Scott Burns on Priceless
Is 
there a solution? Yes, I believe there is. It’s radical. It will destroy many institutions that won’t be able to adapt. It’s something we haven’t seen in health care for decades — it’s called price. If we had to pay the price of our care, we might negotiate it. We might not buy it. We would consider alternative treatments. If possible, we’d shop the cost. Do that, and the price of care would, however imperfectly, decline until it met what we are able to pay.
This isn’t a crazy idea from a deranged newspaper columnist. You can read how and why restoring price to health care will work by reading John C. Goodman’s Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis (The Independent Institute). (More)
This is way too simple and not enough to be gained from politicians, so it would probably never work here.
Heaven forbid people would be able to make choices about their health care.
Simplicity is just too simple for lawmakers these days.
We really need to free the doctors and patients.
Amen to that. Doctors could have frank and reasonable discussions about pros and cons of diagnostics and treatment. Of course, tort reform would have to be part of the deal.
Transparency in price is key to any market. It boils down to the age old understanding of supply and demand and competition is at the core of this relationship.
Here is a link to the explanation of ‘Medibid.’ It is an interesting new concept that brings competition to health care.
http://healthblog.ncpathinktank.org/domestic-medical-tourism-is-taking-off-2/
If you bring down the regulations, new players will enter the market. With more players, there will be competition, with more competition, competitors must drop their prices to stay ahead. A natural market benefits everyone.
A shocking statement by Burns-
“…the cost of the unsubsidized premium — the amount of money required to distribute the risk of actual health care costs — would be a staggering 26.1 percent of income for the younger family and a mind-numbing 35.7 percent for the older family.”
No need to worry, tax payers have plenty of money to subsidize everyone…
You can only take from one hand and give to the other for so long.
Guess a bottomless pit (national debt) can always pay for everything. I really see no end in sight from this.
Let’s hope that more people catch on to this “oh so radical” idea of price competition because the future chaos that the ACA will make is going to be very awful.
The ACA is certainly going to open the door even further for health care providers to abuse the system.
JCG’s blog and books are a must read for anyone interested in this industry, or their own future for that matter.
I too am enthusiastic about what prices and transparency can do.
However I have a caution.
More and more of us are going to be negotiating the price of non-urgent tests and procedures and office vists and non-life threatening surgery. And probably consume fewer of them.
We will not however be able to negotiate the price of a premature baby or paralysis from an accident or a heart attack.
The prices charged for these events can overwhelm all the little savings that are achieved person by person.
An insurance policy has to be ready to pay $250,000 or even $1 million at time. Saving $200 here and there will not make insurance any cheaper.
b.
Ask any doctor what the price is for a cancer treatment is. Chances are they will have no idea.
Ask any doctor how much it costs to set a broken finger. chances are they have no idea.
Those CPT codes modified by the AMA dictate that.
There is no real price in health care. That is the problem. The AMA dictates costs through CPT codes.