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Originally Posted by crucifissio
I understand the insurance part but what about offering medical services with no insurance deals, just for cash, with reasonable non-rapist bills for medical services? A doctors "shop" if you will.
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They have these - walk-in or local clinics that attempt to be market-driven and offer basic medical services at somewhat reasonable rates. There's one right down the street from me. And they're fine costwise for basic check-ups, or if you're just moderately sick & need some meds, or for a basic in-office procedure. That's not the problem and it never really has been.
It's when you start getting into stuff that needs other layers of infrastructure - advanced diagnostics, real labwork, nongeneric meds still controlled under patent by pharm companies, inpatient surgeries & whatnot, hospital stays, chronic conditions that require some or all of the above over a long period of time.... that's when the prices skyrocket. There are so many moving pieces and stakeholders and conflicting interests it's very difficult to pinpoint what the problems are and how to lower costs.
So yeah, basic services can be made affordable but anyone saying you can apply the same market forces to in-depth healthcare just doesn't have an appreciation of the scale & complexity involved. Which unfortunately includes many of our politicians.
I hate to be a "boot em all out of office!!111" type, but IMO unless the political structures change dramatically in the USA (not gonna happen, if anything corporate interests are becoming more entrenched by the month) this problem will not be solved.