Who is to blame for high health care costs today?

[arrigo]

Your question is not a very simple one to answer. There are multiple problems that need to be addressed and each problem is multi-layered.

Before I get into the answer, I wanted to address one of your points where you question that $70 is a lot for a blood-pressure read. Please understand that the doctor has a fee for an office visit and that visit is defined by a code that tells the insurance company what the doctor is doing to the patient. So for example if you went to your doctor as an established patient for a checkup the doctor could use a code like 99212 or 99213 (these codes are established by the AMA), which means to the insurance company that the doctor did an evaluation on you, spent a certain amount of time with you and did some things that involved your body system functions and finally the degree of decision making on behalf of the doctor was easy, moderate or extensive. Each of those codes has a fee associated with them so it doesn't matter if he did a blood pressure and checked your reflexes and listened to your heart...the code is what determines the fee. Additionally, you stated that you can go to the store and get your blood pressure for free. Are you suggesting that it ok for people to diagnose themselves based upon a machine that sits in a store and may not even be properly calibrated properly? That machine may have been mishandled, played with by kids and broken. You are paying for someone with knowledge of the body to interpret the results and tell you what it means! You see that is part of the problem with health care in this country. People have "google health care" or "health food store health care". We go online and put our concerns in and get our diagnosis and then run to the health food store and ask the lady with 3 hours of sales training what magic pill or potion we can consume to make it all better. It is nonsense!

I believe the biggest problem with health care falls in the arms of the medical establishment and pharmaceutical companies. What do you think would happen in this country if someone found a "cure" for any of the big money makers like heart disease, cancer or diabetes? Lets just say someone found a cure for diabetes. All the drugs that are sold (BILLIONS) would no longer be needed. All the testing supplies and doctor office visits would no longer be needed (more billions). So ultimately it does not serve the established system to actually get people well. It would cost the economy, pharma and medical offices too much. Imagine if this were to occur with cancer. Entire hospitals would close, no more radiation, chemo, oncology etc...It would collapse the economy!! This is not to say that every doctor is out there to make money or cheat the system. I believe that most doctors are out there and they care about their patients and care about the profession. It is the system that is broken. It is the people that are making the most money and have the greatest to lose if the system were to change that we need to look after.

Also, you need to note that there are only 2 countries in the world where pharma is allowed to advertise directly to consumers. The U.S. and New Zealand. Everywhere else it is forbidden. The drug companies spend billions in advertising here and need to recoup those costs and as a result drugs cost more here than in other countries. Why does a drug cost anywhere from 4-8x as much in the US than it does in Canada? Big pharma would have each and every one of us believe there is something wrong with us and we all need to be taking a pill to be healthy!

We need a system in place that teaches Americans to be healthy and preventative and not reactive to our health. If you want to blame somebody for the healthcare mess that is out there all you have to do is look at who controls it. Right now it is the medical establishment and big pharma.