Ok, I was just watching someone on the healthcare debate and they were talking about how they could fix hospitals, and fix doctors etc. etc. I just have to say, nothing is going to get fixed till the people who are requesting healthcare have a stake in how much it costs every day. The very best evidence of this I heard was from Steve Forbes (wouldn't you know). Now I don't agree with Steve Forbes all the time but this is simply an observation he made. There are at least 2 healthcare items where people have to pay as they go, one is plastic surgery and one is Lasik. I did the research on Plastic Surgery and low and behold the average procedure inflation between 2001 and 2007 is around 2%. That's right 2%. I'll bet you'll find the same in Lasik because people vote every day with their dollars for better outcomes with less cost. And MOST of the outcomes of the 1000's of procedures done every day are just what the patient wanted. I'm not saying we should go to a fully personal pay healthcare system but somehow we have to have an individual stake in the cost so we CARE how much it costs when we make our decisions. Without that there will be NO FIX!!!
Here is the evidence:
From ineed2know.org\plastic surgery costs.htm 2002 costs
From www.boardcertifiedplasticsurgeon.com\cosmetic_surgery_costs.html for 2007 costs
I selected just a few of the very prolific items. By the way, there are far more of everything done in 2007 than in 2002. One of the issues that healthcare reform people say is the cause is much more demand stressing hospitals and doctors. Well, there’s lot’s more demand here and the average appears to be just about what the average has been for the normal economy. What is the OVERWHELMING difference….Simple PEOPLE pay for these things from their own pockets. And by the way we have Great results and lot’s of middle class Americans can afford it if they want it.
2002 Eyelid Surgery was $2,455 average cost for the Dr., 2007 $3,134, annual inflation 4.6%
2002 Breast Augmentation was $3,436 and 2007 it was $3,816, a mear 1.8% inflation rate
Botox in 2002, $422 in 2007 $501 an annual increase of 3.1%
Breast Implant Removal, $2,084 vs. $2,380 for 2.4%
Finally a Face Lift actually showed a negative 1% inflation, 2007 cost was more than 6% less
Again I’m not saying that we should completely go to a no insurance pay as you go but I am saying that if we all had a stake in the cost of our healthcare we would vote EVERY DAY for better outcomes and less money and low and behold we would get it.
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