1/2 U.S. personal bankruptcies from medical bills

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by JimmyCracksCorn


Yeah, so? Maybe you'll actually get people becoming doctors who - gasp- want to be doctors! Not everyone practices medicine because they want two porches...

Like it or not, in this world money is important.

You haven't supported universal healthcare which is left wing B.S.

[Boris Godunov]

Actually, the link he provided was quite strong support of universal healthcare.

You provide NOTHING! You criminal!

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by el freako
Government intervention in healthcare is far more likely because of the way the market for healthcare operates.

Healthcare professionals have to be very knowledgable about their subject, and are almost always far more knowledgable than their customers.
When the seller of a product or service has a large advantage over the buyer you usually get a more imperfect market than normal.

This can easily be seen by the fact that Doctors etc. are not allowed to practice unless they belong to the professional bodies - which have far more in common with the medieval guild system than with a modern market economy - which is a clear restraint on trade which boosts the incomes of doctors, but one which the vast majority of people are willing to pay for in return for the trust they have to place in people selling them the service.


Free trade works far less well in healthcare than in most other markets, the question is would government intervention (which will be inevitable to some extent or another) be better, I think that it depends greatly on how the government intervenes and whether it can try and make the market work better than it currently does.

Good post. I think another factor is that the market demand could never support significant competition. the cost of facilities and education is so high that providers need to operate at high capacity.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Giancarlo
It is a huge drawback. What if these doctors are paid so little, they don't want to do their job? Being a doctor is a difficult, often gruesome job and I believe they deserve a better wage then what a universal healthcare system can afford.

What the hell are you talking about? A universal heathcare system can afford more than a free market.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Actually, the link he provided was quite strong support of universal healthcare.

You provide NOTHING! You criminal!

Now Boris... Stop Fezing on Fez.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Whaleboy
Ming... it's well over 1% of the US population and baring in mind the likely economic state of the people affected (the poorest and those most likely to suffer from ill health) I think it's appalling.

350,000 is 0,1%, not 1%, philosopher.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Giancarlo
It isn't the sole cause, but the largest cause. It is that simple. Government controlled health care only needs to cover its costs? Yeah, you want the government controlling your health? Because I certainly don't. I think socialist healthcare would be a massive disaster for a country the size of the US.

You want an insurance company controlling your health?

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Giancarlo
It is a huge drawback. What if these doctors are paid so little, they don't want to do their job? Being a doctor is a difficult, often gruesome job and I believe they deserve a better wage then what a universal healthcare system can afford.

You could at least try to make decent arguments. People in "socialist" countries are lining up at medicine faculties, even though... god forbid... they'll be making 150K a year instead of 400K.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ming
So 350,000 personal bankruptcies

No, there are 1.4 million bankruptcies. Half that is 700,000 is for medical bills and 75% of those had insurance.

The linky says, "About half cited medical causes, which indicates that 1.9 to 2.2 million Americans (filers plus dependents) experienced medical bankruptcy." So that's close to .67% to .75% of the American population, which is actually a rather large number, almost one out of a hundred.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia


once again, if they had saved money, they would be able to withstand this shock. second of all, you dont lose your job when you get sick/injured. show me a worker that got fired because of an illness or injury, and ill give you the number to mark geragos.

I don't think you understand how insanley high some of these medical bills can get.

We are talking several hundred thousand or even over a million dollars in bills.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Dissident
national healthcare system

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ted Striker


I don't think you understand how insanley high some of these medical bills can get.

We are talking several hundred thousand or even over a million dollars in bills.

That's the exception. The average out-of-pocket costs for someone with insurance was more than $13K, while interestingly enough, for those without insuance it was slightly over $10K. Hence my point that not only is our system of private insurance not protecting us, it even costs more than not having insurance.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Giancarlo
The reason why our health care costs are up is because of lawsuits. Even insurance can't cover the costs because doctors are forced to push up charges... it all falls down to bogus law-suits.

I hope you never have a botched surgery!

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


That's the exception.

True

The average out-of-pocket costs for someone with insurance was more than $13K, while interestingly enough, for those without insuance it was slightly over $10K. Hence my point that not only is our system of private insurance not protecting us, it even costs more than not having insurance.

Strange.

[Imran Siddiqui]

More and more, I lean towards a more active role of the government in health care. This comes not just from stuff like this, but from my work, where I hear from dozens of people each day who get screwed by their health insurance who won't pay for procedures and the only way they can force the insurance providers to cover necessary procedures is to get an attorney and sue them. They dont' have money for for the lawyer and most lawyers won't take the case (too little money in it).

And restricting law suits isn't the answer. Wait until you or someone you know suffers from malpractice, such as cutting the wrong limb off or leaving a scalpel inside of you before you decide to cut off that route. Negligent doctors SHOULD pay for their mistakes.