UnitedHealth CEO shot

efil4stnias said
Since we are on about anesthesiologists, good friend of ours is one. Interesting is they are now "contract" labor. They form groups and negotiate pay ( power in numbers ) with the hospitals they provide services for. There are several groups im aware of that all vie for max contracts. He is actually contemplating out of state work because the pay is akin to a NOBRA ship pilot ( $400k/yr plus )

What doesnt get factored is all the folks within the healthcare industry, ALL attempting to maximize their pay/revenue. ALL. So when the CRNA costs go up ( because they negotiated a better deal ), or a physicians group, or nursing group etc etc, just like the free market, the consumer picks up the tab.
Every. single. Time.

I pay $962 for health insurance every 2 weeks. ( family policy thru employer ) Thats $1924/month or $23,088 annual.

Its insane.

So you have all these denizens within the Healthcare Industry ( its own eco system ) - Health insurers, Hospital Groups ( which there are only 3 now i think that own 90% of the hospitals in the US ) Physician groups, specialists groups, nursing groups etc etc. and they are all feeding from the same trough BUT all wanting a larger part of the same trough.

You want good hospitals? you gonna pay
Want good physicians? you gonna pay
specialists? pay
Nurses? pay

Doesnt leave much room for health insurers so when they are blocked on the "payment for services" side, the ONLY other avenue is focusing on claims.

Meanwhile, they ( as a whole ) keep telling us, the consumer, that its what it is for good healthcare. And we keep paying it because we have no alternative choices. So i keep paying $1900~ $50 copay, $75 urgent care copay, $750 ER copay and hope that i can limit those visits as best i can. Thats not how it supposed to work.

Someone mentioned earlier its similar to a ponzi scheme- its not. its a full on monopoly where all the players have a full understanding that the one group that WILL pay for it are the consumers.

I look at it from the angle of the legal profession - for decades the "billable hour" was the only way anyone billed and clients absorbed all the inefficiency and frankly overbilling that went on. It's still the predominant model but you see a lot more fee for services arrangements now - $10K to get through summary judgement phase, $25K if it goes to trial, etc., as opposed to an open-ended meter running for every 6 minutes that any person inside the firm ever spends thinking about your case.

The anesthesiologists are still on the billable hour. Obviously they don't want anyone messing with it.

Then there's the fact that Obamacare made it (health insurance) into a cartel, removing any real competition - there is no longer any option to provide "cheap" insurance (to cover only catastrophic losses). They all must cover pre-existing conditions. Must carry adult children until they're 26, etc. So now every insurer must cover a larger set of services (with the requisite staff and administration that comes with it) and providers know it all MUST be covered, so there is a lot less pricing power.

Plus, doctors enjoy a wonderful reputation so they are immune to the Eat the Rich sentiment that is prevalent in every other aspect of our population.