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Everything you say is true. Modern healthcare is so expensive and inefficient because its built around the demands and capabilities of the past. Usually I hate

Everything you say is true. Modern healthcare is so expensive and inefficient because its built around the demands and capabilities of the past. Usually I hate it when people say something is fundamentally broken, but healthcare really is. The time has come for a complete overhaul of the system. No more primary care doctors. They can be replaced by software and patient service representatives. Diagnostic services should be the front line of healthcare. You should be able to get whatever diagnostic test you want, whenever you want. All prices must be 100% transparent to the patient before any services are rendered. Opaque pricing allows for arbitrarily high pricing. Huge increases in medical school enrollments. Removal of arbitrary licensing caps. So much more needs to be done but this is a start.

tasty_freeze 7y ago
> You should be able to get whatever diagnostic test you want, whenever you want. Tests may be less expensive than what we are getting billed, but they aren't free. There are hypochondriacs who I'm sure would order hundreds of tests a year if allowed. There are many people who have hard to diagnose problems, and out of desperation, would order tests which have no possible bearing on their condition, just in case it finds something. Let's say that you routinely screen everyone for everything, because why not, it's free. What is the burden of not only performing all those tests, but following up on the flood of false positives? It would probably swamp the healthcare system, allocating resources to the wrong places.
jimmaswell 7y ago
Unlimited licensing could lead to everyone getting paid too low or unemployment. I've honestly wondered if compsci is goingto need caps. Everywhere is unreasonably picky about who will be considered even for an internship, because they can, because there are so many compsci grads. Getting my first job involved months of searching and horrible offers like 30k until I got lucky. This being with extensive volunteer experience since high school, 3.8 college gpa, honors in a tech school my high school sent me to, and an internship. I've seen lots of horror stories of CS grads applying everywhere for years fruitlessly because nobody wants them. Is this what we want to happen to doctors?
- 9HZZRfNlpR 7y ago
  I don't understand what would be the problem in that case, the market would find and set the price?
x3iv130f 7y ago
Giving diagnostic tests like that would lead to a lot of false-positives. With any diagnostic test you need to understand what it tests for, how it tests for it, and when it gives false-positives and negatives. It's just not possible to understand what's going on without a lot of training and education.

tasty_freeze 7y ago

> You should be able to get whatever diagnostic test you want, whenever you want. Tests may be less expensive than what we are getting billed, but they aren't free. There are hypochondriacs who I'm sure would order hundreds of tests a year if allowed. There are many people who have hard to diagnose problems, and out of desperation, would order tests which have no possible bearing on their condition, just in case it finds something. Let's say that you routinely screen everyone for everything, because why not, it's free. What is the burden of not only performing all those tests, but following up on the flood of false positives? It would probably swamp the healthcare system, allocating resources to the wrong places.

jimmaswell 7y ago

Unlimited licensing could lead to everyone getting paid too low or unemployment. I've honestly wondered if compsci is goingto need caps. Everywhere is unreasonably picky about who will be considered even for an internship, because they can, because there are so many compsci grads. Getting my first job involved months of searching and horrible offers like 30k until I got lucky. This being with extensive volunteer experience since high school, 3.8 college gpa, honors in a tech school my high school sent me to, and an internship. I've seen lots of horror stories of CS grads applying everywhere for years fruitlessly because nobody wants them. Is this what we want to happen to doctors?

9HZZRfNlpR 7y ago
I don't understand what would be the problem in that case, the market would find and set the price?

x3iv130f 7y ago

Giving diagnostic tests like that would lead to a lot of false-positives. With any diagnostic test you need to understand what it tests for, how it tests for it, and when it gives false-positives and negatives. It's just not possible to understand what's going on without a lot of training and education.