4 ms·
What foreigners with socialized systems dont understand is that financing is not the same as cost. The us has individual financing and high cost. The industria
by conanbatt 8y ago
What foreigners with socialized systems dont understand is that financing is not the same as cost.
The us has individual financing and high cost. The industrialized world has medium-high cost and no individual financing. Third world countries have no individual financing and low cost.
Individual financing does have an impact on cost, but thats not what makes healthcare in the US expensive as a whole. Its a combination of regulatory capture and subsidies and regulation. And the public is also very responsible for such a system because americans are very averse to sub-standard care.
- sorokod 8y agoHow does any of this explain haggling over a medical bill?
- mercutio2 8y agoThat’s what individual financing means. Most people who respond with mock disbelief in US medical discussions are actually responding to the perception of medical care being expensive, not in shock at the idea that anyone would ever have to pay out of pocket. The point is that US medical care is expensive because we pay nurses and doctors an order of magnitude more than they’re paid in Costa Rica. That makes everything expensive; where that expense precisely gets billed is mostly window dressing.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- drb91 8y agoPaying for healthcare you need out of pocket is pretty fucked up.
- sorokod 8y agoHow does any of this explain haggling over a medical bill?
- mercutio2 8y agoThat’s... what I just explained? Haggling over a medical bill == individual financing.
- sorokod 8y agoThat Costa Rica reference threw me off, I didn't realize that your claim is the haggling over medical bills is built in into the US health care system.
- mercutio2 8y agoCosta Rica was the starting point for this thread. Haggling over medical costs is built into individual financing, but of course most people in the US don’t do individual financing, so my argument is more that arguing over idiosyncrasies of individual financing is usually a red herring when discussing the US health care system.
- conanbatt 8y agoAs long as a human being provides a service and another human being wishes to consume it, there will be haggling. You just might not see it happening when a third party does it for you.
- sorokod 8y agoTaking this to the logical conclusion we have "I will break your teeth if you don't give that stuff of yours because I can". Social structures and laws evolved for a reason.
- Youden 8y ago> The us has individual financing and high cost. I think that's quite an understatement given total healthcare spending in the US is over 2x the OECD average: https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm
- conanbatt 8y agoServices are also very different. One must adjust to that: US has many more high-end healthcare services. In any case, you cant lower spending and increase access by socializing care: government will have to ration it.