Buffet: Control Health Care Cost (Not pushing Obamacare)

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Buffett-says-health-care-apf-2573554373.html?x=0&.v=4 ^ | 03/01/2010 | AP

[kaila]

We need more physicians because the population is aging.
We do not need more physicians to “increase competition”.
If you have a oversupply of surgeons, all surgeons as a result will do less surgery.
Your care would be affected, as you would want a surgeon who has done a particular procedure hundreds of times.
The laws of supply and demand are different in medicine.
We are not talking about producing widgets here.
The cost of healthcare to physicians is less than 20% of the total cost.
The real increase in cost is technology.

[kabar]

Facts on Immigration and Health Insurance

Immigrants in the United States, 2007 A Profile of America"s Foreign-Born Population

[MichiganConservative]

Hey, he’s the richest man in the world. He knows something we don’t. We should listen to him, because he’s rich and therefore smart and looking out for our best interests.

Hey, where are the FReepers to back me up on this appeal to fame and fortune and smarts?

Remember, look to authority, any authority, and don’t EVER question it.

[AlanGreenSpam]

Yes, but Buffoon endorsed President Narcissus, so somewhere along the line, he drank the Obeyme Koolaid.

[AlanGreenSpam]

Brilliant Buffet: “Buffett said he expects job growth will remain slow until demand recovers.”

/sarc

(But Bufoon: Don’t you know that demand growth starts when Job growth recovers) - Go figure!

[freespirited]

Does it ever occur to any of these windbags that cost are high because healthcare is delivered by highly trained people using highly sophisticated instruments developed by incredibly smart scientists who are subjected to incredibly expensive govt regulation?

You listen to these windbags talk and you get the impression that they want brain surgeons to work for minimum wage.

[MBB1984]

I disagree. The wait for an appointment to see most physicians is weeks if not months. We do need more physicians to increase competition. The number of physicians coming out of America's medical schools has remained about the same since the 1980s. The law of supply and demand remain the same, whether it is widgets or health care.

According to Consumer Reports, the primary contributors for increases in health care are: 1. Hospitals and 2. Physicians. Interestingly, pharmaceutical companies, the group that leftists blame the most, are further down the list.

In my hometown, the local hospital is continually buying physician practices so that they can increase their contol and monopolistic pricing policies. If it is not stopped, health care consumers will continue to pay exorbitant health care costs.

[Earthdweller]

The hospitals have become exactly a mirror of what is happening to the country..top heavy with massive regulations.

Regular citizens who would otherwise consider caring for patients are looking at the mess and saying no thanks.

Big hospital administration, like big government monopolies, have taken patient care and control out of the care givers hands.

Besides, with lots of laywers and paid politicans to take care of, who cares about you peons and your needs...they have "people" to take care of...you know what I mean? Chicagocare...don't ya just love it?

[A.A. Cunningham]

Yahoo

[kaila]

As someone in the health care industry, I must disagree with you.
I would prefer to have a surgeon who has done a procedure hundreds of times, vs having a doctor on every corner and only does the procedure infrequently.
You can have physician extenders- like Nurse Practitioners or Physicians Assistants doing more primary care.
Insurance companies and the government ( Medicare and Medicaid) dictate the prices of medical care. Physicians have very little control on what they are paid.
In my hometown- the hospitals are buying practices because physicians cannot make it financially due to the low reimbursements.
Hospitals are buying these practices because they need physicians to cover their ER, and to help keep their hospitals afloat.
If you do not have physicians in a town, your hospital will close.
It has been a long while since the payments to physicians and hospitals has been dictated by supply and demand.
In my town, you can see most physicians within a week or two with the exception of dermatology.
Some towns have longer waits, because they are in rural areas.
The reason why costs are increasing is technology.Those PET scanners, and MRIs do not come cheap.
Get the lawyers out of medicine, and physicians will practice less defensive medicine- resulting in less costs.