Comments on: Ballooning Health Care Costs http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html Dispatches from a Small Business Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:39:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Thomas N. Campbell http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html/comment-page-1#comment-658 Thomas N. Campbell Tue, 31 Jan 2006 17:18:29 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html#comment-658 <p> It's going to be hard for the insurance, pharmaceutical, medical, and legislative monopoly to hold onto the facade that they provide the right approach to health care, esp since their system has vaulted MDs into the leading cause of death (See "Death by Medicine" by Gary Null et al online). 900,000 are unnecessarily dead each year from this system; that's over 2400 a day (Iraq is 2.1 US soldiers dead per day). Null's study is not the only one that exposes medical-performance shortcomings (See JAMA Vol 279(15) p1200 and the Barbara Starfield, MD, study in JAMA 2000. Or you could just read "Who's Representing the Healthy? by me and get all those studies in one place.)<br /> As a CEO on Ron Insana's CNBC roundtable discussion pointed out recently, "At the bottom line, we need fewer people going to doctors, if we plan to control costs." That means having healthier people. What motivates people to be healthy? Does free insurance provide motivation? It is more likely to produce a tax increase to pay for the "free" insurance.<br /> Rather than resort to socialism to attempt to repair our health-care problems, it might be worth asking if our current system provides incentives for good performance or disincentives for poor performance. It doesn't; everbody in the group pays the same premium. Group-health plans dump the poor-performance cost overruns onto the employer, the government and worst of all, onto the healthy policyholders, who end up paying a large portion of the premiums for those who fail to maintain their own bodies. Who is that motivating?<br /> Capitalism can fix the health-care problem, and part of that solution will be for people to own their body performance through individualizing premiums.<br /> Best regards,<br /> Dr. Thomas N. Campbell, DC</p> It’s going to be hard for the insurance, pharmaceutical, medical, and legislative monopoly to hold onto the facade that they provide the right approach to health care, esp since their system has vaulted MDs into the leading cause of death (See “Death by Medicine” by Gary Null et al online). 900,000 are unnecessarily dead each year from this system; that’s over 2400 a day (Iraq is 2.1 US soldiers dead per day). Null’s study is not the only one that exposes medical-performance shortcomings (See JAMA Vol 279(15) p1200 and the Barbara Starfield, MD, study in JAMA 2000. Or you could just read “Who’s Representing the Healthy? by me and get all those studies in one place.)
As a CEO on Ron Insana’s CNBC roundtable discussion pointed out recently, “At the bottom line, we need fewer people going to doctors, if we plan to control costs.” That means having healthier people. What motivates people to be healthy? Does free insurance provide motivation? It is more likely to produce a tax increase to pay for the “free” insurance.
Rather than resort to socialism to attempt to repair our health-care problems, it might be worth asking if our current system provides incentives for good performance or disincentives for poor performance. It doesn’t; everbody in the group pays the same premium. Group-health plans dump the poor-performance cost overruns onto the employer, the government and worst of all, onto the healthy policyholders, who end up paying a large portion of the premiums for those who fail to maintain their own bodies. Who is that motivating?
Capitalism can fix the health-care problem, and part of that solution will be for people to own their body performance through individualizing premiums.
Best regards,
Dr. Thomas N. Campbell, DC

]]> By: Nolan Martin http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html/comment-page-1#comment-657 Nolan Martin Tue, 08 Nov 2005 02:29:44 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html#comment-657 <p>This has always been an issue ever since. I think that the government is not taking this thing seriously. During presidential debates, we usually hear candidate bragging their health care programs. And included in the said programs are cost reduction methods. However, there has been a decline of fund allocation as other concerns become more of a priority. This will never be solved unless a colective effort is made by the government and health institutions. </p> This has always been an issue ever since. I think that the government is not taking this thing seriously. During presidential debates, we usually hear candidate bragging their health care programs. And included in the said programs are cost reduction methods. However, there has been a decline of fund allocation as other concerns become more of a priority. This will never be solved unless a colective effort is made by the government and health institutions.

