Tag: healthcare costs

Canada’s healthcare system may teach us about how to make healthcare affordable for all of us.

Posted on by bill
Canada’s healthcare system may teach us about how to make healthcare affordable for all of us. The discussion behind Medicare for all is growing louder, as our current system of private insurers and high administrative costs is failing us. Most doctors offices spend hours on the phone wondering why they weren’t paid, or getting a precertification for services that they believed were medically necessary. In the USA, many countries are ahead of the USA with health benchmarks, while we spend more than anyone.  “In 2014, Canada spent 10.45 percent of its national GDP on healthcare. The United State’s expenditure was Read More »

A new drug pricing model from CMS may force manufacturers to compete with pricing from other countries.

Posted on by bill
  A new drug pricing model from CMS may force manufacturers to compete with pricing from other countries. Sick of high drug prices?  Health insurers have made higher priced drugs more affordable to consumers by patients coupons to reduce their copayments while the insurers paid high prices for both brand name and generic drugs that have been rebranded with slight formulation changes. As they always do, health insurers pass the cost on to us and earn more by charging higher premiums the following year. In a capitalistic society, if you increase demand, prices will increase.  This is true of drug prices.   Doctors write too Read More »

Inside the medication mill; What is wrong with healthcare in Florida?

Posted on by bill
  Inside the medication mill; What is wrong with healthcare in Florida? The last few months had been surreal with the loss of my dad who passed away just after his 93rd birthday.   Some of his health problems were from good intentions gone bad.  Incontinence appeared years later after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and after a second opinion from Sloan Kettering. He was offered the  treatment option of radiation treatments that were considered safe and had few side effects when compared to surgery. Years later, these patients often became fully incontinent; an unwelcome surprise for an active aging adult man in his Read More »

NJ healthcare costs rise again, so where does all the money go?

Posted on by bill
NJ healthcare costs rise again, so where does all the money go? Most healthcare providers on the front lines such as internists, chiropractors and pediatricians have been accustomed to insurers doing things to further decrease their reimbursements and their roles in healthcare, which reduced cost. Recently, a friend of mine who is a local Doctor of Osteopathy was talking about how United set their fee schedule so low that he would only allow his PA to see these patients.  He also told me about how they stopped paying him for two months because they said he was removed from their Read More »

The NY Times asks why it is so hard for doctors to unlearn things. Is the lack of unlearning driving healthcare costs?

Posted on by bill
The NY Times asks why it is so hard for doctors to unlearn things. Is the lack of unlearning driving healthcare costs? The NY Times recently looked into why doctors have such a hard time learning new things.  One of the most difficult problems is to teach doctors to unlearn bad habits in the past which would can lead to lower costs and less potentially harmful practices.  Many of these practices are driving healthcare costs. Recently, a systematic review in JAMA Pediatrics looked at the overuse in pediatric care in 2016 regarding Pedialyte use that was more expensive than other less Read More »