re: A great article about why America blows...

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i still don't think that makes it okay for the corporate health care cartel to price gouge.

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Thats fine, but you need to quit focusing on the symptom and start focusing on the disease. We all need to do that.

Putting a bandaid on a tumor does nothing.

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Again, i'm talking less about the health problems of the country and more about the business end relating to current realities.

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And I'm saying that focusing on that is a complete waste of time unless you focus on the health problems of our country as well.

Fixing the business aspect is a useless endeavor that will ultimately result in making things worse unless you fix the health problems as well.

But, I don't think we will get anywhere with this discussion, so let's just move on.

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What is your Tort Lawyer pals' motivation?

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I am not a tort lawyer and i've already said that medmal isn't that big an issue to me, because I recognize the reality that (while it's a factor) it's not the main driver for the rising healthcare costs in this country, Corporate irresponsibility is. So I'm not dodging anything here, I'm happy conceding smaller issues to you if it will get the real problem fixed.

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I've never understood why self described conservatives are so hell bent on defending parasitic corporate practices like price gouging people in vulnerable positions.

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i'll never understand why progressives think that people are so stupid that they shouldn't deal with their own choices

oh wait, i know why, they are elitists who believe in authoritarianism and that everyone should think like them, and if they can't, they should be protected under the veil of elitism (and fart smelling)

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i still don't think that makes it okay for the corporate health care cartel to price gouge.

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do you think it's ok to force an ER to treat a person who has taken shitty care of their body and uses the ER as a primary care physician? that's the reason why the people who can/do pay (which is largely insurance), must pay more

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i'll never understand why progressives think that people are so stupid that they shouldn't deal with their own choices

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...yet still allow them to vote.

And just to add a data point to the discussion...

Medical facilities averaged a 2.4% profit (34th)
Insurance and managed care... 2.2% (35th)

Legal services (ahem!)... 19.6% (3rd)

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I am not a tort lawyer

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duck

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i've already said that medmal isn't that big an issue to me

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dodge

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I recognize the reality that (while it's a factor)

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weave

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it's not the main driver for the rising healthcare costs in this country

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stumble

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So I'm not dodging anything here

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fall

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I'm happy conceding smaller issues to you

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FAIL!

Your argument is that a room full of Ambulance Chasers earnestly state in a very earnest way that Ambulance Chasing has virtually nothing to do with healthcare costs. They are so earnest in fact, that even someone 'skeptical' as you might otherwise be swayed by such sincere earnestness.
Great!

You (and they) tend to quote studies offered by lawyers, and legal friendly organizations as supportive of minimal impact of tort. Yet while you're happy to criticize US Healthcare costs as >2-fold other countries like Britain, you ignore the fact that per capita direct costs of US HC Tort exceeds Britain's 60-fold. Average UK settlement is 1/10th that of the US, and Brits are 6X less likely to sue. So while 2X is terrible, you'd have it that 60X is not. And as eye opening as the 60-fold difference is, it ignores ignore the much, MUCH LARGER dynamic costs of tort.

Not clear as to WTF dynamic costs of tort references?

Let's consider some examples:

Take a wild guess why the US is the only country in the world in which CAT Scans are routinely obtained prior to appendectomy.

Take a guess as to why US C-Section rates are 300% - 600% higher than international recs.

The costs of just those two medical examples (even without incorporating any direct medical lawsuit costs) outstrip the entire all-encompassing tort impact claimed by virtually any legally funded/research/study/propaganda out there.

Of course, those examples are but a scratch of the service.
As we are talking about the same US medical tort industry which falsely sued the US silicon breast implant manufactures into insolvency, would you like to address the impact of tort on cost of other implants . . . like the hip implant prosthetics you earlier alluded to? Or on medical equipment? Or on pharmaceuticals?

Little impact, if at all, correct?
At least that's what your room full of personal injury lawyers would claim.

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One thing he misses: When the shite hits the fan, everybody looks to the U.S. The U.S. enables a lot of the freedoms enjoyed by most of those countries he's been to/lives in. Japan spends $0 on defense. That's because of the U.S. And I doubt his visits to eastern Europe would be quite so free and secure w/o the U.S.'s presence.

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as long as the 1% are living well and we get our guns, we're good with it.

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