Loved his guest spots on Golden Girls.

Also I've been told by reliable sources (ie people who claim to have been accepted to medical school) on this board that preventative medicine does not lower health care costs at all. How does that reconcile with the orange slice of the pie in the OP?

The most frustrating part is the 2 biggest forms of waste (totaling 400B according to the graph) are a result of turrible record keeping. Not even a problem with actual healthcare, seems a federal database of medical history tied to a person (through their finger print or something) could immediately solve the redundant services problem, probably some confidentiality issues in that type of record keeping tho

how can preventative medicine not lower costs?

The huge moral hazard in health care is obesity. What happened to personal responsibility in our society? You can't have it both ways.

I don't like fatties either but what are ya gonna do, shoot 'em?

Starve them to death aprtly. That's sure to bring down the cost of medicine.

Which slice of the pie are obese people responsible for?

Not sure, but looks like annually 'waste' could be as much as 30% of costs, lmao...

I doubt fat people got that beat.

half the people in the country are obese that does not increase healthcare costs? this is a touchy subject though obviously since half the participants in the conversation will be obese.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickunga...-than-smoking/

looking at these numbers, i think obesity has waste beat.

obese men spend an extra $1150 and obese women an extra $3613 a year on healthcare.

Wow, that is pretty good. First time I heard this. Not advertised though huh, lol

Private insurers also offer discounts on premiums for joining a gym.

The Forbes articles say 190B in extra obesity health care dollars, so not as much as waste in OP's source.

All for incentives to cut back on obesity, though. My wife gets money for an exercise log from her work, which is actually a non-profit health provider.

As a healthcare worker I say lets keep the good times rolling.

Just kidding, kinda...

LOL

One man's pain is another man's pleasure.

How long has the UK been single payer? Anyone know?

problem: There is lot's of waste in healthcare!!!!!

solution: get the govt more involved.

LOL

What is the solution? I mean, it's factual that the US spends more than any other country in the world per capita on health care. It's also factual according to the OP that a significant portion of those costs result from fraud. What's the fix?

I think if we hope to see lower medical spending, Americans will need to become more involved with choosing their treatments. With our current 3rd payer system of government or insurance paying around 90% of our health care treatments, there is little incentive for hospitals or physicians to offer lower cost options. For example, one of the more profitable areas of our medical system is Lap-band weight loss surgery. An anonymous doctor wrote an article on how the surgery helps generate a great deal of profit for many working in the health care system. She has noticed though, that by and large the operation is unnecessary for most, and that there is a cheaper and safer way for the patient to drop the pound. The problem being if she told the patient the truth, she would be fired.

"Bariatric Whistleblower: Fake Nails and Lap-Band"

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2012/0...-and-lap-band/

Domino theory - you admit that more socialism might be better in HC and before you know it we are working in gulags.

the obvious joke answer is "whichever slice is biggest"

Preventative care improves health outcomes but doesn't lower total costs.


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...not-cut-costs/

I'm surprised.

I don't find it that surprising when most doctor's idea of preventative care is 'how much commission can I get on lab tests today?'