Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger problem than corporate taxes

Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble... by dagw on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @09:49AM (#14299940)

if needed but not urgent stuff is done at time convenient to all parties

The most convenient time for me for my knee surgery was yesterday the most convenient time for the hospital was in 4-6 month. Guess who's convenience was taken into consideration.

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Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble... by oculusprimus on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @12:37PM (#14301494)

This comment perfectly encapusulate the american way of thinking and why in my opinion we can never have nice things.

Its always me-me-me. Screw everybody else's needs. If i cant get get what i the second i ask for it then the system muat be horrible.

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Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble... by bonzini on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @12:53PM (#14301664)

In what country was that? What is the inconvenience of delaying the knee surgery (e.g. can you walk/drive/work)?

Would you be able to cut the waiting time in this country by paying more? What would be the waiting time without paying extra (which I'm sure the insurance company would not approve) in the US?

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Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble... by ceejayoz on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @11:09AM (#14300678)

> Guess who's convenience was taken into consideration.

4-6 months worth of other patients with similar needs?

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Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble... by dagw on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @11:50AM (#14301026)

Exactly. They didn't have enough resources to take care of everybody in the timeline all those patients wanted to, so everybody got put on a waiting list and knee surgeries where rationed out based on needs and available resources based on some opaque system.

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Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble... by ceejayoz on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @11:55AM (#14301076)

So... you'd like a system with so much extra capacity sitting around that elective surgery would always be available next-day?

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Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble... by dagw on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @12:07PM (#14301177)

Not at all (well obviously it would be nice, but highly unrealistic). I'm just saying that claiming the the 'European' systems are so great that they don't have waiting lists or rationing is asinine.

And while I guess knee surgery is technically 'elective' as in I could elect to not be able to carry heavy things and have trouble getting up stairs, I'm not quite sure I'd use that term.

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Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble... by ceejayoz on Tuesday May 09, 2017 @01:07PM (#14301824)

Claiming there's no waiting in Europe is idiotic. Claiming Europe is bad because there's waiting is similarly idiotic, given the fact that US has significant wait times for procedures and specialists as well.

As for using the term "elective", I would use that term, given it has a specific definition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elective_surgery

> Elective surgery or elective procedure (from the Latin eligere, meaning to choose) is surgery that is scheduled in advance because it does not involve a medical emergency. Semi-elective surgery is a surgery that must be done to preserve the patient's life, but does not need to be performed immediately.

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