So you are saying that 48% of all US citizens who have healthcare have it through Medicare and Medicaid?
A few other things-
Why does it cost 75 bucks to make an X-ray? Why does it cost 300 bucks for a 20 minute doctor checkup? Why does it cost 400 bucks for a female to get a mammogram?
Medicare/Medicaid is not the only negotiator in the market, ALL private insurance carriers negotiate..we are with Cigna now and I get these statements every single time we get a script or visit a doctor and they boast about how they negotiate and have deals with doctors for a savings of X dollars.
You are focusing on the government as usual while I am trying to focus on COST..why does it even cost 75 bucks to run an x-ray?
The reason for cost increases over the past multiple decades isnt because of government regulation or restrictions. There are other reasons as to why, one of the larger reasons is the expansion of profits and PE ratios for public companies..which includes drug companies, hospitals, health care firms..the reason for increases in costs are to justify stock prices, make bonuses and profits.
I do not agree about the role of government as you are describing..I dont think there is some sinister plan for the government to trap the private sector..to me the reason for regulation and restriction is due to complaints from citizens due to ABUSES from the private sector..regulations come after complaints and abuses. There are multitudes of class action suits going on against physicians and hospitals...constantly and it never stops. I read an article on yahoo finance last week about how this hospital was the beneficiary of like 150 million dollars from the charitable trust this couple established and they pissed through it due to malpractice losses.
I think the reason for the constant rise in expenses is due to profits, malpractice issues, script companies being allowed to hold a patent monopoly here while most other countries do not allow..the high cost of education and the cost of technology.
I really think the government is way down on the list of reasons why cost are not stopping. With or without Obamacare costs are not going to slow down and benefits will keep dropping.
The healthcare plan we have keeps getting worse and worse and worse with premiums going up, copays going up, maximums dropping and overall benefit dropping.
Doctors also do not like seeing government plan patients because the payout takes longer. I have a friend who is an office manager for a LARGE multi doctor practice and she says the payout time for government vs private is much longer. The system the government uses for processing claims and communicating with physicians is not up to date due to the COST of upgrading and training with a new system.
If you want to cut costs to government programs they need better technology..if you want to cut costs to the system, the blame is not on the government.
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