Healthcare : the big ugly picture.

[CultureCitizen]

Healthcare has become the #1 spending category in the US.

Government Spending Details: Federal State Local for 2013 - Charts

Even though this will not be a serious problem for several years, it will deter the government from spending in other important areas ( like education and science ... some might add defense, but I am some kind of pacifist, so that doesn't count for me ).

I have recently become aware of the approach taken by Maryland which has yielded hospital prices which are roughly 1/3 of the national average.

Disparity in medical billing - The Washington Post
Maryland Reins In Hospital Costs by Setting Rates - WSJ.com

I must add that the healthcare in the US is the most expensive in the world and not necessarily the best in the world ( US doesn't have the highest life expectancy nor the lowest child mortality among developed countries ).

http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/49084355.pdf

So far the best two ways of taming the heath care prices I've seen are :
1) Adopting the same measures as Maryland
2) Taking the same approach as Japan

Health care system in Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Do you sense anything wrong with the previous proposals ?
Do you have any other proposals to curb the health care prices?

 

[auditor0007]

Obamacare is a step in one direction, which is about the same as the direction we were on before. It may help in some areas to reduce costs, but costs will still continue to rise. I don't see us making any real positive changes until healthcare spending hits 25% of GDP. Then we will take drastic measures because there will be no other alternative. Americans aren't intelligent enough to solve problems in advance. Either that, or due to blatant political partisanship, it is impossible to find solutions because nobody wants to work together on anything.

 

[JoeB131]

The real problem is that the laws of supply and demand don't apply to health care.

Health care will always have a high demand, because people want to live.

So hospitals can get away with shit like charging my insurance company $200.00 for liquid tylanol after I had an operation. (They were kind enough to let me keep the bottle.)

 

[CultureCitizen]

The real problem is that the laws of supply and demand don't apply to health care.

Health care will always have a high demand, because people want to live.

So hospitals can get away with shit like charging my insurance company $200.00 for liquid tylanol after I had an operation. (They were kind enough to let me keep the bottle.)

Agreed , normal laws do not apply to health care. Also the insurance companies work as a buffer which completely kills any supply and demand mechanism.

Nevertheless , Maryland is doing it, they have a board that regulates hospital prices. The result is hospital prices that are only 1/3 of the national average. If the rest of the states could do the same the savings would be enormous. Enough to pay all the American debt in 30 years.