Not that simple. This is a multivariate problem including massive student loans, crippling liability/malpractice insurance, regulatory burden and more.
You didn’t get that bill because you just saw a doctor for 5 minutes. You made use of an organization that has a basic cost-per-hour to exist.
This is a simple way to distill what it costs for that entire hospital to be there ready to see your child at whatever random time and day you need them most. That is very different from just seeing a doctor for 5 minutes. What you didn’t see are the hundreds or thousands of people who have to exist for you to be able to get in your car, drive there and see a doctor for 5 minutes.
That’s not to say our costs are not high. They are. Just saying we need to engage in root cause analysis before passing judgment.
Simple example: Our internal machine shop operates at a nominal rate of $200 per hour. That’s what we deem is the cost to utilize that resource. Larger operations can easily have a cost of $2,000 or $20,000 per hour, whether you use the equipment or not.
If you want to lower our healthcare costs, you have to go after real root causes. No amount of insurance scheme manipulation (public option or medicare for all) is going to fix the system until the fundamental structural issues are addressed.
You didn’t get that bill because you just saw a doctor for 5 minutes. You made use of an organization that has a basic cost-per-hour to exist.
This is a simple way to distill what it costs for that entire hospital to be there ready to see your child at whatever random time and day you need them most. That is very different from just seeing a doctor for 5 minutes. What you didn’t see are the hundreds or thousands of people who have to exist for you to be able to get in your car, drive there and see a doctor for 5 minutes.
That’s not to say our costs are not high. They are. Just saying we need to engage in root cause analysis before passing judgment.
Simple example: Our internal machine shop operates at a nominal rate of $200 per hour. That’s what we deem is the cost to utilize that resource. Larger operations can easily have a cost of $2,000 or $20,000 per hour, whether you use the equipment or not.
If you want to lower our healthcare costs, you have to go after real root causes. No amount of insurance scheme manipulation (public option or medicare for all) is going to fix the system until the fundamental structural issues are addressed.