I have always believed that healthcare and insurance need to get a divorce. Every specialty group is peer reviewed by top level board certified professionals from those specialty areas. I have a friend retired but who was double board certified in nukes and radiology and ran both departments at a major teaching hospital. She still evaluates and consults for those specialty areas and that scoring info is out there. If states were to start consumer coops, they could access this information by service areas and bargain on prices with the top providers. The current system is just this broken: two people can enter the same hospital for the same procedure, performed by the same physician and, depending on insurance coverage, costs can vary by multiples of five or more. Federal systems do not work, never will. And insurance is the crux of the problem.
Agreed. I've long thought of the health insurance industry is a giant racket. There's no need for it as a "middleman" between patient and provider. Care would be reasonably affordable for most (if not all) If providers and hospitals were forced to compete in a true free market.
I have always believed that healthcare and insurance need to get a divorce. Every specialty group is peer reviewed by top level board certified professionals from those specialty areas. I have a friend retired but who was double board certified in nukes and radiology and ran both departments at a major teaching hospital. She still evaluates and consults for those specialty areas and that scoring info is out there. If states were to start consumer coops, they could access this information by service areas and bargain on prices with the top providers. The current system is just this broken: two people can enter the same hospital for the same procedure, performed by the same physician and, depending on insurance coverage, costs can vary by multiples of five or more. Federal systems do not work, never will. And insurance is the crux of the problem.
Agreed. I've long thought of the health insurance industry is a giant racket. There's no need for it as a "middleman" between patient and provider. Care would be reasonably affordable for most (if not all) If providers and hospitals were forced to compete in a true free market.