No, Really? (Obamacare And Monopolies)
by Karl Denninger
2015-04-20 10:53
Naw, really?
Today’s frenzy of hospital mergers and physician practice acquisitions is giving hospital systems even greater leverage to inflate opaque “charge-master” medical bills that even hospitals are sometimes unable to itemize sensibly. With no mechanism to allow free-market forces to keep prices in check, this translates into higher health-insurance deductibles and copays for insured Americans, and in the case of Medicare and Medicaid, higher taxes.
http://tinyurl.com/mbelyre
What free market forces existed before Obamacare to put a stop this sort of crap? None!
See, that's the problem -- you can't take your car into a shop without the mechanic providing you a binding estimate before work begins. This doesn't mean that he can't find other things he thinks you should do, but it does mean he can't do them and bill you for it without your consent.
General consumer protection laws prohibit this practice, which used to be very common. It was not that long ago that it was relatively common to take your car in for an oil change and come out with a $500 bill for a bunch of other stuff you never agreed to before the fact, and have the mechanic demand the money before you got your car back.
This was stopped by government agencies and consumer protection laws across the land because it was an outrageous practice that amounted to extortion -- and thus it was made illegal.
Well? How come this goes on now in hospitals? How come everyone involved in doing it, including Dr. Mackary, isn't sitting in the dock right now facing felony consumer fraud charges?
As Dr. Makary notes the medical industry is one fifth of our economy. But what he doesn't mention is how it got to be 1/5th of our economy instead of 3-5%, which it formerly was before hospitals, drug companies and physicians started with this sort of crap like chargemaster pricing, refusing to provide a price at all, "balance billing" and even billing for services not requested after a price was given or even billing for services that weren't performed!
I say that until every one of the individuals and firms involved in this crap is staring down indictments for that blatantly outrageous behavior and both the individuals and firms are forced to disgorge all of their previous payments made under such schemes, the prosecution of which would return medicine to the former 3-5% of the economy and thus dramatically improve the personal balance sheets of Americans generally, people like Dr. Makary can go stuff their complaints about Obamacare where the sun doesn't shine
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=230041
by Karl Denninger
2015-04-20 10:53
Naw, really?
Today’s frenzy of hospital mergers and physician practice acquisitions is giving hospital systems even greater leverage to inflate opaque “charge-master” medical bills that even hospitals are sometimes unable to itemize sensibly. With no mechanism to allow free-market forces to keep prices in check, this translates into higher health-insurance deductibles and copays for insured Americans, and in the case of Medicare and Medicaid, higher taxes.
http://tinyurl.com/mbelyre
What free market forces existed before Obamacare to put a stop this sort of crap? None!
See, that's the problem -- you can't take your car into a shop without the mechanic providing you a binding estimate before work begins. This doesn't mean that he can't find other things he thinks you should do, but it does mean he can't do them and bill you for it without your consent.
General consumer protection laws prohibit this practice, which used to be very common. It was not that long ago that it was relatively common to take your car in for an oil change and come out with a $500 bill for a bunch of other stuff you never agreed to before the fact, and have the mechanic demand the money before you got your car back.
This was stopped by government agencies and consumer protection laws across the land because it was an outrageous practice that amounted to extortion -- and thus it was made illegal.
Well? How come this goes on now in hospitals? How come everyone involved in doing it, including Dr. Mackary, isn't sitting in the dock right now facing felony consumer fraud charges?
As Dr. Makary notes the medical industry is one fifth of our economy. But what he doesn't mention is how it got to be 1/5th of our economy instead of 3-5%, which it formerly was before hospitals, drug companies and physicians started with this sort of crap like chargemaster pricing, refusing to provide a price at all, "balance billing" and even billing for services not requested after a price was given or even billing for services that weren't performed!
I say that until every one of the individuals and firms involved in this crap is staring down indictments for that blatantly outrageous behavior and both the individuals and firms are forced to disgorge all of their previous payments made under such schemes, the prosecution of which would return medicine to the former 3-5% of the economy and thus dramatically improve the personal balance sheets of Americans generally, people like Dr. Makary can go stuff their complaints about Obamacare where the sun doesn't shine
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=230041
