Whose fault is it now, when heath care cost still continue to sky-rocket? There is nothing affordable about Obamacare.
Well, that's why the US needs to keep the health costs low.
Oh wow, sometimes I'm lucky to live in Canada. Then again one of it's major problems are the wait times. I never knew how much of a problem people think Obamacare is a problem. .
Well I ask this.
Is Obamacare a problem?
A major factor in the amount of money spent on healthcare in the US is the salary of physicians. As of 2010, there were over 660,000 physicians and surgeons in the US. Most US physicians (non-surgeons) make an average of
$175,000 per year, with surgeons making upwards of $400,000 a year and
orthopedic surgeons averaging $500,672 a year. If we assume conservative numbers and just say that every physician (including surgeons) makes $175,000 a year, that's $115 billion dollars being paid out to physicians every year. That doesn't even include overhead costs of running a hospital, ordering tests (X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, blood workups, lipid panels, etc.) and overall inefficiency in the way hospitals are run.
Most physicians aren't willing to take a pay cut, so there are lobby groups that protect the physicians' interests by blocking any proposition to Congress to lower health care costs. It's not because physicians are selfish; it's because the way the US medical education system is set up,
people have to work so damned hard just to become a physician. After studying one's ass off and sleeping only 3-5 hours a day for 14 years, many would feel entitled to a high salary. And once you reach that point where you can call yourself a doctor, the job itself isn't exactly cushy. It's still a high-stress job with long hours (sometimes 100 hours a week if you're on call).
Meanwhile, you have board members of pharmaceutical companies making a killing off new patents of drugs. The drugs they produce are extremely expensive and those costs contribute to the cost of health care. Those costs are again shouldered by those who need health care. Big Pharm execs don't actually care if their drugs work or not; they only care that they have a statistically significant effect (no matter how small), so that they can continue to line the pockets of their shareholders.
The US makes it so difficult to become a doctor, and once you become one, they work you like a horse. That, combined with the specialized knowledge that they have, is why doctors get paid so much. Most doctors wouldn't be willing to take a pay cut just to make health care cheaper for everyone. Whenever someone attempts to pass a bill for universal health care, lobby groups (consisting of physicians, hospital board members and Big Pharm board members) pay off members of Congress so that they don't sign the bill. These bribes come in the form of "donations" to their campaigns.
This problem is extremely difficult to fix, because med schools can't just "make it easier" to become a doctor so that they can be paid less. Physicians are held to a high standard of clinical knowledge, and there's no way around this. After all, we can't be putting our lives in the hands of a bunch of incompetent idiots. And Big Pharm is so powerful, they have influence in political circles. In order to lower the cost of health care,
someone has to take a pay cut.
As a future physician, I'll be one of the first to admit that some doctors get paid way do damn much. I'm sure orthopedic surgeons can cope with having to wait a little longer to save up for their third Lamborghini.
*EDIT*
One important point I forgot to mention is that medical school is really expensive in the US, and most medical students are on loan. Since the federal government did away with subsidized loans last year, the loans that med students take out begin to accrue interest immediately. Med students don't make any money for the first 4 years of their education, so that's 4 year's worth of built interest that they can't do anything about until they start making money. There are very few full-ride scholarships for med school (because the assumption is that you'll make enough money to pay it all back). And what physician
wouldn't want to pay off their loans as fast as possible? As a second-year med student myself, I'm already $200,000 in debt. By the time a student finishes his/her education, he/she has to pay back $300,000-$400,000 in debt. This is yet another reason why doctors aren't willing to take a pay cut.
Yes, because we all know that Socialism is SO much better than Capitalism.
The prevailing theory among my classmates in med school is that socialized medicine in the US would actually work. Of course, a socialized system has its drawbacks; no system would be perfect, but it would still be better than the clusterfuck of a system we have in place now. Can you imagine--the only thing the US spends more money on is warfare! No other country even comes close to spending as much as we do on health care. People talk about how socialized healthcare would be so bad for the US, but we already have so many socialized institutions in place (public education system, firefighters, police force, etc.). I don't see anyone complaining about how our K-12 education is socialized.
I could get into it more, but after writing that wall of text above, I don't have the time nor the energy to write another wall of text. Maybe I'll come back to discuss it, maybe I won't.
Anyway,
everybody gets sick, sooner or later. That's why everyone should have health insurance. People can't just wait until they get sick, and
then decide to get insurance.