Comments on: Free Health Care Plan Costs Add Up

By: Kiddoc

Kiddoc — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:31:10 +0000

Dave: Yes docs are a supply/demand just as everything else. But we are not where the money sinkhole is. You suggest if we just crank out more doctors then the price of seeing a doctor will go down. But already, the number of doctors going into primary care is vanishing, because they are not paid ENOUGH. Hmm let’s see… I can go to school for 12 years post-high school, rack up $200K in debt, and then become a family doc and make 150K/yr (and bust my butt) or become a dermatologist and make 300K/yr AND work half as hard (ain’t no dermatological emergencies). And if I keep my standard of living to the same as I would have if I were the family doc, I have my loans paid off in 2 years instead of 10-30 years.

So yes, study your economics. You can’t simply drive the price down by flooding the market with supply in this instance. What is cost to you is income to the MD, which is going to have its own supply/demand curve.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:28:39 +0000

This seems like the same type of problem the U.S. faced with oil under the Carter Administration. We’re too focused on the demand side (patients) and not even considering the supply side (doctors and researchers).

Has it occurred to anyone that only 5% of the bachelors degree’s handed out in the U.S. are in a science area? Does that sound like a problem to anyone? Is it not true that if we had more doctors, the price to go see a doctor would go down? This is an economics website. I would hope you would be able to complete the logic.

Oh wait, in government the bottom line is votes, not dollars. Ohhh… That’s why they want to give so many more people “free” coverage… Na, they aren’t buying votes. Hell, tax those rich people at 90% and give everyone a job and healthcare. Problem solved. No more recession, no more healthcare costs for Americans, unless your rich. But who cares, the rich can’t out-vote the rest of us.

How did we become the wealthiest nation in the world again? Oh yeah, the government did it for us. (The government gave the business world the Microsoft operating system and the car manufactures the assembly line, so that millions could enjoy computer and cars, thank you government for taking care of us!)

By: Jason T. Campbell

Jason T. Campbell — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:24:01 +0000

Greetings: From the charts on this web page, the U.S. spends only slightly more of its budget on healthcare than most other industrial countries; but spends multiples more on defense. Yet our debts and deficits are roughly in-line with other industrial nations. How do we maintain large defense spending and healthcare spending and run no larger than a historically sustainable deficit? Isn’t squeezing the inefficiency out of the private sector much the same insubstantial rhetoric as squeezing the inefficiency out of government bureacracy? If we really spend 2x as much as other industrial countries, do we really believe we can squeeze 50% of the fat out of the medical industry? If so, we should do it. If not, why not – is the statistic meaningful?

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:47:38 +0000

Free? In what bizarro universe is health care free? Only (some) Americans believe this nonsense. Everyone who lives in countries with universal health care understands that it’s paid for through taxes.

There’s no free lunch.

By: jim

jim — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 06:05:43 +0000

The problem with this whole debate is that people take their political views (liberal or conservative) and go find data or come up with a ‘theory’ to prove their views.

It sickens me to hear people cite statistics (e.g. “we spend more than twice as much as any other country on heath care, we rank 37th in the world in health outcomes…) and then jump to some conclusion or solution without asking ‘why???’.

Why do we spend so much and get so little? could it be because we eat too much supersized fast food and we don’t exercise enough? could a contributing factor be we practice defensive medicine because of overzealous lawyers? or is it because of evil HMO executives?

Why are so many people uninsured? is it because of greedy insurance middlemen? or is it because of laws and govt requirements that make the only heath plan for sale a ‘Cadillac’ plan that covers everything under the sun?
MUST be because of the middlemen… Lord knows there are no other middlemen or brokers in the American economy, so we must get rid of the healthcare middlemen and let the government handle it, because the government is SO good at managing things.

Come to think of it, car insurance and life insurance would be a lot cheaper if we had a single payer car or life insurance system. maybe we can have the government take over appliance warranties and such… that’s a form of insurance!

Come on people, THINK. Use your brain!
Think on economic principle. Expanding/giving coverage to everyone is going to *increase* costs, not lower them. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give everyone health insurance, but don’t sell me expanded coverage as a cost containment strategy. If you want to bring down costs, find a way to expose people to prices and to foster competition. Costs will come down like they have in *every other* industry. this is not rocket science, but you do need to think a little deeper and treat the laws of economics like the laws of nature…

By: stuff

stuff — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:31:03 +0000

Wirsbro said: “What makes people think they are entitled to other people’s property, earnings and wealth?”

oh you know, the fact that they made all that property earnings and wealth while drinking water from our community well, driving on our community roads, protected by our community police and army, educated by our community schools, and sold their products/services in our community markets.

what arrogance makes you think that once you get something you did it all on your own? you are standing on the backs of the millions who came before you, made this country free enough for you to earn ANYTHING. and you should pay your share like everyone else. and yes that includes paying for someone elses cancer treatment so they can have a chance at the same wealth and life that you enjoy.

By: Rhodri

Rhodri — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:30:55 +0000

Healthy people are happier and more productive with less social problems, it’s an investment in the future. Also, making hospitals accountable to the govening body leads to greater efficiencey from which all benifit. The money will come back in time as a consequence of better health for all.

By: "Free Health Care Plan Costs Add Up" | Bookmarks

"Free Health Care Plan Costs Add Up" | Bookmarks — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:31:06 +0000

[...] $(function(){ $(“#startbox”).html(“Love this graphic…$239 billion will be added to the Federal Deficit. I assume this added cost is not included in [...]

By: Wirsbro

Wirsbro — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:59:07 +0000

What makes people think they are entitled to other people’s property, earnings and wealth?

By: Hugh

Hugh — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:06:51 +0000

And I have to ask: how does every other industrialized country do this and yet financial Armageddon does not seem to strike them down? In fact, the U.S. is being swallowed up and passed on many different fronts economically and technologically. We spend more than twice as much as any other country on heath care, we rank 37th in the world in health outcomes (behind Costa Rica and ahead of Slovenia) and we rank last — LAST — out of 29 developed countries.

I was watching “Sicko” again by Michael Moore and the sad fact is that Americans have been brainwashed for decades and don’t realize that in France, Germany, Britain, Canada and most other countries, it is virtually unheard of that anyone would be bankrupted by their medical bills. If you watch the film, when people from other countries are asked about their insurance “premiums” and “co-pays,” they just stare blankly — because their health care is covered — and a priority — and all they have to do is show up and get treated. And the government provides many other services to their people while we get very little. Oh, we do have some awesome military hardware though.

As one American ex-pat put it succinctly, in France, the government is afraid of its people. In America, the people are afraid of their government. We’re being robbed by corporations who have bought and paid for the government and yet people want to protect THEIR right to keep doing this rather than defend themselves by demanding single-payer health care. The empire is crumbling around us and we deserve what we get.