices-pharma-companies-are-getting-away-with-murder/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/...

sergiotapia 10y ago
Is there any truth to what Trump said that healthcare providers have monopolies on divided by geographical areas? One of his proposed solutions is to outlaw these monopolies and let the providers compete between themselves to lower costs.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  It's vaguely true. Insurance policies are regulated at the state level (so to be sold to residents in a state a policy has to follow the regulations in that state). It's kind of hilarious that the conservative, small government party is proposing to federalize this regulation. The reality is that the policies that companies will be willing to sell across state lines are likely to be truly awfully shitty, by doing things like not having a coverage agreement with most hospitals (which will at least drive up out of pocket costs and complicate claims, if not enabling the companies to outright deny claims).
- KirinDave 10y ago
  This is not a thing you can legislate away effectively. The key to understanding here is that negotiation for health care is hard due to the fractured nature of providers and care. Insurers are micro-monopolies because they tend to serve districts or business sectors more effectively (cheaply) than others and rise to the top, but without a huge base of citizens to negotiate for no significant pricing change can really occur.
- alphabettsy 10y ago
  One of the largest and seemingly most unnoticed changes recently has been the consolidation of local hospitals into regional monopolies. It was already difficult to compare pricing in healthcare, now imagine when there are no other choices in your area.
  - nradov 10y ago
    Consolidation is an accelerating trend on both sides. Payers merge in order to have more negotiating power with providers. Providers respond by merging in order to have more negotiating power with payers.
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  Providers? Thats doctors and hospitals. Im not aware of anything but natural monopolies. Insurance company competition is rather low in my opinion. They are exempt from antitrust law[0] and can virtually collude to set prices. [0]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarran–Ferguson_Act https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarran–Ferguson_Act

sergiotapia 10y ago

Is there any truth to what Trump said that healthcare providers have monopolies on divided by geographical areas? One of his proposed solutions is to outlaw these monopolies and let the providers compete between themselves to lower costs.

maxerickson 10y ago
It's vaguely true. Insurance policies are regulated at the state level (so to be sold to residents in a state a policy has to follow the regulations in that state). It's kind of hilarious that the conservative, small government party is proposing to federalize this regulation. The reality is that the policies that companies will be willing to sell across state lines are likely to be truly awfully shitty, by doing things like not having a coverage agreement with most hospitals (which will at least drive up out of pocket costs and complicate claims, if not enabling the companies to outright deny claims).
KirinDave 10y ago
This is not a thing you can legislate away effectively. The key to understanding here is that negotiation for health care is hard due to the fractured nature of providers and care. Insurers are micro-monopolies because they tend to serve districts or business sectors more effectively (cheaply) than others and rise to the top, but without a huge base of citizens to negotiate for no significant pricing change can really occur.
alphabettsy 10y ago
One of the largest and seemingly most unnoticed changes recently has been the consolidation of local hospitals into regional monopolies. It was already difficult to compare pricing in healthcare, now imagine when there are no other choices in your area.
- nradov 10y ago
  Consolidation is an accelerating trend on both sides. Payers merge in order to have more negotiating power with providers. Providers respond by merging in order to have more negotiating power with payers.
cmdrfred 10y ago
Providers? Thats doctors and hospitals. Im not aware of anything but natural monopolies. Insurance company competition is rather low in my opinion. They are exempt from antitrust law[0] and can virtually collude to set prices. [0]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarran–Ferguson_Act https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarran–Ferguson_Act