Thread: How to bring health care costs down?

Originally Posted by adaher

Private insurers don't refuse care because they don't like the treatment, they refuse care because it's medically unnecessary or not covered under the insurance agreement. Governments refuse to cover things because they are expensive, or they limit access to control costs. Two very different ways of approaching the problem.

Prove that!

So you say Doctors don't get denied by a private insurance for treatments they recommend. The excuse they use doesn't matter. Both organisation refuse treatments at times. Your premise is complete stupid... On one hand you saying 'roughly a third of Medicare’s total $400 billion annual spending goes to procedures which were medically unnecessary'. Was I not meant to read that?

http://www.uspoliticsonline.com/heal...ml#post1974623

Don't worry, our own government is working on only covering "best practices" just like a real government-run health care system. It's what private insurance companies do and it's using science to inform health care decisions, rather than doctors' hunches.

Yeah, I don't buy it either, but it's a rationalization to spend less, so whatever works.

Originally Posted by adaher

Don't worry, our own government is working on only covering "best practices" just like a real government-run health care system. It's what private insurance companies do and it's using science to inform health care decisions, rather than doctors' hunches.

Yeah, I don't buy it either, but it's a rationalization to spend less, so whatever works.

Any proof to back up you claim...

Comparative Effectiveness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The rising cost of medical care in the U.S. has triggered an immediate need for better value in our health system. Researchers at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy, in addition to the Congressional Budget Office, have documented a large gap in the quality and outcomes and health services being delivered. Unwarranted variation in medical treatment, cost, and outcomes suggests a substantial area for improve and savings in our health care system. Statistical findings show that "patients in the highest-spending regions of the country receive 60 percent more health services than those in the lowest-spending regions, yet this additional care is not associated with improved outcomes." [4] New models of shared decision making promise to bring greater emphasis to informed patient choice for "preference-sensitive" care, improving quality, safety, and effectiveness of health care by providing both patients and their health care providers with the evidence to assist in informed decision making.[5]

Originally Posted by adaher

Comparative Effectiveness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The rising cost of medical care in the U.S. has triggered an immediate need for better value in our health system. Researchers at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy, in addition to the Congressional Budget Office, have documented a large gap in the quality and outcomes and health services being delivered. Unwarranted variation in medical treatment, cost, and outcomes suggests a substantial area for improve and savings in our health care system. Statistical findings show that "patients in the highest-spending regions of the country receive 60 percent more health services than those in the lowest-spending regions, yet this additional care is not associated with improved outcomes." [4] New models of shared decision making promise to bring greater emphasis to informed patient choice for "preference-sensitive" care, improving quality, safety, and effectiveness of health care by providing both patients and their health care providers with the evidence to assist in informed decision making.[5]

This seems to be the most tenious link I have seen yet... Show me where Government system is rationing and private insurance is using science....

The system the government has less to do with cost (that is just another benefit) but more to do with better care....
http://www.uspoliticsonline.com/heal...ml#post1972716

Please read the thread before you answer...