I've said it many times and I just don't see how I'm wrong on this, the problem with the US health care system is that it is fully dependent on insurance. I see no reason why insurance should be involved if I go to my doctor for anything that's not an emergency. That's like using my car insurance to pay for an oil change. I had this conversation with a doctor once. My premise was, why can't I walk into your office, tell you what's wrong, and you tell me how much it will cost to get me healthy, without insurance being involved. I might as well have asked him to imagine he was a socket wrench. The idea of being able to determine his own prices was absolutely foreign to him.
Pre-f’ng-cisely!!!! Insurance has morphed into a pre-payment financial model. Health insurance, as is, does not protect against unexpected loss. It will a) never work and b) will always be expensive since premiums must pay cost of services as well as administrative costs and profit (16 - 20%). I could write volumes in responding and amplifying the great post by @mctiger, but I will spare you!
To add to what @mctiger said there are growing numbers of cash only clinics, doctors and hospitals that don’t take insurance. With these there is mounting evidence that total out of pocket expenses operating on a cash basis is significantly less expensive than with the insurance model. Most importantly this covers middle and lower class households not wealthy. It has crossed the country from Compton in LA east. Competition keeps cost down too.
@Winston1 are those the concierge programs I keep hearing about? I know they advertise for those here and I have heard great things about them.
Of course, but we have a 2 tier system and we are not a 3rd world country. Their entire system is preventative medicine where as ours is treatment. For their mortality rates to rival and exceed ours, that tells you something.
