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>surely making the government pay less money for the same services is a good thing? Is it? Are they actually paying less...or is the cost being dumped on to s
by j_walter 5y ago
>surely making the government pay less money for the same services is a good thing?
Is it? Are they actually paying less...or is the cost being dumped on to someone else? This is like saying people who get SNAP benefits are paying less and everyone wins...except someone has to pick up the cost. Many Medicare costs aren't negotiated and the hospitals are told what they will pay for certain procedures (and again hospitals change the price for others to make up the difference).
I think what they are talking about is prescription drug prices...which even Trump said needed to be done.
- dragontamer 5y ago> Are they actually paying less...or is the cost being dumped on to someone else? Cost compared to what? In a free market situation, everyone gets to negotiate for the price. It seems insane to be a group advocating for the free market of ideas, only to decide that the free market / negotiation suddenly doesn't work in this case. If the government negotiates too low, then the other side rejects the deal. If the government negotiates too high, the other side accepts the deal and the government wastes money (but probably less waste than no negotiation at all). You know, like sane people would. Standard free market philosophy. Government doesn't want to lose services (Medicare / Medicaid promises a set of services), so that incentivizes the Government not to shoot too low on the price. That's the price discovery mechanism.
- nebula8804 5y agoAOC rebutted this point years ago. I'm starting to think we will be having these pointless discussions for decades or until the system completely collapses. There is just so much disinformation out there and it is still being peddled today in 2021. [1]: https://youtu.be/Ma2FvPTi5uQ?t=16 https://youtu.be/Ma2FvPTi5uQ?t=16