Anyone have a Christian Medshare policy?

[Torvy]

You cannot have a system that defies supply and demand. It is a fantasy.

 

[Snobdds]

One way to export R&D costs is to start allowing our largest health insurers, Medicare and Medicaid, which account for nearly 40% of health insurance coverage, to start negotiating drug prices. Just like the other countries do. Or, allow Medicare and Medicaid to purchase medicines from other countries that have FDA approved procurement/resale systems.

If it was only that easy...


We joked when congress last year passed a law allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. It was lipservice. Absolutely nothing has come from that. We tried 20 years ago and they told us to pound sand. Their solution was to give "coupons" to consumers to bypass insurance all together. Which served nothing more than getting people on their drugs for next to nothing for awhile and then after their 10 coupons run out...they win.


I bet medicare gets coupons thrown at them as a concession.

 

[gsganzer]

If it was only that easy...


We joked when congress last year passed a law allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. It was lipservice. Absolutely nothing has come from that. We tried 20 years ago and they told us to pound sand. Their solution was to give "coupons" to consumers to bypass insurance all together. Which served nothing more than getting people on their drugs for next to nothing for awhile and then after their 10 coupons run out...they win.


I bet medicare gets coupons thrown at them as a concession.

I guess this is why I have such a hard time understanding this. Why can't the market forces be brought to bear by the consumer?
When you tried 20 years ago, are you saying the drug companies told Medicare/Medicaid to pound sand? Or was it the lobbying of the pharmaceutical industry on our politicians that made the deal fall through? Or the direct advertising of drugs to the public that made the citizens tell the government to stay out of it and go pound sand?

Maybe I think too simply, but by allowing Medicare and Medicaid to either:
A. negotiate drug prices or
B. Buy from any country that has an FDA approved purchase/resale system

Isn't that leveraging the supply/demand principle? Especially option B, that would allow whoever is the best negotiator to get the lowest price. What weapon is the drug industry wielding in response that keeps it from being enacted? Lobbying?

I keep looking at the history of insulin prices as a clear example that the supply/demand, capitalist/consumer system is out of whack in the healthcare industry.

 

[Snobdds]

I guess this is why I have such a hard time understanding this. Why can't the market forces be brought to bear by the consumer?
When you tried 20 years ago, are you saying the drug companies told Medicare/Medicaid to pound sand? Or was it the lobbying of the pharmaceutical industry on our politicians that made the deal fall through? Or the direct advertising of drugs to the public that made the citizens tell the government to stay out of it and go pound sand?

Maybe I think too simply, but by allowing Medicare and Medicaid to either:
A. negotiate drug prices or
B. Buy from any country that has an FDA approved purchase/resale system

Isn't that leveraging the supply/demand principle? Especially option B, that would allow whoever is the best negotiator to get the lowest price. What weapon is the drug industry wielding in response that keeps it from being enacted? Lobbying?

I keep looking at the history of insulin prices as a clear example that the supply/demand, capitalist/consumer system is out of whack in the healthcare industry.

It's simple really, there is not a substitute product to bring market forces upon drug companies. They run legalized monopolies.

When there is no substitute for Humira, what can be done. Patents last for 20 years for drugs. By then a new drug is made that is even better and the cycles starts all over again.

They know this...

 

[WM75Guy]

One problem is only the USA and New Zealand allow for unrestricted direct marketing of pharmaceuticals to consumers. Canada allows it with restrictions. No other countries allow it. Take out the advertising cost on TV and magazines and the price of drugs would go down.

Also, people came into the hospital and the clinics demanding this or that drug they saw on TV or they had already self-diagnosed themselves from the advertising or the internet. Since reimbursement is tied to patient satisfaction surveys, they would get what they wanted. An example was people coming in demanding antibiotics for a viral illness. That is what a Z-pak is for, to make them happy. By the time they finish the Z-Pak the viral illness has run its course. They feel better but the Z-pak had nothing to do with it.

 

[tractortroof]

Great conversation. Healthcare is really unavailable in America more and more.

It is not a free market, neither is it completely socialist. It’s becoming the worst of both worlds.

Deregulation is the key imo. I don’t think we would tolerate full government control, which gets into fixing prices (exactly what Medicare/Medicaid do now and it does not work) neither of these govt healthcare programs actually pay for their services-hospitals would fold overnight if everyone paid what Medicaid pays for services.

That leaves making it easier for ambitious medical professionals to form new types of healthcare. Hell, I could see an in home physician making a killing, probably without taking insurance. My pediatrician does this.

People would have to stop suing for every reason. It’s really disgusting.

In other words we just need to take down the entire thing. That’s all. Maybe I’ll just move to another country.

 

[ultrarunner]

Probably why outpatient surgery continues to be a growth segment in that with no emergency services and mostly elective cases they are not covering huge groups of uninsured or medicaid...

It's often said hospitals keep driving up the cost but hospitals continue to close unable to keep the doors open when most patients are Medicaid or MediCal in California.

As mentioned before some of the outstanding providers are faith based and we lost a very good one with as much as 85% without private insurance.

Say what you will but the nuns could not be true to their faith when mandated to provide Family Planning services so they left...

 

[shooterdon]

We will never see affordable health care until contingency attorneys are banned.

 

[ultrarunner]

Don't know if it was ever affordable to all but growing up we were self insured... Doc would accept installment payments for all services.

Today, just asked what the cash pay at the time of service is and compare to the posted rate... it can be a real eye opener...

It takes a lot of time to get authorizations and even when a claim is paid it can be months or even years and the amount maybe less than agreed when there is a disagreement on coding, etc.

 

[gsganzer]

I feel like US healthcare is just another example of the failure of our legislators. I understand when healthcare was made a "benefit" as a way to skirt wage caps during WW2 (1942 Stabilization Act). But why was it never repealed after the need had passed? I feel like it aided in removing the true consumer (the insured) from the actual costs.

Here's a really good article on the rising in costs in relation to years, societal changes and policies passed.

The Rising Costs of Health Care by Year