The solution to our healthcare crisis is liberalization, i.e. radical free market reform

unrealistic.

Much of disease is predictable.

A baseline public insurance plan makes so much sense.

What do you think of the increasing concentration in health insurance markets taking place, driven predominantly by private firms' questionable abuse of market power, aggressive mergers sanctioned by a weak anti-trust regime, and gaslighters on the right who harangue the public on the evils of "excessive government intervention" in markets? These trends have to be factored in when accounting for cost growth in the US.

Not everything can be attributed to gubbmint, and the fact that some of the most efficient health care systems in the world feature a comparatively large role for the government shows that good health care systems are not solely about gubbmint or free market capitalism.

the bubble man theme is lit wrote:

To solve our problems in healthcare, what we need is for newcomers to enter the market to provide superior value with better and less expensive forms of medical care, but we cannot get that because of government barriers like medical licensing laws and FDA regulation.

Just what we need, more snake oil salesmen.

On the other hand, smelling my used socks has been proven by me to increase VO2max uptake by 20%. Just send me $250 and I will send you one of my unwashed socks. $300 if you want a sock with holes in it.

Capitalism solves nothing in health care.

You need to regulate the costs for the pharmaceutical industry, the hospitals and the doctors. Otherwise you get the most expensive health care system in the world with the least healthy people. That would be the US, if you haven't figured it out yourself yet.

Unhinged capitalism solves nothing and the US is a great proof of that.

I've been in health care for over 35 years. There are reasons for government licensure and regulations, read "Arrowsmith" by Sinclair Lewis. That was written in an era when there was a lot of medical quackery and there was a need for the regulation that we see today. That being said, I am all for an integrated approach in medicine as long as someone is qualified to provide it. Unfortunately , medicine has become a factory, which has a profit motive (I always cringe when a health system says they are "non profit") in concert with the pharmaceutical industry. I don't see how the goal of "superior value with better and less expensive forms" is to be achieved unless the government underwrites everything (give away $$$) and our taxes go through the roof.

stan the corgi wrote:

I've been in health care for over 35 years. There are reasons for government licensure and regulations, read "Arrowsmith" by Sinclair Lewis. That was written in an era when there was a lot of medical quackery and there was a need for the regulation that we see today. That being said, I am all for an integrated approach in medicine as long as someone is qualified to provide it. Unfortunately , medicine has become a factory, which has a profit motive (I always cringe when a health system says they are "non profit") in concert with the pharmaceutical industry. I don't see how the goal of "superior value with better and less expensive forms" is to be achieved unless the government underwrites everything (give away $$$) and our taxes go through the roof.

I can. Physicians act like they're the greatest people in the world. Some basic management and technology overhaul can standardize care in ways the physicians never tried because they all assume their little world is all that exists.

You could make an app, VR even, with diagnostics and treatment plans, programmed to the same logic physicians use in diagnostics, nothing stops them transcribing differentials, and include accounting and security like they do electronic prescriptions.

This immediately streamlines the process of deciding treatments, particularly with the hierarchical work of PAs and NPs including their own responsibility in less than a second on an app instead of a physician reading random notes with subjective authority. Diagnostics become standardised, or perosnalized with this model, each physician walking around with his or her models on an app.

This allows physicians to build and apply treatments rapidly, with next to no error, and share with others so other clinics can function as rapidly and reliably, regardless the skill of the docs there.

Fewer errors = immensely reduced insurance cost.

Streamlined and expanded differentials = 3x volume, at least.

This would not take long. Probably an hour or so per diagnostic model. Standard app model of a week from decent software engineers. Accounting software already exists.

I don't know man, there's just something about "free healthcare" that sounds right to me.

* U.S. tried nearly pure free-market healthcare. See 19th Century. Those in lower 90% net worth during that era simply got sick & died.

* U.S. healthcare for medical doctors is like a lottery. In order to justify time spent on higher education and student loans, all want to be specialists. Some U.S. medical doctors need to be and will be primary care medical doctors. The debt incurred to be a U.S. primary care medical doctor is not worth the cost.

* Education in most European nations is tuition free. Primary care medical doctors in Europe who earn about 90 to 120 Euro are much happier than primary care doctors in U.S.

Biden could have streamlined his proposed Bill. Two years of public tuition free education with no means test is needed in U.S. not simply tuition free community college. Eventually, U.S. needs to make higher education tuition free for medical personnel and tuition free public education for all, ages 3 to 23.

U.S. responded to covid-19 in an extremely inefficient manner. U.S. needed more primary care doctors. U.S. looks good in regard to covid-19 now due to U.S. being a wealthy nation and ability to buy up covid-19 vaccines. Ten months ago, U.S. for-profit healthcare system was a mess.

stan the corgi wrote:

I've been in health care for over 35 years. There are reasons for government licensure and regulations, read "Arrowsmith" by Sinclair Lewis. That was written in an era when there was a lot of medical quackery and there was a need for the regulation that we see today. That being said, I am all for an integrated approach in medicine as long as someone is qualified to provide it. Unfortunately , medicine has become a factory, which has a profit motive (I always cringe when a health system says they are "non profit") in concert with the pharmaceutical industry. I don't see how the goal of "superior value with better and less expensive forms" is to be achieved unless the government underwrites everything (give away $$$) and our taxes go through the roof.

Other countries single payer system negotiates with big pharma to get a supply of drugs at a good price. Sounds like capitalism.

In the USA, big pharma bought congress and made it illegal for Medicare/Medicaid to negotiate drug prices and purchases. We pay full sticker, or order Canadian drugs online.