Overpaying is waste, that's just what the words mean. There's really no point us arguing your error there, get yourself a dictionary. That is why the link I gave you analysing waste in medical spending, showing it's lower across the board in the public sector, includes price failures in the wasted spending.Cassandros wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2019 3:21 amHehe, more insults. Classic...AnalHamster wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2019 1:43 amCitation for what? The fact that the US and German healthcare systems cover everyone with better outcomes for half the cost per capita? Are we somehow achieving that while also wasting way more than some comparison you won't specify?Cassandros wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2019 1:12 am
Citation needed. Government is synonymous with wasteful spending, to act like the UK and Germany are somehow the exception is a very bold claim, I look forward to seeing the numbers.
Also, you seem to be confusing price gouging for waste. Big difference. But feel free to show me some numbers of actual waste by the non-government funded aspects of US healthcare so we can compare. Afterwards we should then look at the waste for the unregulated aspects for an even better comparison. But you are fairly bright and probably know exactly where such a side by side comparison will lead.
I worked with health insurance for many years. In a nutshell this is how it works: hospital wants a minimum amount of money for X procedure. Insurance company get a contracted rate, discounting the base cost said procedure (usually by a percentage). Hospital increases the base price for x procedure so that after the contract percentage is applied, they get at least the minimal amount they originally wanted (often/ideally more). Anyone with shitty insurance, or no insurance, pays the inflated price.
If we remove insurance from the equation and reintroduce competition --> healthcare cost will fall while actual services would improve. Guaranteed.
Price gouging is a form of waste, one largely eliminated with single payer and higher in private versus public spending for the US, along with all other forms of waste-
https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.137 ... 5587/full/
As always you don't know what you are talking about. And how on earth do you imagine any healthcare system could work without insurance? Most people simply could not afford the big bills, it does not work without risk pools.
Price gouging != waste. But, for some weird reason it is often presented as one and the same. (I guess its easier to skew the data that way, thus easier to manipulate the narrative. But whatever...).
A couple quick examples:
-Its estimated (by the National Academy of Medicine) that unnecessary and needless care cost $210 billion a year.
-Vimovo. If you don't know a big pharma co discovered two non-patented drugs are often used together so they combined them 'for the consumer' and raised the price from ~$40 for a months supply to over $3000, all under the guise of convenience.
These are labeled "waste" but its not actually wasteful. Its price gouging.
The only true way to eliminate price gouging (and waste in general) is to make these entities compete for peoples money.
Every developed nation outside the US has already found how to largely eliminate price gouging, all through regulation and negotiation, not competition. Your idea of ending all insurance is just stupid, since most people need insurance to have any chance of coping with a big medical bill. And you can't shop around while having a heart attack, or pretty much any medical emergency, you get shipped off, receive the services the doctors determine you need and then get presented with the bill in the recovery room. If you want to buy some new boobs then by all means shop around, but the basic essential side of the system often doesn't work that way. If you need any of the latest drugs or devices they're typically protected by patents, aka government enforced monopolies, and little old you does not have the bargaining power to negotiate the price. These are not things the free market can address, nor is universal coverage.