4 ms·

Why should the amount you need to pay for life-saving care depend on your social/intellectual wherewithal to negotiate? Is this a good outcome for society?

HarryHirsch 8y ago
Shareholder value doesn't care about society.
- ben509 8y ago
  Except the vast majority (4,888 of 6,210) of hospitals have no shareholders because they are run as non-profits or by governments. https://www.aha.org/statistics/fast-facts-us-hospitals https://www.aha.org/statistics/fast-facts-us-hospitals
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    Non profit means profit for management and their friends. They aren’t do gooders.
    - jjoonathan 8y ago
      I'd reckon the people downvoting you have never tried to negotiate a bill.
      - HarryHirsch 8y ago
        You wish a dissected aortic aneurysm in front of Zuckerberg General on the folks arguing for negotiation or a market-based solution. The pox aren't serious enough.
      - maxxxxx 8y ago
        Just look at he ownership structure of a lot of non profit hospitals. It’s always the same well connected guys.
    - ben509 8y ago
      Government isn't made up of do-gooders, either. Churches are full of hypocrites. Private companies want to make money. We manage to solve all kinds of other problems with these same structures despite the fact that the people working in them have not achieved your level of sainthood.
ben509 8y ago
It shouldn't. It also shouldn't be hidden in "employer contributions" to insurance premiums. Large parts of the sector shouldn't be financed through massively inefficient wealth transfers and block grants to states. We have too much third-party payer, especially mandated third-party payer, that distorts the face value of these services. Sectors of health care that are largely cash-based, such as corrective eye surgery, many orthodontic treatments, most plastic surgery, are all quite cheap and have up front pricing that is easy to follow. Actual healthcare reform needs to rip out the old, broken systems and replace them with a simple plan for chronic healthcare needs, insist on transparency in pricing, and let the market take care of the rest.

HarryHirsch 8y ago

Shareholder value doesn't care about society.

ben509 8y ago
Except the vast majority (4,888 of 6,210) of hospitals have no shareholders because they are run as non-profits or by governments. https://www.aha.org/statistics/fast-facts-us-hospitals https://www.aha.org/statistics/fast-facts-us-hospitals
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  Non profit means profit for management and their friends. They aren’t do gooders.
  - jjoonathan 8y ago
    I'd reckon the people downvoting you have never tried to negotiate a bill.
    - HarryHirsch 8y ago
      You wish a dissected aortic aneurysm in front of Zuckerberg General on the folks arguing for negotiation or a market-based solution. The pox aren't serious enough.
    - maxxxxx 8y ago
      Just look at he ownership structure of a lot of non profit hospitals. It’s always the same well connected guys.
  - ben509 8y ago
    Government isn't made up of do-gooders, either. Churches are full of hypocrites. Private companies want to make money. We manage to solve all kinds of other problems with these same structures despite the fact that the people working in them have not achieved your level of sainthood.

ben509 8y ago

It shouldn't. It also shouldn't be hidden in "employer contributions" to insurance premiums. Large parts of the sector shouldn't be financed through massively inefficient wealth transfers and block grants to states. We have too much third-party payer, especially mandated third-party payer, that distorts the face value of these services. Sectors of health care that are largely cash-based, such as corrective eye surgery, many orthodontic treatments, most plastic surgery, are all quite cheap and have up front pricing that is easy to follow. Actual healthcare reform needs to rip out the old, broken systems and replace them with a simple plan for chronic healthcare needs, insist on transparency in pricing, and let the market take care of the rest.