3 ms·

In the US we actually use quite a bit less healthcare than some other places in the developed world (Japan, for example). Which is what you would expect, that o

In the US we actually use quite a bit less healthcare than some other places in the developed world (Japan, for example). Which is what you would expect, that our high prices would reduce the consumption of healthcare. We in the USA have come to believe, as a society, that healthcare is exorbitantly expensive. But it's not actually exorbitantly expensive to provide healthcare, we just pay exorbitantly high prices. Which actually helps convince us that healthcare is, by nature, exorbitantly expensive.

aksss 4y ago
I can tell you from sitting in meetings with insurance brokers that people (employees) consume healthcare with very little regard for price. ER and urgent care usage is too high, MRI's vary in price in the same city by 400%, but there is no price discrimination going on for the consumer because they just pay a copay or less (if they've hit their deductible) - it's "free". You say we actually use quite a bit less healthcare, but I'm not sure who "we" is. "We" make dumb decisions about healthcare - preferring UC clinics to preventative healthcare and sanitation, we overpay because we can't price shop services, we don't know the actual costs of what we're consuming and so make very dumb decisions, and sorry, that opaqueness is by design. It's a fantastic money machine.
- jewayne 4y ago
  Notice, you're not complaining about employees using too many health services, you're complaining about you and your employees getting massively overcharged for the (let's be honest, relatively few) healthcare services they get. My point is -- almost none of those things should have exorbitantly high prices, because they don't actually cost that much. Do urgent care centers actually use an exorbitant amount of resources to provide health care services? They do not. Does getting any MRI actually consume thousands of dollars of resources, even counting labor? It does not. To me, the main reason we still have not had meaningful healthcare reform in this country is that Americans have seen the made up numbers on those ridiculous works of fiction called "medical bills" and "statements of benefits" for long enough, that they think they are real. They are not.
  - aksss 4y ago
    Yep, I wasn't (intentionally) disagreeing with you, though if I were nit-picking, I'd say they're using too much of the wrong services - going to the emergency room for a tooth ache or some similarly minor reason would maybe get a second thought if they saw how much it cost. When I went for several years without any insurance (starting a business), I became far more discriminating on the services I was paying out of pocket for, and also opted not to go to the hospital for minor stuff I would have gone to when I had insurance.

aksss 4y ago

I can tell you from sitting in meetings with insurance brokers that people (employees) consume healthcare with very little regard for price. ER and urgent care usage is too high, MRI's vary in price in the same city by 400%, but there is no price discrimination going on for the consumer because they just pay a copay or less (if they've hit their deductible) - it's "free". You say we actually use quite a bit less healthcare, but I'm not sure who "we" is. "We" make dumb decisions about healthcare - preferring UC clinics to preventative healthcare and sanitation, we overpay because we can't price shop services, we don't know the actual costs of what we're consuming and so make very dumb decisions, and sorry, that opaqueness is by design. It's a fantastic money machine.

jewayne 4y ago
Notice, you're not complaining about employees using too many health services, you're complaining about you and your employees getting massively overcharged for the (let's be honest, relatively few) healthcare services they get. My point is -- almost none of those things should have exorbitantly high prices, because they don't actually cost that much. Do urgent care centers actually use an exorbitant amount of resources to provide health care services? They do not. Does getting any MRI actually consume thousands of dollars of resources, even counting labor? It does not. To me, the main reason we still have not had meaningful healthcare reform in this country is that Americans have seen the made up numbers on those ridiculous works of fiction called "medical bills" and "statements of benefits" for long enough, that they think they are real. They are not.
- aksss 4y ago
  Yep, I wasn't (intentionally) disagreeing with you, though if I were nit-picking, I'd say they're using too much of the wrong services - going to the emergency room for a tooth ache or some similarly minor reason would maybe get a second thought if they saw how much it cost. When I went for several years without any insurance (starting a business), I became far more discriminating on the services I was paying out of pocket for, and also opted not to go to the hospital for minor stuff I would have gone to when I had insurance.