Do health care providers lose money on Medicare patients? No.
I told people this for years. If the marginal cost of treating a Medicare patient was actually negative, you wouldn’t find hospitals treating Medicare patients.
I ripped up my AARP card and returned it to them (in one of their postage pre-paid envelopes) when AARP refused to even discuss privatizing a portion of SS contributions during the Bush 43 years.
Re: hospitals treating Medicare patients. Could a hospital continue in business treating ONLY Medicare patients? That is, would the aggregate Medicare reimbursement rate provide enough revenue to cover fixed costs, repairs and capital improvements, and adequate purchases of medical devices and equipment? Oh, and allow for inflation?
“The pace of increase in life expectancy has left industrialized economies unprepared for the cost of providing retirement income to so many for so long”
The question I ask is why do we permit able bodied people to quit working and enjoy 20 to 30 years of leisure.
I find this notion to be both very modern and already outdated. It is modern, in the sense that, prior to the 20th century, the expectation was that you worked until you died, unless you were very rich. It is outdated, in the sense that, there simply are not enough young workers paying taxes to support the cohort of able-bodied older people who won’t work. Everything reverts to the mean, it’s only a matter of when, not if, society again demands that everyone support themselves until they die or they become too infirm to support themselves.
On life expectancy: “‘How much longer can we extend life?’ said Oskar Burger, lead researcher on the study. ‘We just don’t know.'”
There are certain scientists, science fiction writers, and futurists who predict an approaching singularity of sorts – where the life expectancy increases by one year each year. This effectually leads to immortality.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Ray_Kurzweil
“The number of cases in the UK has doubled in the past 40 years and around 2,200 new cases are diagnosed each year.”
Wow, as a young male in my 20’s getting ready to move to the U.K., this makes me feel a little worried. I wonder what the rate of malpractice in this regard is in the U.S.
I find that as a society we will have to start being more “productive” minded and feel less entitled, for example, to retire and potentially live 20+ years at leisure. It only makes sense to increase the retirement age as life expectancy continues to go up.
@The Health Care provider losing money on medicare?No
I thought it was really interesting how the author used the hotel analogy and airplane industry analogy to make a case for the health care system to change. Fascinating insight indeed.
Do health care providers lose money on Medicare patients? No.
I told people this for years. If the marginal cost of treating a Medicare patient was actually negative, you wouldn’t find hospitals treating Medicare patients.
Its quite depressing to know that most primitive men didnt live long enough to even receive their AARP card in the mail.
Simpleton,
I remember when I received my AARP card. Happiest day of my life. I had become eligible for the senior discount at the local Dairy Queen!
I ripped up my AARP card and returned it to them (in one of their postage pre-paid envelopes) when AARP refused to even discuss privatizing a portion of SS contributions during the Bush 43 years.
Re: hospitals treating Medicare patients. Could a hospital continue in business treating ONLY Medicare patients? That is, would the aggregate Medicare reimbursement rate provide enough revenue to cover fixed costs, repairs and capital improvements, and adequate purchases of medical devices and equipment? Oh, and allow for inflation?
“The pace of increase in life expectancy has left industrialized economies unprepared for the cost of providing retirement income to so many for so long”
The question I ask is why do we permit able bodied people to quit working and enjoy 20 to 30 years of leisure.
I find this notion to be both very modern and already outdated. It is modern, in the sense that, prior to the 20th century, the expectation was that you worked until you died, unless you were very rich. It is outdated, in the sense that, there simply are not enough young workers paying taxes to support the cohort of able-bodied older people who won’t work. Everything reverts to the mean, it’s only a matter of when, not if, society again demands that everyone support themselves until they die or they become too infirm to support themselves.
On life expectancy: “‘How much longer can we extend life?’ said Oskar Burger, lead researcher on the study. ‘We just don’t know.'”
There are certain scientists, science fiction writers, and futurists who predict an approaching singularity of sorts – where the life expectancy increases by one year each year. This effectually leads to immortality.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Ray_Kurzweil
“The number of cases in the UK has doubled in the past 40 years and around 2,200 new cases are diagnosed each year.”
Wow, as a young male in my 20’s getting ready to move to the U.K., this makes me feel a little worried. I wonder what the rate of malpractice in this regard is in the U.S.
I find that as a society we will have to start being more “productive” minded and feel less entitled, for example, to retire and potentially live 20+ years at leisure. It only makes sense to increase the retirement age as life expectancy continues to go up.
@Simpleton,
Hahah.
AARP are huge lobbyists, and not always in favor of legislation that actually benefits their members.
Buster is right as usual.
If only we could get William Shatner to champion Medicare as the last article suggests.
Problem solved.
@The Health Care provider losing money on medicare?No
I thought it was really interesting how the author used the hotel analogy and airplane industry analogy to make a case for the health care system to change. Fascinating insight indeed.