It all went to shit when people let health care get away from being a free market.
- Hospitals have to treat anybody that comes into the emergency room for any reason and whether or not they can pay for the treatments. If they charged everyone just what treatments costs plus a little more then they could never cover those that are unable to pay in the first place......so prices go up to cover the losses.
- If anyone makes a mistake, the hospital gets sued for millions and win or lose, have to pay their malpractice insurance and legal fees plus any negative PR even if it wasn't their fault.
- Advances come with a price. Just because someone has developed a new technique, treatment, medicine, etc. doesn't mean it's going to make the health care cheaper. New technology costs in research and development. New equipment costs, new materials have costs, etc. etc. etc. yet people want to pay the same amounts they did when the only solutions to some issues were amputation or hospice. What they could do in a hospital 100 years ago is the dark ages compared to what they can do now.....yet people all think that those advances should come for free.
- Government regulation......they have to hire staff just to keep up with all of the shit that comes from Washington. They have to jump through hoops left and right to stay within the law that had to be passed before it was even read. Insurance companies have to do the same thing. And the more complicated it gets, the more it costs the little people. And if you look at the history of government involvement, it tends not to make situations any better but much worse.
- Insurance is a gamble.....not a guarantee. You are gambling that you are going to get sicker than you pay for monthly premiums and deductibles and the insurance companies are gambling the other way. It's a business intended to make money so they err on their own side. It's not that different than Vegas.
- People think it's a right. Nobody has a claim on the work of others. Saying that you have a right to a doctors efforts is like claiming you have a right to a SP's services because you are in need. Hungry people don't get to dictate to the farmers. Homeless don't get to make demands on the housing market. But for some reason (perhaps misguided compassion), people seem to think that the people who spend years and sacrifice their own money and time to gain the knowledge needed to become doctors, nurses, pharmacists, researchers, technicians, engineers, etc. are somehow beholden to the ill and have to use their hard won skills to help every Tom, Dick and Harry that comes along in "need". And it's not just that they need care....they should have the right to the absolute best care and latest treatments no matter what the cost. It's like saying every homeless person should have a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom home with 2 car attached garage. That every hungry person should be able to eat at a five star restaurant. I'm compassionate but that doesn't mean that I believe every single person is entitled to every single thing they need. Just like in nature, some individuals don't have what it takes to survive and reproduce. Some organisms fall to predators, disease, hunger, lack of water or space, or any of a number of reasons.....logic should tell everyone that this is part of nature. But for some people out there, every single organism should be saved......even if it's to the detriment of the species, or local ecology. If you save every single one, then their won't be enough resources for all and all will pay the price.
I like the idea of the cash clinics. They don't accept insurance of any kind as I understand it. You go......they tell you what it will cost to diagnose and treat you.....you make the decision on what you can afford to have done. Some can afford the latest techniques.....some can just afford less treatment. Not everyone gets to have a mansion with two exotic cars in the garage....some people can only get a shack and have to walk places. Not everyone can have steak and lobster at every meal.....some have to eat at McDonald's. I'd love to see clinics at different price ranges. The best doctors can charge whatever to treat the people who can afford to pay their exorbitant prices.....and some people go to see a graduate from the Nicaragua School of Medicine who is willing to trade live chickens for putting stitches in your split chin. We have housing at every level. We have foods at every price point. We have products that are produced in mass and others that are produced by hand by the finest craftsmen......but for some reason, medicine doesn't seem to fall into that category.
And since I haven't seen mention of it........look at the Charlie Gard story. Sick baby.....the hospital won't let them take him out so they can get him treatment elsewhere. They are trapped in the public health system and ARE NOT ALLOWED OUT! WTF is that? They were able to raise the funds to bring their kid to the US where they could try treatments. The Vatican offered to help them. But no.....the hospital (representing the state) would not allow them to take their own baby home! The hospital and courts decided that the child should die rather than let the parents use their own resources to do whatever they could to save their baby. It wasn't going to cost taxpayers a dime. But that's not good enough. They feel that the state had more ownership of that sick baby than his very own parents did.
And I know the answers coming.......even the US doctor said nothing could be done....right? Well that was 9 months after the fiasco started. Had they let the baby go see the US doctor early on, their may have been hope. Instead, the family got to spend it's time arguing in court that they had the right to their own child. You want to talk about fascism......their you go. Your ass belongs to the gubberment....and you are going to do things the way some pencil pusher in the bureaucracy thinks it should be done!
That's why we don't want a single payer system here in the states. The basic US citizen does NOT belong to the state or to other US citizens. We are a free people and we should be able to decide how we live.......or die. The government is supposed to work for us.....not own us and dictate to us.
