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Does it not mean that the government controls the means of production?No, it means that *EVERYBODY* owns the means of production. Socialism is when the government owns the means of production.
d3 saysThe relationship is fairly indirect, but it does exist. From my understanding, for Medicare and a lot of specific treatments ie vaccines, there is price setting that is in effect which prevent a doctor from refusing certain treatments and charging more than a set amount for that treatment. Doctors will often have to take loses to provide certain treatments. Also depending upon the area the doctor serves he may have even greater limits to what he is allowed to charge for certain treatments. This is what has been scaring doctors away.The problem is that over regulation as scared of family practitioners. If you want to get a shot you are forced to go to an emerancy room which costs both them and you more money.Huh? What does government regulation have to do with a doctor being too busy to see you?
You are payingIt is true a doctor maybe charge what he wants, however the insurance and medicare are only obligated to pay a certain amount. For many treatment that amount is set below what makes it profitable for many practitioners to make any money off the treatments. Sometimes they are even forced to take a loss. Why would one spend 8 years in school to be a primary care doctor when you can make more money in most fields with a 4 year education. I just feel that over regulation from medicare and the insurance companies have taken away the profitability of family practice. It is a fact family doctors are leaving the field. I just think that socializing medicine is the current root cause of the problem and adding more regulation will only make things worse
Regarding the $2000 Tetanus shot (even $200 seems high) A good usually quicker and cheaper alternative to emergency rooms for such medical problems are the so called “prompt†and “urgent†care facilities. One of the absurdities of the current system as referenced indirectly in the comments about “billed†costs verses what insurance companies actually pay is that uninsured people are typically charged more by hospitals and other providers and end up paying a higher amount then insured people (either private or Medicare etc.) for the same service. A small step that could help a lot of people without insurance would be a regulation that they be charged on a fee for service basis at a rate no higher then either the Medicare rates or perhaps an average of all the private insurance companies that the provider accepts. The political debate on this proposal would be interesting to observe as I am sure it would be opposed by the entire medical establishment as well as insurance companies but how can this practice be defended?Sad to say but the urgant care near me was closed about a year ago.. I agree that people without insurance should not be forced to pay more than those with insurance, but I do not think medicare or any other entity should have the excusive right to determine what those fees should be. I do not think the goverment has the ability to fairly regulate prices. A doctor in NYC should not be forced to charge the same as a doctor in Idaho, also if all doctors had to accept the same payment what would be the point of one doctor working harder trying to be better then another. One of the great things about a free market is that you have a choice and if you work harder and make more money you are rewarded by being able to get better things. One of the problems over regulating medicine or any other company is that you end up with rules that may appear fair on paper but are not fair in reality
d3 saysThere are a ton of regulations on what a doctor can charge for medicare. The federal government has a cap of 15% over standard allowable rate for a doctor that does not accept assignment (although most do). In addition most states have even tighter regulations on how much a doctor can charge over assignment for medicare. The issue here is around the fact that a doctor couldn't be seen immediately. I know that the local family practice clinic I go to I can always be seen the same day, but they charge me $150 / yr for the privilege of seeing doctors at their practice. Without government interference you can start to see more models like this one. Where the government really needs to step in, is in creating transparency in pricing for medical procedures and visits.Some Guy saysI don’t believe that’s true. It may be true that Medicare will only reimburse the doctor for a certain amount, but that doesn’t mean he can’t charge whatever he wants. Unless you are on Medicare, the limiting factor is usually going to be your PRIVATE insurance company. The insurance company decides how much a given procedure is “worthâ€, and will not pay the doctor more than that amount. Sorry, but you can’t blame the evil government for that. And even then, you still haven’t explained what any of this has to do with a doctor being too busy to see you.d3 saysThe relationship is fairly indirect, but it does exist. From my understanding, for Medicare a lot of specific treatments ie vaccines, there is price setting that is in effect which prevent a doctor from refusing certain treatments and charging more than a set amount for that treatment. Doctors will often have to take loses to provide certain treatments. Also depending upon the area the doctor serves he may have even greater limits to what he is allowed to charge for certain treatments.The problem is that over regulation as scared of family practitioners. If you want to get a shot you are forced to go to an emerancy room which costs both them and you more money.Huh? What does government regulation have to do with a doctor being too busy to see you?
And you were right the first time. People don’t have money, and banks aren’t lending. It’s just that the numbers are so small, that everything is noise.These numbers are very insightful http://dqnews.com/Articles/2009/News/California/RRCA090716.aspx 44,167 sales in the state of California in June The average sales number in June dating back to 1988 is 50,698 The numbers are not small. The peak was 76,669 in 2004
Thanks for the numbers. There was a 3 month moratorium on foreclosures. once that finished, they got swept off the market. That number was bound to bounce. Add it up for the first half of the year. That might be less “noisyâ€So you are saying that the moratorium on foreclosures has caused the increase in sales? I dont follow it. It seems likely to me that sales have increased because prices have fallen...Econ 101. Your comments were that people dont have money and banks arent lending but the statistics are contrary to that. Sales are up dramatically from those lows. EIther people are getting loans to buy those houses or they have enough cash to buy them without loans
. Sure, people breathe in general, but the artificial constriction caused the larger than normal breath.I'm not sure that makes sense. If there are less houses available, you would think less sales would occur. If I have 5 apples to sell, at most I sell 5. If I have 500 apples to sell, I would likely sell more than 5. I don't know much about econ, so maybe there's more to the story.
EIther people are getting loans to buy those houses or they have enough cash to buy them without loansThere are a LOT of folks who are still sitting on their bubble equities. Don't omit them as a factor. If they didn't move from CA to Austin and pay for their 500K house in cash, they are likely diving back into the market there in CA. There is no big secret. Almost no one has any money right now, unless it's funny.
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