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ra10cracker t1_iz9dcwm wrote

Holy moly if this true health care enters a new era. Wonder what clever ways big pharma will twist & manipulate this to keep benefiting shareholders. Health care here is about money, not people.

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socokid t1_iz9gocn wrote

> Health care here is about money, not people.

This is true in the US, not true in virtually all of the rest of the free world.

We have to pay our middle men here (insurance companies) and it's just one of the reasons we pay sooooo much more for the same health care people get in other countries.

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PlasticPeter t1_iz9mpl7 wrote

You're correct. A quick google search shows the US pays $1,055 per capita for administrative costs, more than 3 times as much as the next highest developed country, Germany at $306. An estimated $600B to $1T was spent in the US on admin costs in 2019.

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Barbarake t1_iz9jsdc wrote

Once a year I get a small check from my insurance company. Evidently at least 80% of the money they take in must be spent on medical care and they usually don't quite meet it, hence the refund. So that's at least 20% right off the top the insurance companies keep.

But that's not all. You have to also remember that doctors and hospitals, etc have to pay people to deal with the insurance companies. The doctors and nurses have to spend extra time doing all sorts of documentation to satisfy the insurance companies. There's lots of costs on the other side that also have to be paid for.

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katarh t1_iza3l4g wrote

Medical coding has to be done regardless of who pays for a procedure - it's the only way to accurately track what happened during a visit.

The problem comes in when you code it incorrectly, and the insurance rejects it because it's not the code they expected. Had a biopsy get initially rejected by my insurance because the hospital used code 111111-X instead of code 111111-Y and it was the dumbest thing.

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oh-propagandhi t1_izbcqj5 wrote

While that's totally true it's not just coding. It's collecting from insurance companies, and each company uses different systems and procedures. If you have one company you are dealing with most of the time (medicare) then you streamline the process on both sides.

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lazyeyepsycho t1_iz9ex2e wrote

Fortunately most of the developed world isnt America.

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Spoonbills t1_iz9je09 wrote

The US funds more medical research than any other country. “In terms of absolute expenditures, China is the world's second biggest spender on R&D, with $468 billion versus the United States's investment of $582 billion in 2018 according to OECD's purchasing power parity comparison.”

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lazyeyepsycho t1_iza7ka3 wrote

Thats awesome for the top few %, im sure their promt and fast treatment will soothe peoples angst at $800 a month insurance for a 5k deductible.

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Extranationalidad t1_izd0qti wrote

I do not want to sound as though I am in favor, overall, of the parasitic and broken American medical system. However, substantial investment in medical research matters a lot even when the first round of beneficiaries are the rich.

The number of major advances in genetics, in reproductive health, in cancer treatment, in mental health pharmacology, in reconstructive surgery, etc, all because rich people wanted to make sure that their fetuses were healthy and blond or that their skin moles were promptly removed or that they had constant access to anxiety medications that mixed well with a martini are legitimately vast.

I think it is a mistake to look at the amount of money going into American medical research and conclude that because rich people benefit first that it does not therefore make the world a healthier place.

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Spoonbills t1_izb54m7 wrote

I'm not suggesting it's a good thing. I'm saying there are a lot of US corporations poised to take advantage of medical advances.

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LazyBox2303 t1_izuopmk wrote

You don’t want to use any of the drugs, treatments or surgeries developed in the U.S? I hope your country can provide all that you need.

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lazyeyepsycho t1_izuwja3 wrote

For reference your post is called a strawman argument.

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LazyBox2303 t1_izwmte9 wrote

That may be true. But I would rather you answer my straw man question than discuss the way healthcare is organized in the U. S, I am also interested where you think you should live in order to receive the best healthcare? As for me, I’ve always been happy with the care I’ve received in Los Angeles.

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Darwins_Dog t1_izck9fj wrote

There's not much big pharma can do in this case. It's a test for specific molecules so the most they could do would be patent a specific method or instrument.

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