Tort reform is only half the problem. Force other countries (such as Canada and Mexico, just to name two) to pay the same prices that we do for prescription drugs - share the same financial burden - and that disparity would be almost nonexistent.

We already have socialized medicine here in the States, folks. It’s called “Medicare”, and the drug benefits program they have now is costing taxpayers an additional trillion dollars.

Without improving actual care one iota, mind you…

Toss in the cost of deliberate fraud on the part of substandard doctors (you know what they call the guy who graduates from the very bottom of his class from Med School? “Doctor") and you have the mess we have today, but multiplied by the percentage of bribery for “underpaid” civil servants in a socialist system.

(After all, the Soviets showed us how well a managed economy runs...)

Jim, just keep your eyes open for MajoritySpeaker.

He’s always seemed to be pretty well read before, and thrown out some pretty convincing stats.

Thing is, as my recent moorewatch posting points out, those stats don’t always jive.
I caught him this time, but I’m far too lazy to stay on top of him. Just passing the word along to not take any numbers he gives as gospel. Check them out before trying to defend yourself against them.
Knowwhutahmsain’?

Tort reform is only half the problem. Force other countries (such as Canada and Mexico, just to name two) to pay the same prices that we do for prescription drugs - share the same financial burden -

But wait, there’s more.

In addition to drugs and tort reform, our technology toys cost a bunch in R&D;and they cost a bunch to buy, maintain, upgrade and use.

Insurance companies have helped create the problems they said they were going to prevent. Cost containment? Yeah right. They have CEO’s/shareholders and upper management whores just like any other corporation who take a big fucking chunk of all those premiums we pay. They only pay amounts they consider “reasonable and customary” and they don’t care if the doctor/office or hospital is losing money. Dr’s offices have at least one and usually 2 or more people depending on how big the office is who do nothing but billing ad dealing with the fucking insurance companies just to get paid. What would happen to your operating expenses if you had to add 2 employees to your company that did not perform any function of patient care?  Socialized medicine is HMO’s people.

Medicaid and medicare- entitlement programs for the illegals who squat this side of the border with their lack of any prenatal care pregnancy, pop out a premie, sue the US for some fucking thing, we pay for it. Grandpa who is 74, smokes like a chimney, drinks and eats like shit gets his Quadruple bypass so he makes it to 75.

Prior to 1965 when MEDI/MEDI started, a large part of Dr’s practice was taking care of the indigent, poor and elderly. Then the Gov stepped in and started MEDI/MEDI, and the practice has become al but extint.

People convinced they know more than the doctor, or at least think their lawyer does.  Our technology has given these same people the idea that they can live any way they want and had better be cured of whatever happens to them. Dr’s are people, even the best doctors make mistakes. In court lawyers second guess the shit out of every move a doctor made at the time of actual treatment. So guess what, proactive, preventative medicine is not the norm, CYA defensive medicine is.
The solution is get rid of the lawyers (tort reform and get rid of the quack docs and lawyers permanently), charge the rest of the world the same price for our meds and technology, and GET OFF YOU ASS PEOPLE and live healthier, just beacuse we CAN do a liver transplant doesn’t give you the right to expect one after destroying yours.

I don’t need fucking stats, I live this shit.

My father is an orthopedic surgeon, so I’ll have to talk to him about this. One thing I can tell you is that tort reform IS a huge issue. My dad has been sued a few times, but thankfully it was never successful, at least as far as I know. One was from some piece of shit who lost a foot. He was a diabetic and had poor circulation. Eventually he lost his foot because of it. The kicker is that he was seeing my dad for a completely unrelated problem and was seeing another doctor to address the foot issue. So when it comes off, he sues that doctor...and my dad as well. He got nuked in court, but it should never have even gone that far. I’d guess that my dad’s malpractice premiums went up after that, though, simply because a case happened.

Insurance companies are also a big problem. They’ve been charging consumers more and more while they pay less and less, and it’s only getting worse, the filthy fucks. My dad ran a private practice for quite a while and oh boy, were they bad. One of the reasons doctors charge more is to offset the insurance companies paying less. They typically hand out about half of what is billed. Medicare is worse, popping out about 30% last I knew, and Medicaid does about 10%. Doctors who work for big hospitals will be okay, but private practitioners are getting fucked right up the ass. Running your own office is far from cheap.

Oh, and let’s not forget how each generation becomes more superficial, selfish, and bitchier. You wouldn’t believe some of the assholes that come into doctor’s offices and want to get fixed NOW! A lot of them were welfare patients who felt like they were entitled to perfect healthcare right off the bat. You get people who don’t do as the doctor prescribes and then blame the doctor when things go wrong. They think they know more than the doctor. Most people are well-behaved, but it doesn’t take much to really screw up your day.

Add these things up and you’ll find that we’re going to have less and less doctors. Med school enrollment is down, and doctors are leaving some states (New Jersey, for instance) because they don’t seem to give a shit about the doctors. If things aren’t remedied in the next decade or two, we’re going to see a REAL healthcare crisis, except this one will be related to a shortage of doctors.

Oh, and add to that the sick fact that some docs take big payouts from pharms to hand out their drugs. That should be flat-out illegal. The doctor should prescribe the drug that best fits the situation, not sway toward another because the pharm gives him a comission for handing it out. This needs to be made very, very illegal and should carry stiff penalties for the doctor and even bigger ones for the pharm.

Oh, and add to that the sick fact that some docs take big payouts from pharms to hand out their drugs. That should be flat-out illegal. The doctor should prescribe the drug that best fits the situation, not sway toward another because the pharm gives him a comission for handing it out. This needs to be made very, very illegal and should carry stiff penalties for the doctor and even bigger ones for the pharm

Isn’t that essentially payola like what music companies used to do for radio djs?

Maybe, but it was only people’s ears at stake, not their health.