American Healthcare continues to go backward

[CptnQuirk]

If only there was a simple way to diagnose pneumonia that takes about two minutes and costs a few bucks (ignoring Us health care insanity) so that we didn't have an "unobserved" pandemic.

Can our (essentially) two party form of government ever give us the healthcare we need? Some things need to be regulated to prevent the runaway costs of healthcare and insurance. Everyone needs healthcare. I seem to have good coverage but a lot of my family members are very limited.

 

[steross]

Can our (essentially) two party form of government ever give us the healthcare we need? Some things need to be regulated to prevent the runaway costs of healthcare and insurance. Everyone needs healthcare. I seem to have good coverage but a lot of my family members are very limited.

Highly unlikely in the current format where lobbying rules and there are people making oodles of money skimming huge profits.

 

[RxCowboy]

If only there was a simple way to diagnose pneumonia that takes about two minutes and costs a few bucks (ignoring Us health care insanity) so that we didn't have an "unobserved" pandemic.

I have the full text of the article and can confirm, it does not mention masks at all. If masks increased morbidity or mortality then we would have found out long ago because healthcare professionals wear them everyday.

 

[RxCowboy]

Can our (essentially) two party form of government ever give us the healthcare we need? Some things need to be regulated to prevent the runaway costs of healthcare and insurance. Everyone needs healthcare. I seem to have good coverage but a lot of my family members are very limited.

Highly unlikely in the current format where lobbying rules and there are people making oodles of money skimming huge profits.

Early in this thread steross posted some things about competition in healthcare would decrease costs, that a free market would be better for everyone than even socialized medicine. But healthcare is the least free market in the US and it is difficult for me to see deregulating it. What's more, if we try to empty the trough now, the pigs will revolt. It looks hopeless to me that it can ever be fixed.

 

[Polds4OSU]

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[CptnQuirk]

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Can we say inflationary?

 

[Polds4OSU]

 

[steross]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1955648316710240613

 

[RxCowboy]

View attachment 13405

Someone please explain to me how Medicaid cuts are driving up the premiums for private insurance? Are people flocking from Medicaid to private insurance, thus driving up premiums? Because if people can afford private insurance why would they be on Medicaid? Or is this a mid-wit not seeing that the pigs are simply refilling the trough and it has nothing to do with Medicaid cuts?

 

[RxCowboy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1955648316710240613

Back in 99 or so I was a co-author on a CME pushing pain as the fifth vital sign. I've long since removed it from my CV.

 

[steross]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1956103927482736813

 

[Stillwater Townie]

Yes, we'll keep sending people to Congress who are totally against anything like Medicare For All. Why so? Since the majority of us as voters are in excellent health, it's hard to understand what the not so well minority of people are talking about when they say health care sucks.

At any rate, I think healthcare reform starts at finding the solution to the shortage of doctors and other health care professionals. You don't want to switch to Medicare For All and find it takes up to several months to get an appointment with a doctor, especially a specialist. One way you don't help solve the problem is to make immigrant doctors fear that it's not a good idea to come to America with immigration in shambles. With all the billions ICE has, are they going to end up going after immigrant doctors to deport them? Of course, ICE agents will be in fine health if they do.

For how health care is going to further deteriorate, I can't help but wonder whoever supports huge tariffs on prescription medicine is so healthy, he or she never takes any. Will stupid wonders ever cease?

 

[RxCowboy]

it's hard to understand what the not so well minority of people are talking about when they say health care sucks.

Q: Why do people still come from around the world to get healthcare in the United States?

A: Because we have the best healthcare available in the world.

What sucks is the delivery/payment system. What created the current system? Government.

Health insurance in the United States didn’t begin all at once—it evolved in stages from the late 19th to early 20th century. Here’s the progression:

1. Early Forms (Late 1800s – Early 1900s):

• The first arrangements were **"sickness funds"** run by fraternal societies, unions, and employers. Workers would pay small dues, and if they got sick, the fund paid some cash benefits or covered medical care.
• Railroad, mining, and lumber companies in particular offered company medical services—employees paid a monthly fee to access a company doctor.

2. Hospital Prepayment Plans (1920s):

• The modern idea of health insurance started with Baylor University Hospital in Dallas, Texas (1929).
• Baylor offered 1,200 schoolteachers a plan where they paid 50 cents a month in exchange for up to 21 days of hospital care per year.
• This became the model for Blue Cross, the first widespread nonprofit health insurance system, which spread across the country in the 1930s.

3. Medical (Physician) Insurance (1930s–40s):

• Physicians created similar plans, leading to Blue Shield, which covered doctor services.

4. Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance (1940s–50s):

• During World War II, wage controls prevented employers from raising pay, but they could offer benefits like health insurance.
• The IRS ruled in 1943 that employer contributions to health insurance were tax-free, making it very attractive.
• This cemented employer-sponsored health insurance as the backbone of U.S. healthcare coverage.

So, while sickness funds and company medical plans go back to the late 1800s, the first recognizable modern health insurance plan began in Dallas, Texas in 1929 with the Baylor Hospital plan.

 

[steross]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1957913527391342715

 

[RxCowboy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1957913527391342715

A recent report from the World Health Organization shows that the world may be short of 5.7 million nurses by 2030.

We will also be ~140,000 short on pharmacists by 2030. There are simply not enough kids entering pharmacy school to keep up with replacement.

 

[steross]

A recent report from the World Health Organization shows that the world may be short of 5.7 million nurses by 2030.

We will also be ~140,000 short on pharmacists by 2030. There are simply not enough kids entering pharmacy school to keep up with replacement.

I became eligible for early retirement as of Sunday.
My days are numbered.

 

[PJ-OSU]

A recent report from the World Health Organization shows that the world may be short of 5.7 million nurses by 2030.

We will also be ~140,000 short on pharmacists by 2030. There are simply not enough kids entering pharmacy school to keep up with replacement.

@RxCowboy, do you have source on the pharmacist numbers? I want to send it to someone.

Regardless, with the way the CVS's and Walgreens' of the world treat pharmacists, I'm not surprised a bit.

 

[RxCowboy]

@RxCowboy, do you have source on the pharmacist numbers? I want to send it to someone.

Regardless, with the way the CVS's and Walgreens' of the world treat pharmacists, I'm not surprised a bit.

That’s a big part of the reason why numbers entering pharmacy school are flagging. But we’re also starting to see huge signing bonuses again.

 

[steross]

A recent report from the World Health Organization shows that the world may be short of 5.7 million nurses by 2030.

We will also be ~140,000 short on pharmacists by 2030. There are simply not enough kids entering pharmacy school to keep up with replacement.

Interesting that we are not short Hospital executives.

For whatever reason, a job that makes 10-100 times the salary of the hospital workers, does not require patient contact or night shift and has a golden parachute never seems to be short of willing participants.

 

[PJ-OSU]

That’s a big part of the reason why numbers entering pharmacy school are flagging. But we’re also starting to see huge signing bonuses again.

I heard about the bonuses too. "Come work in hell with no support from techs or management for a nice sign-on." They need RETENTION bonuses based on how things are going, or, they could just improve the working conditions and support the actual employee vs. wringing the rag for every drop of profit.