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If Medicare reimbursement rates actually mirrored market prices, this wouldn't be necessary. Doctors and especially hospitals rely on private markets to fill th
by richwater 2y ago
If Medicare reimbursement rates actually mirrored market prices, this wouldn't be necessary. Doctors and especially hospitals rely on private markets to fill the gap that Medicare refuses to pay.
https://www.aha.org/2024-01-10-infographic-medicare-significantly-underpays-hospitals-cost-patient-care https://www.aha.org/2024-01-10-infographic-medicare-signific...
https://www.cancernetwork.com/view/rising-prices-and-lower-medicare-reimbursement-rates-create-outrage-among-clinicians https://www.cancernetwork.com/view/rising-prices-and-lower-m...
- blactuary 2y agoCost-shifting from Medicare to private coverage has been roundly debunked many times over. Citing the AHA is laughable.
- richwater 2y agoCall it whatever you'd like but it's a fact that medicare reimbursements are absolutely terrible and the government keeps _reducing_ reimbursements in real value, forget about even keeping pace with inflation. https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/what-to-know-about-how-medicare-pays-physicians/ https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/what-to-know-about-... https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-health-insurers-slide-final-medicare-advantage-rate-sparks-margin-hit-fears-2024-04-02/ https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-health-insurers-slide-...
- blactuary 2y agoUtter nonsense. The AMA and AHA absolutely love that people buy their propaganda though
- richwater 2y agoYou are bringing nothing to this discussion while I've given you numerous sources.
- blactuary 2y agoBecause like I said this is a widely debunked myth that the industry has been slapping down over and over again for a long time. I've been in this industry working on these problems for 20+ years. You are trying to sell alchemy to a chemist https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3160596/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3160596/ https://www.coloradohealthinstitute.org/research/cost-shift-myth https://www.coloradohealthinstitute.org/research/cost-shift-... https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/myth-diagnosis-do-hospitals-charge-more-to-make-up-for-low-government-pay/560021/ https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/myth-diagnosis-do-hospit... https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/06/19/dont-blame-medicare-for-rising-medical-bills-blame-monopolies/ https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/06/19/dont-blame-medicare...
- richwater 2y agoI read a few of your articles and just have some parting statements. If the article on Healthcare Dive, the conclusion includes the statement: > Grundling said there has to be a breaking point somewhere so long as government rates fail to keep up with medical inflation So regardless if cost-shifting is occurring or not, reimbursement rates are not doing the job. The article in Washington Monthly seems to operate under the assumption that Medicare reimbursement rates are the "fair" value and anything above that is driven by greed. Instead it primarily blames monopolistic power as the cause of high prices, which is a power granted to them by.... the government. So excuse my hesitation when I have a strong disbelief that more government intervention will solve this problem, given the above statements.
- blactuary 2y agoThe provider side skates by with very little scrutiny in the US, when they make more than anywhere else in the world while also crying poverty and whining about Medicare/caid reimbursements. They're gonna have to figure out how to make it work with those rates because commercial spending levels are unsustainable, and the rate of medical inflation is unsustainable. I haven't said anything about "more government intervention". Hospitals, doctors, and device makers are making bank, and are still greedy for more. They are the ones causing medical inflation higher than general inflation, it is not a fact of nature. It's on them to figure it out and to learn to live within a smaller budget.
- webel0 2y agoIf medicare increases payouts then the payoff to this sort of behavior only increases.
- richwater 2y agoFair enough. However, I still think with better aligned incentives you could drive down undesirable behavior.