Hits & Misses – 2008/11/13
If Times are Bad, Why Aren't Medical Prices Falling? They are, unless Medicare, Blue Cross or employers are paying the bill. [link]
Scanner Police at Work. "Every time we scanned him, we had to go through a lengthy approval process….Delays in approval lead to cancers coming back and not being detected." [link]
Hypnosis May Also Work. For migraines, depression, nausea from pregnancy and chemotherapy and phobias – in addition to smoking cessation and eating disorders. Also, it's cheaper. [link]
Kids: They're Costly. Childbirth is the leading reason for hospitalization in the USA. The cost in 2005: $7,000 for an uncomplicated vaginal birth and $16,000 for a complicated C-section. [link]
The Baldness Gene: Both Your Parents are at Fault. A new gene variation strongly associated with early hair loss can be inherited from either the mother's or the father's side. [link]
With respect to the scanner police, clearly managed care is not dead. It´s alive and kicking.
Prices are not falling for third-party payers because in the system they are in there are no prices. There are only reimbursement schedules against which providers maximize. That is why the whole notion of transparency is misdirected. Phony numbers don´t cease to be less phony just because they are revealed.
Now I understand why people who actually have to pay for their on medical care are having fewer children.
[…] is no law that prevents health providers from lowering their prices. As we previously reported [here], they are doing just that, provided the bills are not paid by Medicare, Blue Cross, employers, […]