
Let me tell you a little story about the American medical system, circa today - DoreenMichele
https://twitter.com/ECMcLaughlin/status/1102349459747270656
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dragontamer
This is a non-ironic post, but this is good and is Obamacare's design. Give me
a few sentences to explain before you get angry...

A good chunk of Obamacare was to get price transparency out into the public.
People are beginning to realize how bad our drug prices are. Under Obamacare,
a High-deductible plan will require the consumer to pay the full price of
drugs until the deductible is covered.

This means for the first few months each year, everyone gets to see the true
price of drugs. Later, when the deductibles are covered, insurance takes over
the cost. But the sticker-shock is part of the design, we can't have a free
market unless people actually see and understand the prices of the goods and
services that they get.

America can't fix the healthcare system until people realize what our
healthcare actually costs. Seeing the actual cost of drugs is step #1. Now
that people are seeing what drugs cost, now we can move on to step #2, and try
to figure out what to do about it.

Go back 10 years, and nobody would have known about these prices. Today, we
actually can start discussing the pricing of health services.

\--------

Now obviously, the price of American Drugs sucks. But at least we know this
fact today. This is a far better situation than a few years ago.

~~~
lhorie
Is it really that opaque? I do get mail from my insurance company itemizing
the cost of things (both to me and to them). It never felt like it was a
secret that things are ridiculously overpriced.

~~~
dragontamer
How many times have you heard the owner of Epipen (or Shkreli) say "But that's
not the price people ACTUALLY pay for their medicine" ??

Obamacare removes that argument. Now its actually the price people pay (at
least, before the deductible is reached). Perhaps its not completely direct
but its better than what it used to be.

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jayess
So much of this story doesn't make sense, and of course she shuts discussion
down by saying those that are questioning her are "mansplaining."

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lhorie
Stories like this seriously make me consider moving back to Canada.

> my insurance, which I pay (wait for it) $1182 a month

> ...

> This was our total bill today. ($498.73)

>

> It took more than seven hours to get the basic medicine

Just to put into context how absurd these costs are, she could conceivably
have spent less money and time by _flying from NY to Toronto and paying for a
doctor visit out of pocket there_ instead of relying on her insurance in this
case...

~~~
jayess
This is giving rise to direct primary care. You pay a general practitioner $50
a month for unlimited visits and access to wholesale medications and labs.

The GP doesn't have to deal with insurance and has a much smaller patient
load.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_primary_care](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_primary_care)

Example pricing:
[https://www.dpcwestmi.com/services/](https://www.dpcwestmi.com/services/)

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DrScump
I find the whole urgent care diagnosis a bit suspect. I don't see how they
could instantly identify a specific bacterium, especially one that needs such
a narrow-use, rare antibiotic as the lone treatment option, let alone how all
3 got identical conclusions in one UC visit with no lab work.

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simonblack
Australia. Triple bypass surgery. $0.00

~~~
flukus
A had a friend in a private hospital and it cost him thousands for this
"elective" surgery, he promptly ended his private cover after that.

Now I just wish the government could stop trying to force people to buy
private insurance, the industry is a scam.

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deogeo
She should feel proud about all the medical research she just helped fund
through those inflated prices. Because as long as some percentage of it goes
into research, any price is justified.

/s

Edit: You downvote, but "high prices are OK because they enable medical
research" is an argument that inevitably pops up in these threads.

~~~
Gibbon1
Nothing will stop baby neck-beards with gold plated employer insurance and
uncomplicated health from splaining how the current system is the best of all
possible worlds.

While random Europeans chime in with short comments about how this is
inexplicable madness.

Frankly I think the health industry (spit) knows the barbarians will soon be
at the gate and are trying steal the silverware and other valuables while they
still can.

