Re:Warren Buffett says health care costs are a bigger proble...
by xadhominemx on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @11:37AM
(#14308967)
Before the ACA, my uncle (lower-middle class, with two kids and a wife in a two bedroom apartment in Indiana), had to choose between between paying the gas bill and paying for his near-daily dialysis, which is not a service provided by emergency rooms. He had picked up Hep C as a young teenager and could not afford insurance in adulthood due to this pre-existing condition. The only "health care" he would have had access to was the ER when he inevitably suffered renal failure.
The people that get hosed the most are the ones with assets, like middle-class homeowners with some savings that have a major health emergency.
It makes sense to try and force everyone onto health insurance before they need it, just like auto insurance; as it will cost a lot more to everyone if people are uninsured. But I agree that bringing down the cost should be a focus. Everyone gets a raw deal when doctors play billing games any chance they get, like giving x-rays for everything and keeping people overnight unnecessarily and charging insurance companies exorbitant multiples of the cash price.
I actually know someone carving out a business going into healthcare centers and showing them how to make more money- by not playing admin/billing games and just serving patients. That's just crazy.
[1] https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/sta...