Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble...
by pg314 on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @08:26AM
(#14299397)
> This is nonsense.
No it isn't.
> Someone has to decide if a procedure is worth the cost. If it's not the patient (who isn't paying)
In Belgium, it is the doctor together with the patient. If a procedure is medically justified, cost doesn't factor into the equation.
> In a bureaucratic system, you have bureaucrats deciding what procedures are for whom and when.
That is simply false.
Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble...
by humanrebar on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @09:15AM
(#14299701)
> If a procedure is medically justified, cost doesn't factor into the equation.
Of course it does. There are rules saying what procedures are urgent, which ones are legitimate, and which treatments are covered and at what prices. The government doesn't write a blank check for doctors and patients to fill out.
Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble...
by pg314 on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @12:20PM
(#14301294)
I didn't say the government writes a blank check. They have a list of legitimate procedures, and fix a price for them. The administration is able to get a good price because it is in a strong bargaining position against pharmaceutical companies. However, price has historically not been a factor in deciding the medical effectiveness of a treatment. There is currently a debate on whether it should be: is it justified to cover cancer medicine costing 500.000 EUR per patient per year for life ([1], in Dutch)?
[1] http://www.mloz.be/nl/art/dure-geneesmiddelen-structurele-ma...
This is nonsense. Someone has to decide if a procedure is worth the cost. If it's not the patient (who isn't paying) and it's not an insurer (though who wants that?), it's the government.
Deciding a procedure isn't appropriate or worth the cost is rationing. In a bureaucratic system, you have bureaucrats deciding what procedures are for whom and when.