{"id":33442,"date":"2013-05-01T07:19:57","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T13:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/01\/whos-to-blame-for-high-health-care-costs-lazy-americans.html"},"modified":"2013-05-01T07:39:06","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T13:39:06","slug":"whos-to-blame-for-high-health-care-costs-lazy-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/01\/whos-to-blame-for-high-health-care-costs-lazy-americans.html","title":{"rendered":"Who's to blame for high health care costs? Lazy Americans!"},"content":{"rendered":"
The author says high health care costs in the US are due to a lazy, greedy, entitled public who can't be bothered with cost comparisons and who mysteriously love to stick it to health insurance companies.<\/p>\n

But while there are a few worthwhile nuggets here (broader behavioral issues play a role in "wasted" resources, and Americans are much more disdainful of or hostile to health insurance companies than, say, auto insurance providers), Conover seems more than happy to simply pitch the "American consumer" under the bus (where she will be responsible for a careful analysis of the best hospital the EMTs should trundle her to).<\/p>\n

Two arguments in particular jar: \u00a0First, when people are sick or in pain, or when their loved ones are, that's not the moment for quiet judgment about relative expenses. Is an MRI much more expensive than a CT scan? \u00a0Is it any more effective? \u00a0The latter is the question that people will tend to ask, if they ask any at all. \u00a0It's a matter of survival, much moreso than other insurance providers are involved in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Americans do<\/i> make quiet, careful, cost-oriented decisions regarding health care spending — when choosing between coverage plans from an employer, or when looking at some anticipated major cost that insurance won't cover. \u00a0But Conover's nostalgia for days when patients and doctors dealt with each other on a cash basis so consumers literally counted every penny are gone for a wide variety of reasons; health insurance controls fundamental access to medical care, not convenient cost responsibility avoidance.<\/p>\n

This leads to the argument that Americans are more hostile to health insurers, which is accurate, but begs the issue of why. \u00a0Conover claims it's laziness and selfishness, abetted by the "chattering classes" and a zany Obama administration that passed the ACA instead of cutting Medicare. \u00a0How convenient. \u00a0But the hostility toward health insurers is fundamentally founded on health coverage being much more pervasive in our lives than house or auto insurance. \u00a0Most people can go years without any sort of house insurance claim (though when they have to file one, they want it handled quickly and compassionately). \u00a0Ditto for auto insurance, and even there it's purely a financial transaction ("I paid premiums; you pay for repairing my car.")<\/p>\n

Health insurance is fundamentally different: something people (who have it) draw upon frequently, and usually at a time when there's significant emotion involved because of disablement, suffering, and Not Feeling Well. And frequent encounters with the for-profit health insurance industry flies directly in the face of what is sought after — treatment and payment restrictions based, not on what is effective or helpful, but on what will keep hold of maximum margin for the insurer. Anyone who's spent time on the phone begging an insurance company to cover a treatment that seems necessary and is recommended by a doctor is not being a vengeful spendthrift but is seeing the very real and adversarial<\/i> nature of our private insurance industry, that isn't interested in wise consumer spending but in maximizing shareholder profit.<\/p>\n

Reshared post from +George Wiman<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris Conover, corporate shill, 'splains why you are responsible for the high cost of health care – you don't comparison shop! Because, you know, health care pricing is so transparent, and different health institutions share information so well, and because buying medical tests when you are sick is ever so practical…\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

Needed: A Health System for Adults<\/a>
\n We have met the enemy and it is us. The extraordinarily high cost of American health care has been blamed by policy experts on insurance companies, pharma, malpractice lawyers, hospitals, physicians, …\n <\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The author says high health care costs in the US are due to a lazy, greedy, entitled public who can't be bothered with cost comparisons and who mysteriously love to stick it to health insurance companies. But while there are a few worthwhile nuggets here (broader behavioral issues play a role in "wasted" resources, and … Continue reading “Who's to blame for high health care costs? Lazy Americans!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,35,134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-big-business","category-health-care"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133731,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/26\/oh-boy-only-22-million-more-lose-their-insurance-with-this-plan.html","url_meta":{"origin":33442,"position":0},"title":"Oh, boy, ONLY 22 million more lose their insurance with THIS plan!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 26-Jun-17 6:11pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And as Republicans pop champagne and congratulate themselves for being marginally less \"mean\" (as the Donald put it) on this iteration of the bill, bear in mind that ...... the CBO only scores out ten years. The Senate version of the AHCA cuts folks off the rolls a bit later,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133129,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/22\/tinkering-with-essential-health-benefits.html","url_meta":{"origin":33442,"position":1},"title":"Tinkering with "Essential Health Benefits"","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 22-Mar-17 10:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So one provision of the ACA caught an incredible amount of flack through its effect, vs. what it actually did. The ACA required insurance policies in the insurance exchanges to ten essential health care benefits[1]:1. Outpatient care\u2014the kind you get without being admitted to a hospital2. Trips to the emergency\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133395,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/03\/the-ahca-affects-not-just-individual-buyers-but-employee-health-plans-too.html","url_meta":{"origin":33442,"position":2},"title":"The AHCA affects not just individual buyers, but employee health plans, too","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-May-17 2:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking at the currently proposed state \"opt out\" provisions in the Republican health insurance reform, the Brookings Institution finds that it not only impacts individual insurance purchasers, but could have a significant impact on employer-provided health insurance as well, as employers and\/or health insurance companies seize on the \"least common\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16165,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/11\/09\/for-all-those-who-perhaps-thought-that-getting-nearly-everything-they-wanted-would-appease-the-right.html","url_meta":{"origin":33442,"position":3},"title":"For all those who perhaps thought that getting nearly everything they wanted would appease the Right …","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 9-Nov-09 5:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"... just scope out the lede (my emphasis) here: Conservatives condemn passage of House health bill (OneNewsNow.com) Monstrous and a defiance of the will of the American people - that's how one pro-family group is describing the health bill that House Democrats pushed through Saturday night by a vote of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133738,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/27\/why-should-i-worry-i-have-health-insurance-through-my-employer.html","url_meta":{"origin":33442,"position":4},"title":""Why should I worry? I have health insurance through my employer!"","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 27-Jun-17 2:59pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It seems a lot of folk are blase about the risks of the Senate's AHCA because, hey, the only folk being hurt are those freeloaders on Medicaid, amirite?Except the CBO also noted that 4 million additional Americans would lose health coverage from their employers, too, since the ACA mandate around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":138418,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/26\/trump-finds-a-new-avenue-of-attack-on-the-aca.html","url_meta":{"origin":33442,"position":5},"title":"Trump finds a new avenue of attack on the ACA","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 26-Mar-19 12:05am","format":false,"excerpt":"He couldn't do it through Congress, and hasn't quite managed it by Executive Order, so ...","rel":"","context":"In "Economic Justice"","block_context":{"text":"Economic Justice","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/economic-justice"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Donald-Trump-in-front-of-a-flag.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33458,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33442\/revisions\/33458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}