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The article specifically addresses the fact that profit motive alone does not account for the prevalence unnecessary treatment. Further, only about 20% of US h
by Hnrobert42 10y ago
The article specifically addresses the fact that profit motive alone does not account for the prevalence unnecessary treatment.
Further, only about 20% of US hospitals are private, for-profit endeavors. Over 75% are not-for-profit or government. Of course, they are still affected bybthings like revenue, prestige, "performance" metrics, etc. But Canadian hospitals suffer from those same drivers.
I applaud the work you are doing, but I question your confidence that the US system is the only system with these issues.
- anentropic 10y agothe issue is funding... it doesn't matter if the hospital is run as a non-profit, as long as they are funded by insurance claims then the incentive is to do more expensive treatment... paying for more equipment, doctors etc publicly-funded health care has the opposite problem - constant pressure to reduce the budget
- kgwgk 10y agoDoes the insurance company have an incentive to pay as much as possible?
- LgWoodenBadger 10y agoIIRC, the ACA has stipulation that 80% of premiums must be spent on medical services, so...a larger spend -> increased premiums -> a larger 20% piece of pie they can keep.
- kgwgk 10y agoThat's true, the minimum MLR creates a distorsion to the incentives.
- kjetijor 10y ago[Gross oversimplification] Nope - insurers are incentivized to pay as little as they can get away with. Which leads to healthcare providers being incentivized to bill the insurers as much as they can get away with. They'll meet somewhere in the middle.
- maxxxxx 10y agoDon't get confused by the label "non profit". Not for profit hospitals still make a lot of profit for their management. Their incentives are similar to for profit hospitals. The money just God to different people.