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What will improve the medical industry in the US dramatically is transparent pricing. When both consumers and providers have no idea how much the product or se

by pdq 10y ago

What will improve the medical industry in the US dramatically is transparent pricing. When both consumers and providers have no idea how much the product or service they are using actually costs, there is no way to control costs (ie competition, delaying the service, using an alternative product/service, etc). Thus our prices have spiraled out of control. For example, delivering a baby is an incredibly common procedure, known months in advance, but with opaque pricing paid by third parties, there is no incentive to price shop, nor is that straightforward for a consumer to do. The current average price of a routine delivery is over $8k [1]. [1] http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/30/costs-of-delivering-babies-vary-widely-in-us-california-cities-most-expensive.html http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/30/costs-of-delivering-babies-va...

jsymolon 10y ago
> there is no incentive to price shop, Again there is NO single item that will solve the "healthcare" issue. Voodoo Free Market ... You don't price shop. Your OB/GYN has admitting privileges to 1-2 hospitals in the area. You go to the one that your OB/GYN is AT and is closest to you. When the Anaesthesiologist trainee fucks up your epidural, you're going to whip out your phone to call another ? Not fucking likely. You're passed out at that point. Fucking Christ people, you have a relationship with your Doctor. "Come down to Joe's Oil, Tire and Baby Delivery Shop" $19.95 oil changes, $59.95 Baby deliveries. Additional charges may apply. (including emergency room access due to failed deliveries)
- conductr 10y ago
  Yes and no. Outpatient procedures could and should be price shopped. Do you have a relationship with the lady who draws your blood? The MRI tech? Not usually, or not a strong enough one that would cause changing providers a high friction experience. Birth is a perfect example to make your point of an existing, usually long term, relationship because of the typical women's health regimen. More usual however is you finding you need a procedure (maybe soon but not emergency), you then ask for a referral to a specialist or ask friends and do google searches to try to get a sense that the specialist isn't a quack. You could price shop at that point. Instead, the system is built upon referrals and kickbacks. Although, kickbacks are illegal now so they form physician groups which is basically a kickback in the form of profit sharing.
- dang 10y ago
  > Fucking Christ people, you have a relationship with your Doctor. No doubt, but please don't fulminate here.
monodeldiablo 10y ago
> What will improve the medical industry in the US dramatically is transparent pricing. No. Heavens no. It's way more complex than this. This isn't even on the Top 10 list of reasons American healthcare is a shambles. And it does nothing to explain why healthcare is so much better in every other Western democracy -- even and especially in places where there's less transparency about pricing than in the US. What will improve medicine in the US is putting everybody in the same risk pool. Every other solution is a losing bet. Stop foisting the old, the poor, the chronically ill, and veterans onto the government rolls while handing the low-risk middle over to for-profit corporations for milking. The "free market" is a notoriously bad fit for healthcare, which is why no other country does it.

by pdq 10y ago

jsymolon 10y ago

> there is no incentive to price shop, Again there is NO single item that will solve the "healthcare" issue. Voodoo Free Market ... You don't price shop. Your OB/GYN has admitting privileges to 1-2 hospitals in the area. You go to the one that your OB/GYN is AT and is closest to you. When the Anaesthesiologist trainee fucks up your epidural, you're going to whip out your phone to call another ? Not fucking likely. You're passed out at that point. Fucking Christ people, you have a relationship with your Doctor. "Come down to Joe's Oil, Tire and Baby Delivery Shop" $19.95 oil changes, $59.95 Baby deliveries. Additional charges may apply. (including emergency room access due to failed deliveries)

conductr 10y ago
Yes and no. Outpatient procedures could and should be price shopped. Do you have a relationship with the lady who draws your blood? The MRI tech? Not usually, or not a strong enough one that would cause changing providers a high friction experience. Birth is a perfect example to make your point of an existing, usually long term, relationship because of the typical women's health regimen. More usual however is you finding you need a procedure (maybe soon but not emergency), you then ask for a referral to a specialist or ask friends and do google searches to try to get a sense that the specialist isn't a quack. You could price shop at that point. Instead, the system is built upon referrals and kickbacks. Although, kickbacks are illegal now so they form physician groups which is basically a kickback in the form of profit sharing.
dang 10y ago
> Fucking Christ people, you have a relationship with your Doctor. No doubt, but please don't fulminate here.

monodeldiablo 10y ago

> What will improve the medical industry in the US dramatically is transparent pricing. No. Heavens no. It's way more complex than this. This isn't even on the Top 10 list of reasons American healthcare is a shambles. And it does nothing to explain why healthcare is so much better in every other Western democracy -- even and especially in places where there's less transparency about pricing than in the US. What will improve medicine in the US is putting everybody in the same risk pool. Every other solution is a losing bet. Stop foisting the old, the poor, the chronically ill, and veterans onto the government rolls while handing the low-risk middle over to for-profit corporations for milking. The "free market" is a notoriously bad fit for healthcare, which is why no other country does it.