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Great article. It’s important to understand that hospitals are the enemy in American healthcare. (All of its layers are the enemy, but hospitals are often overl
by stevebmark 4y ago
Great article. It’s important to understand that hospitals are the enemy in American healthcare. (All of its layers are the enemy, but hospitals are often overlooked).
Many hospitals are viscous for-profit machines that fraudulently maintain a non-profit status. They employ CFOs and business analysts to maximize profits unrelated to care quality. They hire “medical coders” whose entire job is to find the highest price way to legally bill you for services. (Is a surgery followed by stitches from a second doctor one procedure or two? Can we bill higher for medication if we can’t bill more for surgery? Can we charge a “room fee”?). And medical coder fees often show up on hospital bills sent to patients! The non profit mission of hospitals has long ago been lost to maximizing profits.
- mistrial9 4y ago> that hospitals are the enemy in American healthcare no, not every hospital is run this way. Many are, of course.. how can constructive engagement get past these shrill and urgent criticisms, and make positive change?
- BugsJustFindMe 4y agoMy perspective isn't universal, but it's true enough that your objection reads like an attempt to subversively derail to me. Just thought you should know how what you just said might come across.
- digdugdirk 4y agoIn this case, I think that having more people constructively engage with the fact that these "shrill and urgent criticisms" are the reality for the vast majority of Americans would make for a positive change. If the vast majority of bank tellers sucker punch you in the face after completing a transaction, the correct response is to implement a sweeping reform of bank tellers - not to do a deep dive root analysis on the positives and negatives that bank tellers add to the banking experience.
- mgkimsal 4y agoAny criticism of banking at all would be met with "we have the best banking system in the world!", ignoring the 40 million 'unbanked' people.
- stevebmark 4y agoThe article calls out hospitals engaging in predatory lending. I called out non-profit status as fraud, medical coders, room fees, and financial officers taking over hospitals. I think there's plenty to change here. I'm happy to come off as shrill in exchange for awareness. I'm also not sure what the negativity is around urgency.
- pessimizer 4y agoThis comment has no content other than an empty insult against the comment it is replying to. How can it be considered constructive? I choose shrill and urgent criticisms over vacuity any day.
- yamtaddle 4y agoThe US medical system is a giant gaping stab wound on our economy and society. Shrill and urgent criticism is the minimum kind of reaction it should be drawing. And yes, basically every part of it is very much to blame, including hospitals.
- sli 4y agoMedical debt is at least the plurality if not the majority reason people in the US declare bankruptcy. It doesn't matter if it's "not all" when it's far, far too many. The whole idea of shopping around for a better deal (or just a less awful deal) when you need a hospital is patently and obviously ridiculous.
- mistrial9 4y agoI called for progress, as a negotiated and necessary step. constructive insights, anyone? Misaligned incentives seems to only scratch the surface of the problem space, given the quality and depth of the responses here.