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Psquared wrote..

...the drug companies, insurance companies, doctors, lawyers, salespeople and hospital corporations are taking us down a path that is financially unsustainable.

But why do you fail to mention the biggest factor of all? The patients themselves. The general public.
If one doesn't have preventable problems in the first place, one's demand for treatment is zero, regardless of whether the cost is $1,000,000 or $1.
I would like to submit that the main problem isn't health care costs, but rather health care expenditures.

Quote:

...it is estimated that health care costs for chronic disease treatment account for over 75% of national health expenditures.
Chronic diseases – such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and arthritis – are among the most common, costly, and preventable of all health problems in the U.S.
Four modifiable health risk behaviors—lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption—are responsible for much of the illness, suffering, and early death related to chronic diseases.

http://www.kaiseredu.org/Issue-Modules/U....
http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/overvi....

And this report from today:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43670705/ns/....

Quote:

In 1995, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. Now, all but one does....The report released on Thursday showed that over the past 15 years, seven states have doubled their rate of obesity and 10 states have doubled their rate of diabetes.

The doctor in the video, although he does identify the cost problem to a certain extent, still tries to focus on "supply" solutions for cost-cutting more than prevention. He does say that part of the problem is that Americans "ask for" (demand) more health care (true), but then he absurdly says it's because we're the richest country. On a per capita basis, many countries as rich as we are have half the expenditures .
Health care expenditures are primarily demand-driven, and the main problem is not a cost problem so much as it is an expenditure problem.
If more people lived like Swampwoman's granny (see above), not only would health care expenditures go down, but they would have a more enjoyable life as well.

2011-07-07 18:19:27


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