Comment by gwbas1c
3 days ago
It's easy to just blame the insurance providers, but keep in mind:
Everybody expects a higher standard of care, because now we treat things that we didn't even know about in the past. For example, I have a CPAP and went through surgery for sleep apnea. 50 years ago, who knows what would have happened to me?
Medical providers are incentivized to "find" things to bill for. For example, I went to a podiatrist for foot pain, and she tried to figure out how to have me visit monthly.
Likewise, end-of-life issues can get very expensive, because it's hard to say "no" when loved ones' emotions are fragile.
I have a CPAP too, and the insurance paid for part of the cost, but most was still paid for by me. I investigated the price of buying it directly, for cash, and it was only a few hundred dollars more.
The point is that other countries are realizing the same or better (generally better) levels of care while confronting the same issues.
Privatization and ineffective/lobbyist-written regulation is and has been the problem from the beginning.
Adding "but before all those complex concerns, our number one priority is making a profit" is literal insanity.
Add to the mix that employers are only incentivized to provide care for accute conditions that jeopardize productivity (rather than things that improve longevity and quality of life), and I mean... what did anyone expect?
Healthcare is complex but understanding why we're living in a failure mode isn't. The fundamentals are completely incorrect.