Brainwaves of Sken

3 Responses to “A New Scientist analysis of health care”

1. Wow, yeah. That is the way that the information should be presented to people… as it is, many are paying too much attention to the politics and he said/she said crap without taking the time to find out what all the fuss is actually about.

   Thanks for sharing this. It is very well done. :)

   krisann said this on September 8, 2009 at 1:51 pm

2. That was a good video

   That was a good video.

   One thing that I think will be one of the best outcomes of health care reform will be the publication of health care costs.

   Right now, the price of a particular procedure is something that is somewhat mysterious. You go to the doctor and with the combination of tests that could be performed and what is covered by your insurance, you have no idea what the costs are going to be for that visit. In a true capitalistic society, you can compare and contrast services based on prices and quality, but for healthcare that sort of information is private and secret.

   When you’re part of an insurance plan that manages costs, you get a chance to see something unusual. The insurance companies will tell the provider “No, I’m not going to pay that, this is the ‘fair and standard’ price for that procedure.” And every time I’ve ever seen it on my bill, the provider just takes the money that the insurer paid. If I didn’t have that insurance, I would have paid the full amount.

   I mean, this goes for everything. I go to the dentist, my dentist charged for the teeth cleaning… and then the insurance refused to pay that amount, and instead decided to pay them something like $15 less. It was a tiny difference, but it just happened. Poof.

   If the government were to publish those guidelines, then there would be a little more strength for smaller insurers and for the self-insured (or uninsured) to say “I’m not paying $150, the fair and standard rate is $90.” That would lend some pressure to the providers to adhere to those standards. (or risk patients finding out about price discrepancies and finding some other place for the next procedure.)

   That benefit alone would save money for even those people who received no direct government benefit.

   hoshisabi said this on September 16, 2009 at 1:17 am

   • This would be an interesting result – I am imagining some great informational web sites to disseminate this kind of info.

     atdt1991 said this on September 16, 2009 at 1:24 am