Quote Originally Posted by GeoFisher View Post
Actually, you're completely off base. Do a little research on why things are paid as they are. Insurance pays the bill, that is it.

Group rates are just that group rates, and certain things are "negotiated" at a particular rate for a whole hell of a lot of different reasons.

A broken arm in one region may cost more than in another region. Just like a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk.

NOW, when you subsidize about 80% of every single medical expenditure with some type of "gubment" program, you end up with a bunch of waste, fraud and abuse......Just WHO is perpetrating that waste, fraud and abuse.....it sure ain't the freakin insurance company.

Blame the providers baby......BLAME the providers..........

When uncle SUGAR pays, folks jack up the price on everything. You all have been involved in "gubment" contracts. YOU show me a single "gubment" anything that costs what it would in the private sector, and I will STFU.......

Later,

Geo
I might be thinking out of the box, but I don't think I'm completely off base.

I'm actually blaming us as citizens who allowed this to happen. The seed was planted when companies started offering health insurance as a "benefit". As the costs spiraled out of control and employees had to start footing some of the cost, they made it a deduction so it seemed like money wasn't even being taken out of our pockets.

So now we are essentially paying another entity - health insurance - to pay for our health care. That means we're paying for the health care and for the bureaucratic administration, profits and convoluted processes of the insurance companies. It's in those companies best interests to make sure we're completely dependent on them, so why would we think they are making things better for us? Furthermore, our employers select the insurance companies for us and what plans we can choose.

It's all ridiculous. If we tried to make a similar model from scratch for any other consumer/payment model (like my grocery example), everyone would say we were crazy. But, just like the frog slowly boiled to death in the pot, we've allowed the control of our health and the money that pays for it to be slowly taken completely away from us.

The only way to fix it is to make a radical change. I believe that change is to put the power of choice and spending back into the hands of the patients/consumers rather than have everyone else controlling how we pay for our health care.

And for the record, letting the government control it is even worse than letting our employers and the insurance companies do it.