Comments on: Government-run or free-market? http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/07/government-run-or-free-market.html Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:18:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Anonymoushttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/07/government-run-or-free-market.html#comment-78445 Anonymous Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:56:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2007/07/government-run-or-free-market.html#comment-78445 He's being ridiculous because he is referencing a cost he cannot quantify, and proposing solutions which won't solve the "problem". He’s being ridiculous because he is referencing a cost he cannot quantify, and proposing solutions which won’t solve the “problem”.

]]> By: Robhttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/07/government-run-or-free-market.html#comment-78441 Rob Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:12:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2007/07/government-run-or-free-market.html#comment-78441 He's not being ridiculous. The data backs up the claim that over-ordering of tests and poor coordination of care between different providers is a major cost in healthcare. Waste is felt to account for nearly 40% of all the cost of care.<br/><br/>Anon - read the post on my blog and you will see that the pure free-market approach is a pipe-dream.<br/><br/>Gosh, K. You posted more opinion on this one than usual.<br/><br/>Rob He’s not being ridiculous. The data backs up the claim that over-ordering of tests and poor coordination of care between different providers is a major cost in healthcare. Waste is felt to account for nearly 40% of all the cost of care.

Anon – read the post on my blog and you will see that the pure free-market approach is a pipe-dream.

Gosh, K. You posted more opinion on this one than usual.

Rob

]]> By: Anonymoushttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/07/government-run-or-free-market.html#comment-78434 Anonymous Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:12:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2007/07/government-run-or-free-market.html#comment-78434 If physicians got everything they wanted, how many fewer tests would they order and how much cheaper would healthcare be? <br/><br/>You say your tests play a "large" role - well how large?<br/><br/>Basically, that's a nonsense claim. Healthcare should be expensive, at least for some procedures, while others should be cheaper as they become more common. Asking it in terms of this big overarching "how much should it cost overall" merely illustrates that you're thinking of it as a societal right, rather than on an individual basis.<br/><br/>People don't talk about access to architects or lawyers in terms of overall cost, they ask - how much to have this lawyer do this thing, or that engineer do that thing. No one says "The cost of new construction to America is out of control, we as a society must figure out a way to make these services cheaper." If physicians got everything they wanted, how many fewer tests would they order and how much cheaper would healthcare be?

You say your tests play a “large” role – well how large?

Basically, that’s a nonsense claim. Healthcare should be expensive, at least for some procedures, while others should be cheaper as they become more common. Asking it in terms of this big overarching “how much should it cost overall” merely illustrates that you’re thinking of it as a societal right, rather than on an individual basis.

People don’t talk about access to architects or lawyers in terms of overall cost, they ask – how much to have this lawyer do this thing, or that engineer do that thing. No one says “The cost of new construction to America is out of control, we as a society must figure out a way to make these services cheaper.”

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