]]> By: startled http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html/comment-page-1#comment-656 startled Thu, 22 Sep 2005 02:38:22 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html#comment-656 <p>http://www.georgesteele.com/wwwboard/messages/37220.html dayemeraldinadvertently</p> http://www.georgesteele.com/wwwboard/messages/37220.html dayemeraldinadvertently

]]> By: epador http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html/comment-page-1#comment-655 epador Sat, 19 Feb 2005 16:39:01 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html#comment-655 <p>Interesting points on the employer benefit not being taxed angle, but if you look at health care cost historically, the exponential rises occurred not with the advent of employer sponsored health plans, but Medicare. Read: socialist government involvement.</p> <p>Major costs in health care include labor, administration, pharmacy and procedures.</p> <p>Labor costs problems could fill a library, but one unique turning point was the loss of the diploma nurse and the advent of BS nursing. RN's moved out of the ward/trenches and into administration/academia, increasing their salaries but not the actual number of bedpans emptied, banadages changed or patients soothed/healed.</p> <p>Administration costs are related to the business of cornering and maintaining market share, and dealing with myriad regulations. Markets funded by insurance money (government $$ a big proportion of this). Regulations spawned by the government putting out all this money.</p> <p>Pharmacy costs relate to drug costs, and this is related to what the "market" will bear. The subsidized and costs-relatively-hidden-from-some-of-the-consumers market. Thanks to insurance, private and government, $$.</p> <p>Procedures costs driven by a re-imbursement system that favors "skills" over cognitive based efforts. The promises that an RVU system would fix this have not been realized. I'd love to see what would happen to our health care system if we went to a straight hourly rate for physician services. Might save a whole bunch of money in billing, administration, etc., not to mention change some of the arrogance and procedure-only stance of some surgeons...</p> Interesting points on the employer benefit not being taxed angle, but if you look at health care cost historically, the exponential rises occurred not with the advent of employer sponsored health plans, but Medicare. Read: socialist government involvement.

Major costs in health care include labor, administration, pharmacy and procedures.

Labor costs problems could fill a library, but one unique turning point was the loss of the diploma nurse and the advent of BS nursing. RN’s moved out of the ward/trenches and into administration/academia, increasing their salaries but not the actual number of bedpans emptied, banadages changed or patients soothed/healed.

Administration costs are related to the business of cornering and maintaining market share, and dealing with myriad regulations. Markets funded by insurance money (government $$ a big proportion of this). Regulations spawned by the government putting out all this money.

Pharmacy costs relate to drug costs, and this is related to what the “market” will bear. The subsidized and costs-relatively-hidden-from-some-of-the-consumers market. Thanks to insurance, private and government, $$.

Procedures costs driven by a re-imbursement system that favors “skills” over cognitive based efforts. The promises that an RVU system would fix this have not been realized. I’d love to see what would happen to our health care system if we went to a straight hourly rate for physician services. Might save a whole bunch of money in billing, administration, etc., not to mention change some of the arrogance and procedure-only stance of some surgeons…

]]> By: Rx News & Notes http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html/comment-page-1#comment-661 Rx News & Notes Mon, 14 Feb 2005 22:15:07 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html#comment-661 <strong>Ballooning Costs...</strong> [A]ll market driven forces rely on an informed consumer. While there is a plethora of information available both on- and off-line, at present there are very few resources for a consumer to get comparison information about medical and pharmaceutical p... Ballooning Costs…

[A]ll market driven forces rely on an informed consumer. While there is a plethora of information available both on- and off-line, at present there are very few resources for a consumer to get comparison information about medical and pharmaceutical p…

]]> By: Rx News & Notes http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html/comment-page-1#comment-2864 Rx News & Notes Mon, 14 Feb 2005 22:15:07 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html#comment-2864 <strong>Ballooning Costs...</strong> [A]ll market driven forces rely on an informed consumer. While there is a plethora of information available both on- and off-line, at present there are very few resources for a consumer to get comparison information about medical and pharmaceutical p... Ballooning Costs…

[A]ll market driven forces rely on an informed consumer. While there is a plethora of information available both on- and off-line, at present there are very few resources for a consumer to get comparison information about medical and pharmaceutical p…

]]> By: KC http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html/comment-page-1#comment-654 KC Mon, 14 Feb 2005 19:44:06 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html#comment-654 <p><br /> This is the way we all need to go: http://hsainsider.com/</p> <p>My wife and I will be starting our account this week.</p> <p>Synopsis: You treat your body like you treat your car. You get catostrophic coverage with a high deductible (>$5k) and then you can bank cash into a Health Savings Account that follows you around for life... regardless of state, employer, income, etc. And it's all pretax.</p> This is the way we all need to go: http://hsainsider.com/

My wife and I will be starting our account this week.

