General Question

luigirovatti's avatar

What do you think about my following speech about health care (in other words, details if you click)?

Asked by luigirovatti (3001points) May 28th, 2019

We can’t treat health care like we do any other commodity. If a toy is too expensive and people refuse to pay that cost, the cost is gonna go down or that toy is gonna get off the market. However, if, for example, insulin is too expensive and you need it to live, you’re gonna pay it even if going bankrupt because you need it to live. And the thing that bothers me is: there’s no transparency. You don’t know what pharmaceutical companies are charging, you don’t know what pharmacy benefit managers are making off medications. Without transparency, you cannot make an educated consumer decision. If, for example, you look at an industry where the prices are transparent, like, let’s say, plastic surgery, if you go to an office they tell you the cost, if you go to another they tell the procedure, because you pay cash, so they’re forced to tell you. If you go through insurance, they may not be necessarily forced. In health care, you don’t have a choice, because it goes to the insurance. Enough blabbering. What do you think?

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13 Answers

elbanditoroso's avatar

Probably accurate, but completely naive.

In the US at least, big business controls all parts of health care and drug manufacturing, and they are not going to want to lose their hold on their parts of the market. They won’t allow things to change to the point where they would simply be price-controlled public utilities.

So, @luigirovatti – what you wrote is a dream, but it will never become reality,

stanleybmanly's avatar

What do I think? I’m frankly shocked that you find the time to even think about something that matters, actual life and death reality. What happened?

flutherother's avatar

I think you maybe misunderstand the purpose of healthcare. It exists to make big profits for companies and chief executives, not to make sick people well. It doesn’t want educated consumers or even educated doctors. It doesn’t even want healthy consumers it wants sick consumers to sign up for lengthy courses of treatment with expensive new drugs. It doesn’t want doctors to prescribe what they think is right, it wants doctors to prescribe the new drugs the sick consumers have seen advertised at length on television and which the drug companies are pressuring doctors to prescribe.

luigirovatti's avatar

@stanleybmanly: As in all things, criticism is appreciated, but I think I’ve been a bit, uhm, let’s say, played down. Give me more credit, duh.

stanleybmanly's avatar

OK. Don’t get me wrong. I AM pleasantly surprised. If you are offended, I will ask the mods to remove my reaction. You can probably do it yourself. But tell us what personally moved you to ask such a question? You must realize that it is miles removed from your usual fare. In fact we battle royally over the issue here with tedious regularity. Where were you?

luigirovatti's avatar

@stanleybmanly: Apart from the serious questions I posed over the 3 years I was here, (included this) I mean, I, at least, am a bit, let’s say, tedious over and take my time to unwind and settle down. But from, “battle royally over the issue here with tedious regularity”, it seems you escape the opportunity to take some time for yourselves, and, be, yourselves. Let’s just say, that with Trump, all things go haywire.

stanleybmanly's avatar

A valid criticism. I am PARTICULARLY tedious about Trump. Obsessed is too mild a criticism. The obsession IS myself. YOU intrigue me because your questions break my train of Trump thought as well as tripping my “what the hell is that?” switch. Are you telling me that you’ve been in on the healthcare discussions here?

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