Posted on 05/14/2014 8:50:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Bingo!
The 1948 decision that premiums paid by the employer are not taxable income to the employee started the ball rolling. I believe that event overshadows every other component of healthcare costs increases.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, …
That tax avoidance loophole was the only real flaw in America’s vastly superior market based healthcare delivery system. All other problems are solvable once people began to ask, “What does it cost”, (doctor visit, medicine, medical procedures, medical test, etc) instead of “what does it cover” (insurance).
Obamacare replaces the world’s absolutely finest market based healthcare delivery with government controlled centrally planned healthcare delivery.
How many successful centrally planned government programs can you name? Borrowing money to continue operation is not a sign of success.
20 years ago my sister in law who is Irish was working in Germany. They took $750 per month out of her paycheck for the free health insurance. When she was in the hospital to deliver a baby they “forgot” to get her up and around right away and she still has deep vein thrombosis and has to wear a compression stocking every day.
I’ll take American health care over anyplace else.
Would an American who doesn’t speak Spanish have any problems getting the same deal?
If I were to go there how would I go about setting up appointments? I would like to set up appointments here so when I fly over I can get right in. Is that a possibility? If so how would I proceed?
The difference certainly shows something is screwed up. But, two things are missing from this calculation:
1.Cross-subsidies. Those who pay in the U.S., pay for those who don’t pay at all or who pay less than cost due to low medicare/medicaid reimbursements.
2.Defensive medicine. Cost is twice what it should be b/c of lawyers, government regulation and such.
People are so separated from the real cost of medical care hospitals charge whatever they want for the tiniest thing. Would people swallow the $25 asprin pill if they had to fork out the $25 per pill themselves? Or, would they call someone to go to Walgreen’s and buy a $2 bottle of 100? I was stuck in a hospital for emergency surgery. I don’t carry insurance and paid cash. Once I told them that immediately they knocked off 50% of the cost they wanted. After going line by line through the bill I challenged everything with the hospitals finance director. They were charging for things they threw in the trash which I refused to pay for because if I bought it I want it. There were procedures that were not requested by the surgeon they tried to tack on. Really? A respiratory specialist for sepsis? No thanks.
Ironically the cheapest thing there was the surgeon, his assistant, and the anesthesiologist. Between those 3 it was about $3000 for two hours of surgery. The hosptital wanted to charge over $57,000. By the time I was done it was $13,000 for which I wrote a check. Yes, I am blessed to have worked hard for the resources and not everyone can write a check, but if people just knew what they were paying, one way or another, there would be huge changes.
Instead, politicians will scream and yell at insurance companies, while back door dealing to make sure we are forced by the power of the federal government’s guns to buy the product.
I forgot to say that Bumrungrad has a very nice hotel attached to it. Other cheaper alternatives have nearby hotels. Ram I has a hotel - shopping center within easy walking distance. The hotel is three star / four star and reasonable. The shopping center has many food options including an excellent food court and some American food options particularly a Sizzler.
Thanks for the info! Instead of eating American I would probably eat Thai food. I understand some of it is very hot but I can eat American food when I get back. Thanks again.
The food courts are great, you see what you can get before you order it. To order, you just point at what you want. There are also good Japanese, Indian, Korean and really good Chinese. These are usually in restaurants but the menus have English semi explanations. You can just smile and point at the menu. Calm, smiling and polite gets repaid.
Clearly what the US needs is for the government to step out of the way of the world's absolutely finest market based healthcare delivery system.
Instead, the government is replacing the market based healthcare system with a government controlled centrally planned healthcare system. How many successful centrally planned government programs can you name?
There is one-step the government should take and the market will provide the solution. That step is to make employer paid insurance premiums taxable to the employee.
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