Gotta Read: What makes U.S. health care so overpriced? It’s not what you think

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/what-makes-u-s-health-care-so-overpriced-its-not-2D11582695

U.S. medical care is getting ever pricier, but it’s not because so many old people are running up charges, experts reported Tuesday. Most of the money’s being spent on people under 65 with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

The perception is that a bigger proportion of the population is getting old and sick, and using more and more services. But Moses and colleagues say their review didn’t show that.

“In 2011, chronic illnesses account for 84 percent of costs overall among the entire population, not only of the elderly. Chronic illness among individuals younger than 65 years accounts for 67 percent of spending,” they found.

“Price of professional services, drugs and devices, and administrative costs, not demand for services or aging of the population, produced 91 percent of cost increases since 2000.”

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This is my counter-argument to those who are yelling about men paying for maternity and infant care. I don't have diabetes nor heart disease. Yet I've been paying for those who do for more than a decade. (I really do understand that this how insurance works, but it's my comeback to those idiots who think each and every policy should be customized and priced.)

[Scuba]

1. And guess what drives up the cost of treating those with chronic illness?

Among other things, poor nutrition.

So why are the Republicans cutting food stamps, meals on wheels and every other program that helps feed People?

[Fumesucker]

2. The budget under sequestration is ~already~ less then Ryan's plans, isn't it?

And if I'm not mistaken sequestration is a thoroughly bipartisan policy.

[Scuba]

3. "Bipartisan" would imply that there are two sides.

On fiscal policy, this doesn't appear to be the case.

[madville]

5. Republicans make the argument that

People use food stamps to buy junk food and that's why our poor people have such poor health and a high obesity/chronic illness rate.

If the food stamp program was truly about nutrition it wouldn't be cut, it would include nutrition education and not allow crap to be purchased through the program.

Unfortunately in Washington's eyes the program is mainly about funneling money to processed food manufacturers and corn producers these days.

[Brickbat]

4. Mr. Brickbat told me once that something like 70 percent of his union's health care coverage

went to four families out of thousands. Two of them had kids with leukemia, one had another kid with special needs, and I can't remember what the fourth one was.

[kestrel91316]

6. We are spending a lot of money keeping people alive with lots of

drugs, surgery, doctor visits, etc when we would all be better off directing our efforts toward keeping those people healthy in the first place with proper diet and sufficient exercise.

But noooooo..........we gotta keep Big Ag and the fast food corporations and Big Pharma happy, and we gotta let everybody indulge their gargantuan appetites like spoiled children.