Healthcare Reform

Making Chimichangas said:
I'm not talking about stopping continuity of care, so no one would die.  (At least not from a lack of care.)

I'm talking about simplifying healthcare, getting rid of--or eliminating as much as possible, the bureaucracy on the administrative side.  I've worked collecting medical records.  I've seen first hand the huge staffs HIM departments have to have just to make sure records comply with not only HIPAA, but relevant CFRs, varying state statutes, etc.  CMS (Center For Medicare and Medicaid Services is a huge government bureaucracy that sets policy on healthcare.  Then there are insurance companies who have their own bureaucracy and administration which adds to the overhead cost of health care.  Then there are the pharma corporations whose price gouging of meds should (in my opinion) be a crime.  Martin Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud but should have been convicted of price gouging also.

But the point is, changing our healthcare system so that quality stays high and costs low will more than lilely never happen because (as I stated previously) too many people are riding this gravy train and will fight reform because it takes away their seat at the buffet.  
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How many people's lives and financial security are you willing to destroy to do it all with a swipe of a pen?

And, I'm not talking about the 1%ers.

 
BigRedBuster said:
How many people's lives and financial security are you willing to destroy to do it all with a swipe of a pen?

And, I'm not talking about the 1%ers.
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So what about the people who suddenly find themselves sick and need serious medical care?  Then that medical care starts costing into tens of thousands, or worse, hundreds of thousands dollars?  A major illness can literally bankrupt someone and that's not right either.  I admit @BigRedBuster, I don't have a direct answer to your question.  What I do know is that the status quo is unacceptable. 

 
Point is, you're an idealist chimi - you're not a pragmatist. Both are important, but your pie in the sky ideas are not nearly as easily accomplished as you make them out to be. Especially when you're dealing with something so large and bloated and inefficient and embedded with bureaucracy. Those sorts of things are near impossible to drastically change, not because of a lack of willingness, but because it's no small feat to stop an 800lb. ball of snow from rolling down a mountain.

 
Between this revelation from Tom Price and yesterday Marco Rubio realizing that the tax breaks aren't trickling down I think I see the re-election plan shaping up. Feigned ignorance. I mean, who could have predicted that these things were going to happen?

 
Making Chimichangas said:
So what about the people who suddenly find themselves sick and need serious medical care?  Then that medical care starts costing into tens of thousands, or worse, hundreds of thousands dollars?  A major illness can literally bankrupt someone and that's not right either.  I admit @BigRedBuster, I don't have a direct answer to your question.  What I do know is that the status quo is unacceptable. 
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I'm not saying the status quo (before ACA or after) is the answer. My point is, when you just "scrap the entire system and start over" with the swipe of a pen.....unintended consequences always happen.  There are literally millions of Americans who make their living (not rich heathens) in this system that in your idealistic world would be cut and lose their jobs.

Figuring out how to do this while not destroying those people's financial lives is the trick.

Even if you don't care about that.....the financial hit the country would take with all of these people being jobless would be huge.

 
BigRedBuster said:
I'm not saying the status quo (before ACA or after) is the answer. My point is, when you just "scrap the entire system and start over" with the swipe of a pen.....unintended consequences always happen.  There are literally millions of Americans who make their living (not rich heathens) in this system that in your idealistic world would be cut and lose their jobs.

Figuring out how to do this while not destroying those people's financial lives is the trick.

Even if you don't care about that.....the financial hit the country would take with all of these people being jobless would be huge.
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Great point. We not only need to decide what we want for healthcare, but also how to handle the transition to get there. Some of those people will get hired into whatever new system we're transitioning to, but a lot of them won't and we need a plan for how to help them transition. There's no way to make a major transition like this without hurting some people, but we should at least try to soften the blow as much as practicable.

 
RedDenver said:
Great point. We not only need to decide what we want for healthcare, but also how to handle the transition to get there. Some of those people will get hired into whatever new system we're transitioning to, but a lot of them won't and we need a plan for how to help them transition. There's no way to make a major transition like this without hurting some people, but we should at least try to soften the blow as much as practicable.
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Exactly.

If I get a colonoscopy, I shouldn't be having to pay for 100 people to shuffle paperwork.  Ultimately, we should want a system where that doesn't happen.  But, what can we do to soften the blow of those 100 people in the transition?

 
BigRedBuster said:
Exactly.

If I get a colonoscopy, I shouldn't be having to pay for 100 people to shuffle paperwork.  Ultimately, we should want a system where that doesn't happen.  But, what can we do to soften the blow of those 100 people in the transition?
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I suppose similar to coal or any other industry where workers are losing their jobs: extend unemployment benefits, provide retraining, and help with finding new jobs. I'm sure there are lots of other things I'm not thinking of.

 
BigRedBuster said:
I'm not saying the status quo (before ACA or after) is the answer. My point is, when you just "scrap the entire system and start over" with the swipe of a pen.....unintended consequences always happen.  There are literally millions of Americans who make their living (not rich heathens) in this system that in your idealistic world would be cut and lose their jobs.

Figuring out how to do this while not destroying those people's financial lives is the trick.

Even if you don't care about that.....the financial hit the country would take with all of these people being jobless would be huge.
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That's probably going to happen anyway.  It might be a separate discussion for now, but AI and robots will be eventually replacing almost all people in the workforce.  I realize this veers the healthcare conversation into a larger, and more general discussion, but it's coming and it's just a matter of time.

 
Making Chimichangas said:
That's probably going to happen anyway.  It might be a separate discussion for now, but AI and robots will be eventually replacing almost all people in the workforce.  I realize this veers the healthcare conversation into a larger, and more general discussion, but it's coming and it's just a matter of time.
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Replacing is the wrong word. They will continue to take over more and more jobs that humans currently occupy, but we just invent new jobs all the time. 

10 years ago there were no jobs in app development, managing social media, decentralized transpo services (Uber, Lyft), big data analytics, youtube content creation, drone operation, podcast hosting, SEO analytics, cloud architecture, and a million other things. 

10 years from now there will be just as many jobs as there ever have been if not more, we just don't know what they'll be in yet.

 
Landlord said:
Replacing is the wrong word. They will continue to take over more and more jobs that humans currently occupy, but we just invent new jobs all the time. 

10 years ago there were no jobs in app development, managing social media, decentralized transpo services (Uber, Lyft), big data analytics, youtube content creation, drone operation, podcast hosting, SEO analytics, cloud architecture, and a million other things. 

10 years from now there will be just as many jobs as there ever have been if not more, we just don't know what they'll be in yet.
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Figure it out and you can make a fortune.

 
"The middle men became very, very rich. Whoever those middle men were, a lot of people never figured it out, they’re rich. They won’t be so rich anymore." —Trump
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^ This sounds like a guy who knows what he's talking about.

He also wants to deregulate, but the only way that would help is if regulations were the reason drug costs are high, and I find that unlikely.

I honestly think regulating drug prices would do a lot more good than making it cheaper to manufacture drugs (and easier to create drugs that harm people).

 
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Moiraine said:
^ This sounds like a guy who knows what he's talking about.

He also wants to deregulate, but the only way that would help is if regulations were the reason drug costs are high, and I find that unlikely.

I honestly think regulating drug prices would do a lot more good than making it cheaper to manufacture drugs (and easier to create drugs that harm people).
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Well I quoted an article where one big pharma company spent 9 million on R&D, and 19 million on advertising...

So I am with you in stating that "too much regulation" is NOT the primary driving cost of health meds.

 
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