The Health Care Class Five Hurricane - Part 2

Continuing where I left off on the last post, the new health care legislation is going to cost someone a lot of money, and by someone what I really mean is the rich. Sacrificing the money of the wealthy might be worth it in my eyes if this plan actually cuts the cost of medical care. It's insane how much hospitals charge. I recently looked at the itemized bill of someone who broke their leg and it was ridiculous. They charged over $200 for a pair of crutches! I saw the same exact pair at Walgreens for $24.95. Judging by the way they charged for a night stay at the hospital you would think it was a luxury suite on top of the Burj Dubai. No wonder insurance companies charge so much for coverage. Hospitals charge them a fortune and they have to pass it on to us. I'm sure insurance companies get a hefty discount on hospital services but even with a 2/3 reduction it's still highway robbery. If the mandate reduces the number of people using emergency rooms for unpaid primary care by 30 million, as it claims, it makes sense to me that it could reduce costs. As for the hoards of illegal immigrants who will not be covered by the plan and who will continue to use emergency rooms for primary care, hopefully they won't negate all of the cost cutting potential the plan seems to have.

Numerous other factors contribute to high health care costs as well. Many patients on health insurance plans see the doctor too often and receive unnecessary treatment because the patients don't see a significant, direct cost to themselves. The way in which doctors are paid is also a mess. Doctors have an insentive to treat patients unnecessarily because the more procedures a doctor performs, the more he/she gets paid. This is in addition to every hospital feeling like they need to purchase the latest technology to keep up with their peers. All these extra costs get passed on to the average person buying insurance. Does the new legislation address these issues? I have no idea. If it does I haven't heard about it. It makes me wonder -- How many of these problems does the bill need to address to make a real difference in cost? Does anyone know Steven Leavitt's number?

Republicans certainly don't think the bill will lower health care costs. I find this ironic since I'm pretty sure that doing nothing won't cut costs either (excuse the double negative), which is exactly what Republicans did during the eight years of Bush. They chose Social Security reform over health care reform. Social Security Reform tanked -- thank goodness in light of the financial collapse -- and the health care problem grew to where we find it today. 45 million or so uninsured is a big problem that Republicans let slide.

In the end, I'm luke warm about the legislation but I hate the timing. Since I am inherently selfish, I have no problem with taxing the rich. I just wish Obama would have made the economy and our skyrocketing debt his first priority and saved health care reform until later. Some may say it was now or never or that health care and the economy are so intertwined that one cannot be fixed without the other, but I don't buy it. I think our economy's biggest problem is our debt and this bill will cost a lot of money. In my judgement, this health care cage match ends in a draw. Both sides lose. Democrats shouldn't have launched this during touch economic times and Republicans shouldn't be so annoying. Stop calling everyone a socialist!

Thus concludes my uninformed review of health care. You are probably thinking, "Reading this was a total waste of my time. This person has no idea what he's talking about" and you are probably right. But that's the beauty of the blog. It's a snapshot of the thoughts of the average uninformed American. Please feel free to share your uninformed opinions on the health care. To have something posted on the site, email your comment to moderateanduninformed@gmail.com. Otherwise, use the comment box below.