The biggest problem with healthcare is the lack of competition.

I agree that they need to do something to stop the stone rolling downhill gathering moss that is Obamacare, but I'm scared of what their "solution" might be.

I know many here don't believe it, but depending upon what they do about it, things could easily get even worse.

And while I appreciate a Representative agitating for Congress to do something about an issue that does need Congressional action (even if it is just for publicity, which in her case, it absolutely is), I can guarantee you that that woman is incapable of being a meaningful part of the braintrust necessary to make it better.

The biggest problem with healthcare is that insurance companies are allowed to dictate the private-pay cost of healthcare services which makes it impossible to afford most healthcare unless you purchase their product (insurance) which is useless until you have paid a premium and met a high deductible out fo your own pocket and then they pay pennies on the dollar they dictated. It's a scam.

IOW, the biggest problem with healthcare is health insurance companies.

No, they don't (Medicaid does set prices, though). Hospitals are the ones that charge the insurance companies. They charge you exorbitant amounts to make up for all of the people that don't pay.

An ultrasound can be done at a non affiliated health care facility for $120 cash. Memorial Hermann will charge you $1,300.

I asked Gemini for the annual healthcare cost per individual. I was asking more detailed for actual care provider cost but it gave me this.

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Total National Health Expenditure Per Person: The average annual health spending in the U.S. was approximately $14,570 per person. This figure includes all sources of funding—government programs (like Medicare and Medicaid), private insurance, and out-of-pocket spending.
Out-of-Pocket Spending Per Person: The average annual amount that individuals paid directly for their health care (like co-pays, deductibles, and other costs) was approximately $1,514 per person. This figure does not include the cost of health insurance premiums.

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By my logic, that could be wrong, the difference between $14,570 and $1514 is a big profit margin that is being paid by every individual and going to some unknown source(s).

Think about how much that has contributed to “wage stagnation.”

Yep and it’s not changing anytime soon

Large corporations like Oschner keep buying up to aggregate the services and limit the choices

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nonsense such as $28.00 Tylenol, $157.00 for a bandage

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I was charged $800 for a teaspoon of Tylenol that was administered via IV to my daughter. A liter of it cost about $45 at the time via Amazon. I offered them $45 and told them just to send me to collections. The cost was just for the Tylenol, not for the administration of it.

I told the doctor that performed the surgery what they were trying to bill me for, and he had no idea.

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Just think, you have a $15,000 but you really have no idea prior to the procedure and they usually just assign you a physician.

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Slightly off-topic but tangentially, then you get assigned an anesthesiologist that is purposefully out of network at the hospital where they’re performing services. And you get an out of network bill for something you had zero control over.

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On a per capita basis, health spending has increased in the last five decades from $353 per year in 1970 to $14,570 per year in 2023. In constant 2023 dollars, the increase was from $2,151 in 1970 to $14,570 in 2023.

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We're making excellent progress and shouldn't look at what any other country is doing because all of those countries are evil and socialist.

LINK

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No, they don't (Medicaid does set prices, though).

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Yes, they most certainly do.

When a physician's office or hospital contracts with Blue Cross in order to accept Blue Cross payments, for instance, Blue Cross dictates the minimum that they may charge for private pay (people who don't have Blue Cross) for each of their services. It's in the contract.

The physician or hospital is not allowed to charge less than what BCBS or the insurance companies have dictated that they charge.

This is why, as someone else mentioned, Tylenol costs $800 at the hospital. That's the number you see on the bill. Blue Cross is only paying a very small fraction of that $800 (say, $35)- and they're not even paying that until you have met your deductible, probably (depending on your policy), which means even if you have insurance and haven't met your deductible, you're also paying $800 for the Tylenol plus whatever premium you have paid the insurance company to not pay it for you. If you don't have insurance, you will pay $800. This is a very simplified explanation, but that's how it works.

The reason they do this is so that people will purchase their scam.