tell him his show on USA is golden
He's an old friend of my boss, and we actually have a commercial venture with him. We received complimentary memberships to that program from him way back when he joined the program. It's silly anyways, because we had full access to him even before he was part of it.
I do get my yearly physical done through it though.
I know a physician who thought he would do this, but when he could not find enough people to pay upfront to support it, he gave up on the idea. I think he also met some physician, who discovered, like you hinted, that many of these people were hypochondriacs who wanted to see the doctor all the time and for hours. Or they were lonely and wanted someone to talk to.When I first heard about this type of practice a few years ago, my understanding was that most of the patients were participating were older and had the means, like you stated. Or they're all hypochondriacsBut obviously, some people are willing to pay for this. But seriously, how many times does one need to see a PCP?
You know how people act at a buffet; it was the same mentality. The cost was the same regardless, so they are going to get their money's worth.
To get evidence-based medicine. Here is one example:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/he...screening.html
have yall noticed all the white people against "socialism" and doctors "deciding on our life and death", canada this, canada that -HAVE insurance now
how ing stupid, what difference does it make to someone without insurance if they have to wait 6 months for a medical procedure
i havent heard any poor people without insurance ing and moaning about canada
Because that money comes from somewhere. The best current estimates that people actually ran numbers with have this current plan costing over $500 billion annually more than what they already plan to take. That comes out of working peoples money somehow. Either in direct more taxes, more employer taxes, fees, etc.
Can't take care of yourself? Move back in with your parents, or deal with it. Life's a , then you die. Only taxes and death are certain. Stop asking that I pay more or my hard earned money in taxes for you can get freebies. , I already pay too much in taxes, and it will be even more when the Bush Tax cuts expire. It wouldn't bother me so much if everyone payed the same percentage I do. If the poor people also paid the same rate of taxes, then maybe they would care about taxes going up. Without a vested interest, liberal politicians pandering to get the poor vote, will destroy this nation as we know it.
Any industry where there is a vertical demand slope needs to be regulated. IOW, if people will pay any price for something that they need then the market will not regulate itself. If you're child is dying is there any price you will not pay to save his life?
This is exactly what the current health care system preys on. It is the reason why health care costs are spiraling out of control and quite frankly even the most stringent right wingers realize that they system as it is now just does not work.
In in the food industry massive subsidies keep prices low. Water and power is heavily regualted because in today's society you need them to live.
For some reason health care just gets a free pass. This is despite about half of adults under the age of 28 don't have health care and the millions with preexisiting conditions as well.
You may not give a but the small business owner who pays his taxes and contribute to society yet cannot get a policy because he has been diagnosed with diabetes sure as cares.
All other insurance is regulated. Flood insurance is handled by the government. P and C like home and auto insurance has to have their rates approved by the state every year.
Yet health insurance gets a free pass.
The discussion is so damn irritating as well. So much of the naysaying is based on greed. So often you hear, ' them, I'm not paying for there health care I have enough to worry about.' It doesn't matter when you show countries like Canada and England where infant mortality and life expectancy are much better and the much much lower per capita cost of health care would mean a lower amount most individuals would have to pay.
This type of behavior is not surprising in a culture where we are killing our economy with credit and don't have the foresight to see that a variable loan might be an issue.
Then there are all the lies and fear mongering. I heard someone say that if health care is state run then noncovered health care would be unavailable 'just like it is in England.' Like there is no cosmetic surgery in the isle across the pond. Thats just a bald faced lie.
You hear Aetna decry how Medicare and Medicaid pay less to doctors which means they cannot compete.
Well no , Sherlock. Thats the whole point. The cost of health care needs to be brought down and you ers aren't getting the job done.
And make no mistake, there is no incentive for health care insurers to lower cost in the long term. While within a particular policy period, they will try and deny claims and the like; in the long run higher prices mean higher premiums and since they take a percentage, that means more profits.
10% of $100,000 beats the out of 10% of $50,000.
People are just stupid though. They will eat up 'reviews' produced by insurance and doctor owned en ies that at best distort the truth and will ignore the empirical evidence that is every other western nation.
My favorite health care fearmongering lie has been 'there are only 3 MRI's in Canada.' The whole supposed point being that health care must therefore be worse there. Who gives a about major statistical indexes like infant mortality and the like. Who cares that a 4 year old could actually look it up and see that its a lie but I digress.
Lets look at the opposite side of that equation. How much is an MRI costing us?
I got hurt around Christmas time last year and had an MRI to check out my head neck and back. I looked at the bill and it was a bit over $6k. This was after my X-rays were negative so really the MRI was bull but again I digress. Lets just say the cost of getting an MRI is $5k. Im looking for easy math.
The cost of a 3 tesla MRI machine is about $3 million dollars. Its the industry standard where they lay you on the table and slide your ass in there. Lets say the cost of running and maintaining the machine is $1mil per annum --its a bit much but supercooled electromagnets do take a bit of power-- and lets say the techs cost about $1mil to actually run the machine every year.
Thats a grand total of $5 mil the first year and once the sunk cost of $3 mil is paid its $2 mil annually.
Lets say for the sake of argument a particular MRI does 10 scans a day. I am sure that the actual number is much more than that but again I am trying to use easy math that makes a point.
10 scans a day at $5k a run is $50k a day. Not bad, eh? Well lets say the machine only runs 300 days out of a year. The number is obviously going to be much higher --they aren't going to shut it off for two months when health care needs are daily-- but again were talking easy math that makes a point. Well that comes out to $15,000,000 a year.
Now the numbers I used should have been higher but even with these very conservative numbers that first year is a $10 mil return. That goes up to $13 mil annually from then on. Who the wouldn't want a 10 year return of $127 million on a $3 million dollar investment?
Its complete and utter usuring bull . Well WTF are you going to say when your oncologist says you need one? No?
Oh and don't give me any horse about R&D costs. The machine was invented in '73 and the ers charging $5k didn't invent a ing thing.
wc you have insurance then i assume
and if i have a procedure i need and i cant get insurance to pay even if i got insurance because its pre existing, im supposed to be worried about the economy and socialized medicine and move back in with my parents
the worst cast senario is i cant get medical care, same as always
I've had several years with no insurance. Just payed out of pocket. I was able to shop around and find a great private practice, that had decent cash rates. They still have my business now that I have Blue Cross Blue Shield.
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