Health care - do you get what you pay for?

[CarolAnn]

A friend at work just told me she had a shocking visit with her vetrinarian about some planned surgery for her pet cat. He explained it would cost between $1,800 and $2,300 and then gave her a detailed spreadsheet that explained every cost, every variable of the operation.

Although I don't think I'd EVER spend that kind of money on a pet (even if I had that kind of money) - it occured to me that it would be a good thing if we ever got this kind of pre-surgery information from our own doctors! That'll happen right after pigs fly.

Then I found this:
American medical care is the most expensive in the world, and it is definitely not worth every penny. A recent study by the Commonwealth Fund highlights the stark contrast between what the United States spends on its health system and the quality of care it delivers.

The report shows that the United States spends more than twice as much on each person for health care as most other industrialized countries. But it has fallen to last place among those countries in preventing avoidable deaths through use of timely and effective medical care.

The latest American Human Development Index by the Social Science Research Board also reveals shocking results: the U.S. ranks 42nd in global life expectancy, and 34th in survival of infants.

Additionally, a 30- year gap now exists in the average life expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous New England.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/08/07/u-s-paying-through-the-nose-for-poor-quality-health-care.aspx?source=nl

Why doesn't that surprise me? :P

I just wish there was something we could do to fix this mess. We don't need better (or more) health insurance coverage! We need more and better health CARE.

I'll get off my soap box now.

[WileyCoyote]

Hospital corporations charge what the local market will bear. In the area where I used to live, we were surrounded by rich retireees,who could use their SS checks as grounds fees for their golf games... So the rates at that hospital were extreme. Hubby's cardiac doc there was busted for using cocaine on duty. After 18 months of jail time he was back at work, still driving his Porsche.

Another hospital in the area closed because it catered to Medicare and Medicaid recipients, and because of what they were TOLD what they could and could not charge for by the FedGov, as well as TOLD that they had to provide care to everyone because they were an "indigent" hospital, they went into bankruptcy and closed their doors... forcing the hgh-end hospital to take on more indigent persons. One doctor friend of mine said once in a class "Anyone who thinks that America does not already have socialized medicine is an idiot. They tell us what we can and can't charge, and the highest payments are determined, not by need for survival, but by arbitrary rules of frequency and demand." So if you live in an area that has a high incidence of cardaic patients, you get to charge more for bypass surgery...but if your patient has a less 'acceptable' disease (like my lupus) your patient can't get treatment at ALL because the doctors aren't paid for it.

Then I moved here. We live in a VERY small community, the hospital is tiny, there are two clinics - one associated with the hospital, one independent - that have different hours and different doctors with different specalties. They all work together. What we paid at the "old place" for a complete bloodworkup for hubby's bronchitis was $500. What we paid here - was $135 - and they apologized for being 'so high'.

Charges vary from state to state and community to community, even doctor to doctor, just as proper care does. My point is simply this - everyone wants to revamp "the system" when the system is already a complete and total loss. All they would have to do is use common sense and stop letting administrators dictate what lives are worthwhile and what lives are not - and let the doctors make the decisions for their patients, and rise and fall on their decisions. No corporate or governmental underpayments or overpayments, or hassles. You could even make payments on "insurance" sponsored by each individual clinic or hospital... although I have always found that you spend less time in the hospital and get faster and less overcharged, unnecessary care if you smile and say, "Self pay". :o ;)

[CarolAnn]

You're sure right about how health care is different in different areas! I've had terrible "care" from two mega-clinic corporations up here in Wisconsin - lots of unnecessary tests, ridiculous charges, etc. Yet in Arkansas, I stayed with my Dad during the last weeks of his life in a small town hospital (Clinton, AR) and the people were so caring and kind! Most of his care at that place was excellent. (His stay in a nursing home in a nearby county was a few steps from hellish, though - I wouldn't want a dog to have that kind of "care" - let alone a human being!)

If we could at least get prices ahead of time - you know they don't want us shopping around, but I think that's what it would take to get things back in line at least a little!

[9er]

Honestly, who cannot say they have been a vicitim of strange charges, fees and frivilous tests?