Synopsis: You treat your body like you treat your car. You get catostrophic coverage with a high deductible (>$5k) and then you can bank cash into a Health Savings Account that follows you around for life… regardless of state, employer, income, etc. And it’s all pretax.

]]> By: The Glittering Eye http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html/comment-page-1#comment-660 The Glittering Eye Mon, 14 Feb 2005 18:46:29 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html#comment-660 <strong>Making plans, health care costs, and bureaucracies</strong> With the Becker-Posner Blog's observations on health care that I linked to this morning and the recent related posts from Coyote Blog and Different River both of which suggest that the rise in health care costs can be explained solely... Making plans, health care costs, and bureaucracies

With the Becker-Posner Blog’s observations on health care that I linked to this morning and the recent related posts from Coyote Blog and Different River both of which suggest that the rise in health care costs can be explained solely…

]]> By: B Briggs http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html/comment-page-1#comment-653 B Briggs Mon, 14 Feb 2005 16:14:48 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html#comment-653 <p>Doesn't the HSA program do pretty much what you suggest? It makes the expenses paid, from the HSA, up to the higher deductible of the insurance policy a tax deductible expense. If you don't use all of the amount in the savings account it can be carried over to future years and a new contribution made in the following year. Similar to an IRA except for medical purposes. After a certain age the account is available for withdrawals for any purpose, not just medical. The result is that the consumer is more careful (we suppose) with the spending of their own funds. The insurance covers wellness checkups even before the deductible has been used up and covers catastrophic (sp?) events at an 80% level with a standard out of pocket cap. As a self employed person, I have this coverage for myself and my spouse, and I understand that many other small businesses are begining to offer this coverage to their employees as the premiums are much less than a delux plan.</p> <p>I agree that we need to add taxation to the employee of the premiums paid by the employer just as we do for employer paid life insurance over 50,000 of coverage. However if we tax the employee this might affect the employer's ability to claim deductions on the same. Possibly taxation of excess benefits used (other than unavoidable catastrophic events) would also curb the frivilous usage of health care that increases the costs to everyone.</p> Doesn’t the HSA program do pretty much what you suggest? It makes the expenses paid, from the HSA, up to the higher deductible of the insurance policy a tax deductible expense. If you don’t use all of the amount in the savings account it can be carried over to future years and a new contribution made in the following year. Similar to an IRA except for medical purposes. After a certain age the account is available for withdrawals for any purpose, not just medical. The result is that the consumer is more careful (we suppose) with the spending of their own funds. The insurance covers wellness checkups even before the deductible has been used up and covers catastrophic (sp?) events at an 80% level with a standard out of pocket cap. As a self employed person, I have this coverage for myself and my spouse, and I understand that many other small businesses are begining to offer this coverage to their employees as the premiums are much less than a delux plan.

I agree that we need to add taxation to the employee of the premiums paid by the employer just as we do for employer paid life insurance over 50,000 of coverage. However if we tax the employee this might affect the employer’s ability to claim deductions on the same. Possibly taxation of excess benefits used (other than unavoidable catastrophic events) would also curb the frivilous usage of health care that increases the costs to everyone.

]]> By: FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html/comment-page-1#comment-659 FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog Sun, 13 Feb 2005 18:53:01 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/02/ballooning_heal.html#comment-659 <strong>Health Care Costs Who Pays?</strong> Warren Meyer over at Coyote Blog has a good piece on the increasing nature of health care costs and the concomitant attitudes and results: Health Care Costs Who Pays?

Warren Meyer over at Coyote Blog has a good piece on the increasing nature of health care costs and the concomitant attitudes and results:

]]>