Private option?

[Mr. Shaman]

cant tell the players without a scorecard.

they all charge the same. if other businesses do that people go to prison (and I know some who did when Coke and Pepsi were caught price fixing here).

You do know that the term medical providers is a reference to doctors, right?

​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

and wage freezes were in the 40's.

in time perhaps we can educate our friend TG

....And, you're the History Major who's gonna do all o' the educatin', right?

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Your documentation for this is what?

Where do any o' Porky Limbaugh's Dead-O-Heads get their documentation??



*

 

[top gun]

Medicare and Medicaid are from the 1960s, not the 1930s.

Medicare and Medicaid were created by a 1965 law that amended the 1935 Social Security law. The original Social Security law did not address medical care.

I was speaking in general on social safety net programs such as the Social Security Act signed by FDR in 1935. The were other programs such as the ones you cite.

 

[top gun]

medical providers do not compete for our business, that's the problem crated by the government.

The government is certainly not to blame for business collusion setting it's prices.

Medical providers much like oil companies have a very locked up market. They basically price fix. Now they don't do this in the illegal sense where they sit down at a table and set prices. What they do is price match. When one provider raises rates the others simply match up.

With healthcare unless it's somehow subsidized you'll not find a real bargain on a doctor or hospital much like you won't find one gas station selling gas at 50 cents cheaper than a competitor in any one area.

When someone needs medical they must have it and they have no real options. Paying for medical as with gasoline isn't like shopping for a deal on a dinette set or carpet. It's not a system having "sales". Prices go up & down together. The consumer is forced to pay whatever they are charged and that price will not be significantly cheaper anywhere in any given city or most likely state.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

If the bells and whistles mean better patient care, then I am all for bells and whistles. But a hospital can have these things without having to advertise them. A fundamental fact of economics is that any product or service that is advertised costs more to the consumer because the consumer is paying for the advertisement. If we market hospitals the way we do automobiles, the price of hospitals will automatically go up.

You've just described where the (first) 18%-to-27% (off-the-top) of most premium-payments, to health-insurance-companies, go!!!​

Amen. It is immoral to make a profit over life and death issues.

More-often-referred-to as "conservative"-bootstraps (i.e. Survival-Of-The-Riche$t...where, actually-eliminating any competition, for resources, is a mere perk).​

True, but sadly doctors driven by humanity rather than profit are more the exception that the norm.

I'd surely like to think so....but, even they have what's comparable to (a police-department's) thin-blue-line....where too-many doctors have an aversion to outting their incompetent-peers (i.e. those few-doctors who are responsible for driving-up the cost o' malpractice-insurance)!!!

My mother's a retired-nurse. I've heard too-many stories (and, seen more-than-a-few, on "60 Minutes") about doctors' apprehension over outting the clowns...who screw-up, and move to other states, to resume practice.

​

 

[flaja]

You've heard of doctors advertising???

​

Walk-in medical clinics as well as doctors that do laser eye surgery around here do advertise.

 

[flaja]

You do know that the term medical providers is a reference to doctors, right?

​

For the sake of discussion I count doctors, nurses, medical clinics and hospitals as medical providers since they are all part of the healthcare industry and they all work together to provide medical care to patients, or should this be customers- they don't always know the difference?

 

[flaja]

The consumer is forced to pay whatever they are charged and that price will not be significantly cheaper anywhere in any given city or most likely state. [/COLOR]

And the price charged will always be set by the customer that has the greatest amount of spare money. This is something that libertarians who worship at the altar of laissez faire capitalism won't ever understand.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Walk-in medical clinics as well as doctors that do laser eye surgery around here do advertise.

Yeah, I guess I have seen specialty-type procedures advertised.

I was thinkin' (more) o' GPs.​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

For the sake of discussion I count doctors, nurses, medical clinics and hospitals as medical providers....

Not a prob.

I thought you were referring-to health-insurance companies.​

 

[flaja]

More-often-referred-to as "conservative"-bootstraps (i.e. Survival-Of-The-Riche$t...where, actually-eliminating any competition, for resources, is a mere perk).

More accurately known as libertarianism since conservatives believe in the concept of noblise oblige where people with the means are morally obligated to help the less fortunate so no mass concentrtion of misery can lead to social revolution. And conservatives have no qualms about letting the government step in when the private sector is unable or unwilling to do what needs to be done in order to establish and maintain a stable, functional and self-perpetuating society.

 

[flaja]

Yeah, I guess I have seen specialty-type procedures advertised.

I was thinkin' (more) o' GPs.​

Around here we have general purpose clinics that tout themselves as alternatives to emergency rooms because they are open 24-7.