If you are like most Americans, one of your biggest financial worries is the cost of medical care. For some, their “insurance” costs about as much as their mortgage—and with a high deductible before any benefits are available. The graph shows where the money goes:
Many physicians feel that taking care of patients, and politicians’ proposed solutions to costs, look like the image below.
The biggest part of “administration” is not useful activities such as scheduling and ordering supplies, but attempts to collect third-party (government and insurance-company) payments. Physician time spent on compliance and documentation—perhaps as much as caring for patients—isn’t counted as “administration.” It is likely the main cause of physician burnout.
Suggested ways to cut out administration: break up vertical integration; restore the practice of private medicine; allow catastrophic insurance; have patients pay directly for imaging, labs, procedures, and physician services (instead of paying a much higher amount through “insurance”); establish site-neutral payment (hospitals don’t get paid much more than independent facilities); end “certificate-of-need” laws (which protect hospitals from competition); and stop forcing Medicaid patients into managed care (Medicaid is the cash cow for behemoths like UnitedHealthCare).
Patients should ask the cash price before revealing that they have insurance. They may get prompter service and a price lower than their “co-pay.” The cash price for prescription drugs may be even less than with a GoodRx coupon (and the pharmacist makes more money).
Additional Information:
- Cash prices for surgery: Surgerycenterok.com
- White Paper on Medical Financing
- White Paper on Repeal/Replacement of the Affordable Care Act
