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RSS FeedPatients and doctors should be able to negotiate prices for health care services under Medicare
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| Agree | 81% | 13 votes | Total: 16 votes | |
| Disagree | 19% | 3 votes |
Agree
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Add to FavoritesOf course we need health care reform, and if we do not get universal health care as does most of the European countries and Canada have, then we should be able to negotiate prices according to income. It is very hard to find a doctor for continuous treatment situations such as mine, psoriatic arthritis, and then have him take you on pro-bono. It is almost unheard of in the U.S.A. I have been lucky enough to find a wonderful reumotologist, which is rare, and he has waived my co-pay of $450.00 every six weeks for an infusion of a very expensive drug that puts my psoriasis and arthritis into remission. Without him, I would be in constant pain and agony, psoriasis covered more than 75% of my body and was extremely painful. I was unable to walk because I have a slender thread of cartilage left in my right hip.
Health care in the U.S.A. and Medicare is a crime-my Medicare does not cover anything at all, I have a free supplemental plan and it pays 80% of my costs, I still have to pay at least $20 -$50 to see specialists and SSDI ( social secuity disability insurance) pays me barely enough to pay rent and essentials, my drugs are expensive as I have various mental issues and these drugs have no generics. What I will do in the coming years, I do not know, I thank God that I have faith in Him and He allows me to live my life day by day instead of projecting doom into the future.
So, what are the people of the U.S.A. going to do about health care, unfortunately this issue is not in the hands of the average Americaan, it is primarily controlled by the minority of people called the "rich", upper class and the powerful politicians in Washington, D. C. of which are counted among the very rich.
In an article I recently read, Mechelle Obama attended a fund raising function wearing $500.00 designer shoes, the fund raiser function was intended to raise money for food to help the poor of our country, presumably, and yet, the First Lady of our country was wearing an outfit designed for her and costing upwards of at least $500.00-I believe this is outrageous, and it only serves to drive prices for clothing up. How could she be so callous and unthinking, surely she did not wear this apparel on purpose to mock the poor?
I believe that at the moment our new President, Mr. Obama, has very limited power in light of the fact that our economy has been ruined by avarice and greed on the parts of unqualified CEO's of the banking system; automobile Industry; and many other important industries which are vital to our national economy. Who hired these criminals to run these companies? What qualified them to have these jobs, only one thing qualified them and that, as we now know and is commonly known as a circle of men and women (few) who are deeply entrenched in a society of the very wealthy. All you need to be is a member in that circle to be a CEO.
Yes, there are exceptions, Michael Gates, an entrepreneur, who cares about making the world a better place, but I can't think of many others beside him. Our despicable magazines and newspapers write incredibly poor articles on some of our celebrities that try to help causes like world peace, the war on HIV, and world hunger. If Modonna or Angelina Jolie adopts a child from Somalia or some other war-torn country, instead of praising them, for doing SOMETHING, they are torn down. I thank God this has not disturbed them and make them stop trying. Bono has been fighting for the help that is desperately needed to end the continued death and suffering caused to orphans of HIV, he sees the tragedy of the pandemic and he wants to help.
Oprah Winfrey has done much to aid in the education of children and orphans in Africa, but is she praised in our newspapers? No. When will we let theses people do the good work that needs to be done with out criticizing them for doing it? Are we a jealous people, you bet we are-that is the reason we can't seem to be thankful to those celebrities that at least try to help. I thank God for them and their generosity, I thank God they continue to help and I pray that they nor their families are disturbed by the petty rag newspapers that try to tear down all their work to help raise money and spend their own money to get medicine for people that have absolutely nothing at all.
When will we understand that we can not help ourselves until we understand the nature of humanism, helping other people means helping ourselves, it is natural that if you work to try to help another, you yourself is the person most helped!
May God forgive us ultimately, for not taking back into our own hands the democratic version of our country and understand that we can not allow a collegiate voting system to take power out of our hands, do you realize that people in our country do not vote because they know and understand that the actual power of elections is in the hands of a few people?
I pray that Barack Obama is given the the power to change for the good of all the people instead of just the elect few, National Health Care, economic balance, the Medicare system, and many more problems we face and read about daily. When will he actually have power? Probably not for two or more years, then what will he do with that power, we have no idea.
May God protect us all.
Learn more about this author, Leah Davidson.
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Disagree
Negotiating Health Care Services Under Medicare
There is no good way to allow patients and providers to negotiate prices. It would be so much easier to say, sure why not. However, in the United States there are too many entities that drive the cost of health care. Negotiating the cost could be horribly detrimental to the patient and potentially the physicians. Who establishes the rules? There are several reasons as too why this is not good: balance billing, quality of care, money lost by the physicians, and reputation.
BALANCE BILLING
Balance billing is a very bad thing and it exists in every state. California is the only state, I believe, that has made it against the law. Any provider could be accused of this, either through Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance. Balance billing is when the provider has received their contract reimbursement rate and continues to bill the patient the remaining of the cost.
Understanding why a patient has to stay with a Medicare participating provider should keep these things from happening. Medicare does not cover services when rendered by a non-participating provider. There is no negotiating of rates. Patients would be responsible for the cost of services at 100%. It is imperative that any Medicare recipient understands this.
The purpose of a contract is ensuring that the promised rates have been paid. These contracts are established before a provider has seen a Medicare patient. It is the physician's job to establish their rates. If they are not satisfied then they should go through the proper channels, which should never be the patient.
Unpaid medical bills in some states could cause a patient to have their paychecks garnished, credit destroyed, and liens placed on properties. In my opinion, this is the worst thing that should happen to someone who was simply seeking medical attention. Can you imagine how much worse things would be, if there were no more rules?
QUALITY OF CARE
Quality of care is huge for everyone seeking medical attention. With negotiating prices, would the quality of service change, depending on cost? This is already a concern for many consumers, in the United States, both uninsured and insured, now.
What happens if a patient has ongoing treatment and missed a payment? What if a patient all of sudden cannot make any more payments? Would the physician say I could not help you anymore, because they are now losing money? It is easier and simpler to have these things established before coming to the doctor's office. Nobody plans on being sick and when you are sick, talking prices and cost, I would guess, is the farthest thing from your mind. So, as a patient, you should consider what is important and where you would like to spend most of your time
MONEY LOST
Providers would lose money-negotiating prices. Many consumers do not understand how health care policies work; let alone what a simple or complex procedure should cost. There is also a lot of time spent doing this. On the provider's end, it requires research and detailed knowledge of out-of-pocket costs. Many physicians are already busy, and unless this is a life or death situation, I would wonder how many providers would welcome this idea.
If a physician is providing an experimental service or a service not covered by Medicare, which includes experiments, then negotiating may be an option. My experience is that some providers will do this because they are very familiar with the patient and has a vast amount of knowledge surrounding the issue. In other words, everyone should not expect any doctor to do this.
REPUTATION
The final reason for not supporting price negotiating is reputation. When things go wrong or not according to plan, fingers are pointed. A physician is smart, witty, educated, and should know better. All of these things will work against them, if patients decide that they do not like what their provider has done too them or for them. Everyone would love to blame the physicians for the problem of health care cost, however they cannot. Health care is a business and the moment a patient enter into this 'business' it is grossly overwhelming and confusing. Physicians cannot control Medicare; they can only participate or not participate.
Medicare is changing constantly. It is impossibly hard for the professionals to keep up and maintain a clear understanding of how it all works. No patient should ask or expect their physician to do so. If your physician was kind enough to lower a cost, accept it and move on. However, it would be very expensive and time consuming to do this for all of their patients, when they do not control the outcome of Medicare.
Learn more about this author, Trying Something New.
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