Healthcare & Disaster Preparedne Friday, October 9, 201: Fill & Download for Free

Price and outcomes.The US has incredibly expensive health care. I mean incredibly expensive. Health care is one of the biggest for-profit industries in the country. A long time ago, some enterprising capitalists figured out that if you sell a product that people have to have or they will literally die, if you conceal the price of the product, and if you design the product in such a way that people can’t comparison shop, you can charge any price you want.As a result, well…A few weeks ago, I slipped with a razor knife and cut myself at the base of my thumb. I needed four stitches.The stitches were removed two days ago. It really wasn’t that big a deal:So far, I have received two bills.This for four stitches and a tetanus booster. Total price (so far):$2,603.45.I don’t have insurance. I do qualify for subsidized insurance under the ACA. My price for a basic plan is $570/month with a $6,000 deductible.Conservatives blather about how the US has such expensive healthcare because it’s sooooo good and American hospitals have the best equipment and Americans do all this research and…Ah HA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.Some of them, they…they actually…BWAH ha ha ha…they actually believe that.This torrent of money doesn’t go into healthcare. A huge volume of it goes into health insurance profits. Every dollar an insurance company takes in profit or overhead is a dollar that isn’t going to treatment and isn’t going to pretty shiny machines that go beep and isn’t going to research.Libertarians love to talk about how the market promotes efficiency. Which is true. It promotes efficiency at making profit, which is not necessarily the same as efficiency at delivering goods and services.The outcomes of this system are plain:Shorter lifespan than other developed countriesHigher infant mortality than other countriesEvidence demolishes ideology. If the US had cutting edge healthcare, you would expect it to be expensive but effective.It’s not. It’s expensive but delivers inferior results.Part of that is the unequal access, of course, but part of it is by design. Because the goal of American healthcare is profit, not treatment, it discourages preventive care and regular checkups, which are low-margin services, in favor of dramatic interventions for serious conditions, which are high-margin services.This isn’t a grand conspiracy. It’s the natural consequence of a system tuned to maximize profit instead of maximizing number of people cared for.Edited to add: It’s now several months later and the bills are still coming in. Since posting this answer, I’ve received yet another bill, this one for $816.25.That brings the total bill (so far) for four stitches to:$3,419.70

As a Physician, a USA Naval Officer and an American, I can say it is because we are SELFISH.We have been raised on the American myth of the rugged individualist. That we get ahead in life by pulling up our bootstraps and britches or the Calvinist ideal of “ the lord help those who help themselves”On the other hand, look at nations with universal healthcare and you see that the welbeing of the Nation supersedes the individual. Which in turn feeds the healthcare of the individual.The only time Americans want Universal healthcare: (1) when it's too late = Medicare(2) military = Tricare.

in October 2017 there was a shooting incident in Las Vegas (that's an understatement) where 55 were killed and 422 were injured by gunfire.When I googled "las vegas shooting victims medical bills" I got the following as the first 3 hits:1. http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/25/pf/insurance/las-vegas-shooting-health-care/index.html2. https://splinternews.com/las-vegas-victims-are-struggling-to-pay-their-medical-b-18199112753. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/vegas-shooting-victims-crowdfunding_us_59f3a51be4b07fdc5fbe465cI can't imagine living in a country where you were shot by someone who has legally purchased weapons and enough ammunition for a large military deployment and YOU have to pay for medical care because you were unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time.Less than 12 months ago there were a number of UK terrorists related incidents where people were either targeted by a homemade bomb (Manchester Arena attack), a car driven at people (Westminster Bridge) or the attack with knives and a vehicle (London Bridge and Borough Market).All of these victims' primary care was provided through the NHS. No one was required to raise a fundraising exercise to pay for their lengthy medical treatment. Any long term care required for rehabilitation was covered through the NHS.Now you tell me why the US system for healthcare is better than the UK’s?edit#1My thanks to various suggestions to improve my grammar and spelling.edit#2Blimey 8000 upvotes. That's amazing considering I wrote this up in a meeting! Thanks for reading it.