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>A comprehensive guide to the American healthcare system. im afraid this might be a moving target at best. So much of American healthcare is arbitrary, clande

>A comprehensive guide to the American healthcare system. im afraid this might be a moving target at best. So much of American healthcare is arbitrary, clandestine, and opaque. Prices are rarely made public, and justification or schedule for increase in drug prices or premiums is almost never made except in the most dire circumstances (Insulin inflation for example) and even then, its almost condescendingly boilerplate. Even seemingly simple things like ACA exchange markets and Medicare are mind-numbingly complex institutions whos coverage varies widely from state to state. Healthcare coverage is also governed by religious code in many states, where simple services like abortion, contraceptives, and family planning are subject to strict Judeo-Christian moral laws. many service providers can refuse to even process drug prescriptions should the customers request cause the employee some religious moral unrest. >Who are the actors and what are their incentives? Pharmaceutically these are largely institutions borne of dynastic wealth seeking profit. They run advertisements and sponsor content in local, state, and national news in order to drive customers to consume drugs and treatments, but they also lobby and in some cases bribe physicians and caregivers to give preferential treatment to their products.

analog31 7y ago
In my view, the only way to figure out how the healthcare system works is to own the whole thing.
blaser-waffle 7y ago
> im afraid this might be a moving target at best Absolutely. It's like "Steal This Book" from a while back, which was effectively outdated a month after it came out -- all of the info it had was picked up on, and fixed. Healthcare benefits GREATLY from asymmetrical information and pricing, and the moment a guide is published they'll alter the system. When I lived in Australia I had a mole removed on my knee -- a trivially minor surgery. They were able to give me a breakdown ahead of time what everything would cost, and what potential complications could crop up (and what they'd cost). All in it was ~$260.00 AUD in 2014 dollars, with ~400 for the biopsy. My dad had a skin growth removed off his neck and pre-insurance was north of $1700 USD last year -- and he only found that out a month later when the bill showed up (insurance covered most of it)
slumdev 7y ago
> simple services like abortion This is dishonest. Philosophers call it "begging the question." For someone who considers a fetus to be a human life, distinct from the mother's, with all its own dignity, this is not a "simple service".
- zaptheimpaler 7y ago
  Simple and moral are different. You're entitled to your opinion on the morality of abortion, but it is a simple medical procedure.
  - slumdev 7y ago
    This is not the way the parent comment was using the word "simple". This is obvious from context.
zentiggr 7y ago
Another straightforward appeal for transparency, transparency, transparency. The middleman organizations that negotiate deals in private, hospitals that make different discount deals with different insurers, even the insurers internal risk assessments and differential rates, all of these factors have been at least partially investigated. Let's combine those research results, and keep shining more light on the places where collusion and obfuscation let companies get away with sucking money out of patients, and when the whole ball of wax is exposed to the public, then we can root out the worst actors and keep digging until the system is as free of greedy manipulators as we can manage. Or we could French Revolution the CEOs and CFOs...

analog31 7y ago

In my view, the only way to figure out how the healthcare system works is to own the whole thing.

blaser-waffle 7y ago

> im afraid this might be a moving target at best Absolutely. It's like "Steal This Book" from a while back, which was effectively outdated a month after it came out -- all of the info it had was picked up on, and fixed. Healthcare benefits GREATLY from asymmetrical information and pricing, and the moment a guide is published they'll alter the system. When I lived in Australia I had a mole removed on my knee -- a trivially minor surgery. They were able to give me a breakdown ahead of time what everything would cost, and what potential complications could crop up (and what they'd cost). All in it was ~$260.00 AUD in 2014 dollars, with ~400 for the biopsy. My dad had a skin growth removed off his neck and pre-insurance was north of $1700 USD last year -- and he only found that out a month later when the bill showed up (insurance covered most of it)

slumdev 7y ago

> simple services like abortion This is dishonest. Philosophers call it "begging the question." For someone who considers a fetus to be a human life, distinct from the mother's, with all its own dignity, this is not a "simple service".

zaptheimpaler 7y ago
Simple and moral are different. You're entitled to your opinion on the morality of abortion, but it is a simple medical procedure.
- slumdev 7y ago
  This is not the way the parent comment was using the word "simple". This is obvious from context.

zentiggr 7y ago

Another straightforward appeal for transparency, transparency, transparency. The middleman organizations that negotiate deals in private, hospitals that make different discount deals with different insurers, even the insurers internal risk assessments and differential rates, all of these factors have been at least partially investigated. Let's combine those research results, and keep shining more light on the places where collusion and obfuscation let companies get away with sucking money out of patients, and when the whole ball of wax is exposed to the public, then we can root out the worst actors and keep digging until the system is as free of greedy manipulators as we can manage. Or we could French Revolution the CEOs and CFOs...