Re:Problems with relying on billionaires to save us
by micromacrofoot on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @03:05PM
(#28856066)
Do you trust health insurance companies or hospital administrators to pass on the costs saved from reduced regulation to consumers? I absolutely do not.
Re:Problems with relying on billionaires to save us
by j_walter on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @03:09PM
(#28856121)
No more than I trust the government to work on passing on reduced costs in the form of lower taxes...
Re:Problems with relying on billionaires to save us
by micromacrofoot on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @03:14PM
(#28856205)
Fair, but I can't vote for/against private health insurance companies and they have many fewer transparency requirements.
Citizens have much more power when it comes to the government versus private industry. I can't even vote with my wallet because my employer chooses my insurer.
Re:Problems with relying on billionaires to save us
by xboxnolifes on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @03:13PM
(#28856194)
No, but it's not about trust. Businesses don't lower their prices out of good will.
Re:Problems with relying on billionaires to save us
by micromacrofoot on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @03:18PM
(#28856257)
and health insurance companies have zero incentive to lower their prices, it's not even a competitive market because the majority of health insurance is tied to employment – even as an employer costs are roughly the same across the board, especially if your company is too small to negotiate better rates
Certain things are fairly obviously good to regulate in healthcare, whether that is for privacy, or price transparency, or making sure emergencies don't get turned away, but administration costs of running our healthcare network seems to have blown far and away the cost of the actual healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, surgeons, etc). There is so much paperwork and administrative work in healthcare and it just seems like so much of it could be trimmed away.
Legislation seems to be written with the good intentions of protecting patients, but if the administration costs (monetarily or bureaucratically) of complying aren't taken into consideration, that too can indirectly affect patients.
I'm neither in the medical field nor do I know how US healthcare regulations compare to other countries, but it just feels like the amount of healthcare administration has grown at a far greater rate than the actual healthcare providers.