re: Medicare will become insolvent in 2026 — three years earlier than previously forecast

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Are we to tell these people to just die?

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This is the problem (for a ton of reasons) with healthcare costs and why free market won't work.

When you are scheduling your parent's surgery, do you find the cheapest doctor?
Do you even price out doctor's or just get consults with the best ones regardless of cost.

With healthcare, there is not a comparative shopping process for goods and services.
The same goes for MLB athlete contracts.
The same goes for CEO hiring.

When the search is limited to the two or three "best", there is no corrective leverage on the cost. The demand only increases on the limited supply. The new "set price" doesn't influence the next market condition only to set a floor for what the best 1 or 2 option would garner.

The result is spiraling costs with everyone scratching their heads for a solution.

Other issues for costs are unpaid medical services (either uninsured, declined by health insurance or co-pays that never get turned in). The money comes from somewhere, and this is a big reason why our paid services are significantly higher than other countries.

Lastly, insurance companies do not have an incentive to decline claims and keep costs down. Insurance today isn't insurance. It is a conduit. The higher claims go, the more the insurance companies charge. This isn't greed. It is a cost of service (even the government charges this cost of service. Your county tax assessor keeps 2% of the property tax rolls before turning any money over to the school systems or county government). When the insurance companies actually assumed risk, they would target a 6% margin. But with the federal government guaranteeing losses in an attempt to get insurance companies on board with Obamacare, those margins have shrunk because the risk of loss has shrunk with it. 3 or 4% margins are currently present. The insurance companies don't mind because cost increases near 10% a year. And that will go higher if more claims are paid.

Doctors/hospitals and insurance companies don't have an incentive to let people die. They lose customers that way.
Changing from the current system would battle that approach. And we would be subject to a death panel approving how we take care of our loved ones despite our mindset of being wired to do whatever is necessary.

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You do understand this means rationing and death panels. How do you think people in this country will react to that? We are a people who want the very best, and we want it 5 minutes ago. This won’t end well.

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I see this is being done now. Medicare also hangs the carrot of Hospice which covers at 100% once doctors tell you nothing more can be done.

My personal experience with hospice is essentially the same as putting down Fido. They essentially give you painkilling drugs until you slip into death. It happens at very different timelines. Some times it is quick while others could take months or even years.

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Let’s just shut it down before I pay more money that I’ll never see.

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Exactly