Healthcare

[nihal]

I don't understand healthcare in America. I am totally confused. I'm lucky to be extremely healthy and have never really had any health related issues. Healthcare in India is incredibly cheap, both in terms of medicines and hospitalization. As most of you know, Shruti had enormous complications during childbirth. The total bill came to about $5000

Comments

[lilsabub]

I am no expert on the subject by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems to me that the root of the problem stems from medical malpractice lawsuits by patients

[benigno]

Yep, like lisabub's explanation, the $36k is actually covering the cost of treatment, health organization overheads, and insurance for both the doctors and patients.

[nihal]

So let me get this straight.
Step 1)
You pay a lot of money for health insurance.
Step 2)
You get sick, and the insurance company foots the bill

Aha! Since you are only paying insurance, and not for the actual treatment, the doctor and patients will agree to more tests/medication than absolutely necessary.

Step 3) The doctors charge a lot, and patients tend to complain about the cost of healthcare insurance, not the actual healthcare itself, the whole thing is going to snowball.

Step 4) Profit!!!

Unfortunately, neither the insurance companies nor the doctors are making any real money. I guess Barry has his work cut out for him.

[dmlou]

It's a bit more complicated than that, but you're hitting it pretty close to the nose

[hoboscratch]

Numbers time

[nihal]

There is something larger at work. Where did you get the numbers from? I suck at the internets, so I couldn't find them. What was the total premiums written for health insurance?

[hoboscratch]

I got the 2008 numbers from a report published by Americans for Insurance Reform, a project of the Center for Justice and Democracy. I can't find their source for the 2008 US Department of Health and Human Services, but HHS's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Studies has the 2007 figures available. They're pretty close to the 2008 figures. As for the insurance industry data, I can't find A.M. Best's full cited report online for free, but an excerpt for the report is available. Unfortunately it's a bit useless without the data from the study, but that's as close as you can get without shelling out $170 for it.

To answer your question, though, these are the figures from the 2007 HHS data:
- total health care insurance premiums written in 2007 - $775 billion
- total health care insurance benefits paid out in 2007 - $680 billion