Re:DOGE's Only Public Ledger Is Riddled with Mistakes
by cfraenkel on Saturday February 22, 2025 @09:58PM
(#43145980)
Sure there is. It's called single payer.
There's no way to fix this with the current layers of middlemen milking profits from what should be a public utility.
Re:DOGE's Only Public Ledger Is Riddled with Mistakes
by otterley on Saturday February 22, 2025 @10:08PM
(#43146055)
I meant to say there’s no market-based solution to the problem.
That said, single payer has problems, too, which is why few countries use it in its purest form. Everyone gets a “floor” of coverage, which is a good thing, but people also hate waiting long periods for treatments and the inability to choose a specific care provider. Britons love NHS, but they hate it, too.
Re:DOGE's Only Public Ledger Is Riddled with Mistakes
by brightball on Sunday February 23, 2025 @08:23AM
(#43149057)
There’s absolutely a market based solution.
You can’t go single payer in the US without actually destroying the entire insurance industry overnight and because of that, there’s no way to transition to it smoothly. The HSA plan does both.
Re:DOGE's Only Public Ledger Is Riddled with Mistakes
by otterley on Sunday February 23, 2025 @03:17PM
(#43152814)
In which country with more than 10 million people have you seen a market-based solution result in high patient satisfaction, low costs, and top-tier treatment outcomes? Not just in theory, but in reality.
Re:DOGE's Only Public Ledger Is Riddled with Mistakes
by brightball on Sunday February 23, 2025 @08:20AM
(#43149045)
All of those prices exist from negotiations between the insurance companies and not the free market.
Mark Cuban’s cost plus drugs is proving this in pharma right now.
Before you conclude that the free market can solve everything, consider too that health care isn’t a typical service that follows ia supply/demand curve. The demand curve is practically vertical, especially when your life is on the line. You’re not going to shop around when your appendix is about to burst. Plus there are still high base costs, and scarcity (artificial or otherwise) of healthcare resources. And the monopolies granted to medical device and drug makers through the patent system keep prices high so the patentees can recoup their investments.
There is no easy way to solve this problem, despite breathless claims to the contrary that have been plaguing our airwaves since the 1980s.