- Tarnation
- Administrator
Offline - From: Upstream where water's clean
- Registered: 1/29/2015
- Posts: 1,239
Re: It's about time to consider medicare for everyone
Unrealistic expectations for a pain-free life drenched in the fabled fountain of youth....designer prescriptions, sue anyone who can't deliver....all interrelated.
Life is an Orthros.
- Just Fred
- Duke of Cortona
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- Registered: 1/29/2015
- Posts: 3,863
Re: It's about time to consider medicare for everyone
Some good points being discussed here. According to the research submitted by Goose, it doesn't appear tort reform would have much of an impact. Secondly, Tarnation alludes to the wave of advertising we are constantly bombarded with concerning 'cure all' designer drugs and miracle supplements we see peddled on tv, radio, and printed media.
I would also add we need to get a grip on the costs of some of this stuff. The epi-pen mess is an extreme, but real example of this along with pharmaceutical companies lobbying congress to make generic medicine difficult to develop and distribute. Producing a medical drug for $1.50 and selling it for $100 is an obvious ripoff.
It truly is a multi-faceted mess, and yet, how many times during debates have we heard solid answers from the people running for political office?
- •
Thread Starter- Goose
- Cogito ergo sum
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- Posts: 13,427
Re: It's about time to consider medicare for everyone
I think that Tarnation makes an excellent point about advertising and unrealistic expectations driving healthcare costs.
I have a few friends who are MDs and they tell me that there is a never ending parade of people in their offices demanding the next miracle thing that they've seen on TV.
And there is the demand for technology. Patients love it. Some doctors are overly reliant on it.
People go to the Emergency room with their kid who got food poisoning. The blood work is fine, the physical exam is fine. Yet the kid ends up getting a CAT scan because the parents demand it, and the doctor lacks confidence in his own judgment.
New Drugs that are 2% better than the drug they replace are priced at 200% of the old drug.
And then, there is addressing the huge amount of money spent on things that everybody agrees are useless in the last few months of life. They run up costs, and prolong suffering.
And yes, the lack of serious attention to these matters by the candidates for, well, many offices is appalling.
If we can have an intelligent conversation about this on the Exchange, why can't we have one in Washington?
Last edited by Goose (10/26/2016 8:29 am)
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.