Y'all keep laughing when I say the Food Police are coming...

[Lester]

The hard blame literally lies with the docs and hospitals that charge insane rates for basic medical care.

Not entirely... do you know how much they pay, per year, in malpractice insurance? That money has to come from somewhere... so it ends up being the $4 aspirin tablet and $6 "shoe covers".

[fearpeddler]

well, start there....... see how simple this process is when we use logic?

[Hoosier Daddy]

The hard blame literally lies with the docs and hospitals that charge insane rates for basic medical care.

So why does that happen?

[Lester]

So why does that happen?

Not entirely... do you know how much they pay, per year, in malpractice insurance? That money has to come from somewhere... so it ends up being the $4 aspirin tablet and $6 "shoe covers".

Lawyers.

[Hoosier Daddy]

So why does that happen?

Lawyers.

I've met myself some of those Hospital Administration CEO, CFO, COO types.
They're right up there with the guys who mastermind all those credit card fees and penalties.
Jack up the price until they start screaming, then back it off a notch.
Those boys are paid on how much money they can rake in, not how good the patient care is.

[/plenty of blame to go 'round]

[DJSHOCKLEY]

One of the best investigative works about this issue is by Bartlett and Steele:

Bartlett & Steele - "Critical Condition"

How Health Care in America Became Big Business - And Bad Medicine
By Donald L. Barlett & James B. Steele

Politicians love to say that the United States has the best health care system in the world. In truth, it doesn’t come close. Certainly, no one disputes that the nation has many talented, highly trained professionals who work with the latest equipment, who are knowledgeable and capable of delivering first-rate care. But what kind of system shuts out forty-four million Americans? What kind of system excludes people with illnesses beyond their control? What kind of system insures a husband but denies coverage to his wife? What kind of system forces people to choose between risking financial ruin and risking their lives?

Much of the turmoil is a direct result of a national policy to run health care like a business, a misguided notion promoted by Washington over the last two decades that the free market and for-profit health care would restrain costs and bring high-quality care to all. On both counts, the experiment has failed miserably.

As long as Washington remains wedded to the illusion that market-based medicine will cure health care’s woes, tens of billions of dollars a year will continue to vanish in waste, inefficiency, fraud, and in profits to companies that make money by denying care.

It doesn’t have to be this way. America’s health care crisis can be cured, and, unlike almost every other major challenge facing the nation, it can be solved without spending more money. We already invest enough of our national wealth on medical care. The plan should be to treat this crisis as seriously as if it were an epidemic, and to redirect resources where they belong - into taking care of the health needs of every American.

http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/ca ... 85-50454-3

Comment: This book is yet another excellent resource on the profound deficiencies in the most expensive health care system on earth. But what is unique about this book is the qualifications of the authors. From the Doubleday website:

“Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele are America’s most widely acclaimed investigative journalism team. They have worked together for three decades, first at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and, since 1997, as editors at large for Time. They are the only journalists in history to have won two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine Awards, as well as dozens of other national awards. They are the coauthors of six books, including America: What Went Wrong?, which spent eight months on the New York Times bestseller list.”

And what solution do they propose? I’ll give you a hint in the form of a very brief quote that comes from their chapter, THE REMEDY:
“Under a single-payer system…”

[Ace Purple]

Assemblyman seeking to ban all salt in restaurant cooking
A new bill in the state Assembly would ruin restaurant food and baked goods as we know them.

It surprises me that more people aren't appalled by this trend. Big government, on both sides of the aisle, taking a rare break from the tax-and-spend-and-tax-and-spend approach to regulate things like salt in food.

Then again, as of 2008, 1-in-100 American adults were incarcerated, yet the general public seems to be apathetic to that reality.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world ... 53738.html

[Lester]

It surprises me that more people aren't appalled by this trend. Big government, on both sides of the aisle, taking a rare break from the tax-and-spend-and-tax-and-spend approach to regulate things like salt in food.

I agree. I'm also shocked at how incredibly self-serving this individuals reasons were. He's basing a law on something that happened to *HIS* father. I'm sure that's why they people voted him in there.

[Schaffer]

This thread really touched a nerve with me. I don't have a clue what the answer is, but I can tell you it hits home. My father is 61 years old and is recovering from his second stroke. His first one was mild, and happened about four years ago. He was self employeed, and had to take some time off work to recover. long story short, couldn't afford his insurance for a while and lost it. Had second stroke with no insurance because nobody would insure him for less than a kings ransom. My mother has a great job but would have to spend 75% of her bring home pay to insure them both. They lost the beautiful new house they worked all their lives to build themselves, which my mother designed and they intended to retire and live in till they died. They had to file bankruptcy, sell their antiques, and move to a small apartment. My father still gets no rehab, and no assistance from the government. My dad may never recover from this, and the guy worked so hard I hardly saw him growing up. It's a really sad state of affairs, but I still don't wan't to see Mr. Obama's mess get passed. The fact that people go bankrupt and even die because of lack of insurance is indeed fact, please don't argue that any more.