My dentist charges those without insurance who pay themselves a lower rate. No middleman.

The what now? I mean, how did it even make sense in you head that people WITH JOBS THAT HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE would end up on Medicaid?


Honestly I don't even think your argument is a chain email or talk radio thing, it's new to me and I tend to keep up with those things. What happened, I suspect, is that Glenn Beck started fear mongering the olds about that Obama trying to take aware your doctor, and then you didn't hear anything about it for a while... so you assumed that whatever Glenn Beck was scared of probably happened.

2/3 of America is fat. Why should the other 1/3 subsidize them?

We can't afford medicaid. My mother's roommate(only two years older than I) in a nursing facility was a medicaid patient. It was her 22nd time she had been admitted. If every American consumed health care like her, America would have been broke decades ago.

How the **** should I know?

Probably too much, but again, how the **** should I know? Whatever you negotiate with her or her payor.

Are you seriously trying to make a "woe is the poor doctor who voluntarily accepts a fee" point here?

A number of years ago I had a small surgical procedure done (was in and out of the hospital in a few hours). My insurance was charged 4k, of which i paid around 1.5k. At first i thought to myself i would have been fine without insurance even for needing this random super small chance of happening procedure out of the blue. Then somehow the doctors billing sent me a pre insurance deal breakdown of the procedure, it was 23k. wtf? so 23k for the same **** for someone without insurance, my private insurance gets it for 4k, how is this legal?

What other industry does being a part of a business group allow you to get such massive discounts? It's like if all of sudden having aaa membership allowed you to get most $500 a night hotel rooms for 40 bucks while every other schmuck has to pay $500 a night... It's absurd.

If you're paying out of pocket you won't be charged that price.

First, I'm an expert in PPACA and the healthcare system overall so please ask me anything.

Second, the reason HC is so expensive in this country has almost nothing to do with insurance executives. Depending on your affiliation - individual, small firm, large firm, insurance companies make a varying amount of profit off of you. While it can be high in the individual mkt, overall insurance profits are very low and net to the system overall, its a benefit given the amount of care restricted.

Litigation is a problem - the direct costs are not as big as you would think. However, the threat of litgation causes doctors to overtest for every little thing. In addition, HC in most settings is reimbursed based on services performed thus incentivizng doctors to do more. This is the far bigger cost.

The biggest variable is that many other developed nations have socialized systems which is why HC spending is so much lower there. Essentially the US is subsidizing the rest of the world. This is well documented.

Isn't this just an extreme version of the kinds of things Sams Club and BJ's Wholesale Warehouse do? Bulk purchases = savings

I agree with what your getting at here, but at the very least I think government could provide absolutely free regular checkups without an insurance middleman. That way if an obese chain-smoker came in the doctor could slap them around a few times and perhaps that person wouldn't be a drain on the system in the future.

Yup.

It's also the same thing hotels do. Check out the price of the room that's posted on the door. It's almost always a ridiculous number like $750. How many people pay that price? Almost zero - but by posting that number they reserve the right to legally charge it at some point.

Ill make the question easier.

Should i be paid at all for seeing the pt i described?

The reality though is that those fat chain-smokers tend to die young, so in a lot of cases they're actually cheaper than a healthy person who lives into their 90s.

lol wrong.

Yeah, that sounds ridiculous. Even if it were true from an absolute value point of view (which I doubt) - it's certainly not true when you account for people that live longer paying more in taxes/premiums/whatever.

I'll prepare to be proved wrong with a source though.

Actually I did read an article somewhere that obesity is pretty close to being a wash for healthcare costs since fat people tend to die of heart-attacks which kill you pretty quickly.

That is utterly not true of cancer patients though.

Seriously, I don't know what you're arguing here. No one is saying that doctors shouldn't be paid, and paid well. The crux of the Obamacare argument is whether the government should be allowed to regulate the health insurance market to guarantee that everyone in the country gets care, and/or whether it can mandate that all citizens purchase some kind of coverage. Doctors' salaries are a different issue.

Well to be honest it was something I heard from a couple of cardiologists while listening to Doctor Radio, so it could easily be wrong. I don't think it would surprise me either way.

I agree with this. Dentists/ins. cos have been running the silver/white filling scam for a long time now. Ins. co only covers silver fillings, no one gets silver fillings anymore, dentist makes some extra $$. I really don't mind this one actually as it keeps dentists afloat, and puts some reasonable financial burden on the insured - as there should be with all medical visits and procedures.

Ok Sarah Palin.

Modern US government definitely artificially increases doctor compensation compared to a hypothetical libertarian wonderland.

Licensing requirements, special medical malpractice rules, and they fund care for old and poor people who would otherwise not be able to pay. Plumbers maybe get state enforced licensure, but that's it.

Like, I'm kinda interested in where renodoc is going with this. I'm 99% sure it's just another unbelievably callous and oblivious bout of him whining about how while his life is really good it could be better if the government gave him more money for doing the same amount of work he currently does. Maybe he's got something even better planned for us?

Sheesh. Either govt isn't jacking prices to the moon or it's ruining Renodoc's life with draconian Medicare price cuts. Can govt ever get anything right?

Of course not, that's why it shouldn't exist.

I get paid nothing if I can't find anything wrong with this healthy woman.

Obamacare fixes this, right?

Fixes what? Obamacare is health insurance reform, it's not going to make your toast always land butter side up.

Negotiate a better fee structure if you find your current arrangement unacceptable.

P.S. Boys, never doubt that I have my finger directly on the pulse of Real America.

Already made to medicare age. Was once sick for 36 hours.
Much cheaper to pay to have appendix removed than to pay 65 years of health insurance.