The American healthcare system, which once used to be great, has been in decline for decades now. That is not saying the actual patient care has gone downhill, that remains the best in the world. However, costs have been drastically rising for years, with insurance companies profiting more and more along the way. It has become a vicious cycle that we have yet to break. Now, as worries over the border and economy, new polls show healthcare costs is Americans' new biggest worry.
The new Gallup poll found that the rising costs of healthcare is weighing on Americans, with good reason. Premiums have been rising, and pretty much any kind of doctor visit is now routed through an insurance company. Who then makes tons of money off how quickly physicians churn you out of the building. It hurts the healthcare to an extent, while hurting the pocketbook of Americans.
To make matters worse, people in general expect the government to fix the problems. But it is pretty hard to fix a problem you created in the first place.
Dr. Cliff Porter of the Texas Public Policy Foundation says the start of this problem all roots back to Capitol Hill.
"The government has compounded problems by consolidating markets...which is how monopolies work, prices always end up going higher," he says.
Obamacare only made the problem worse and has really led us to where we are now. The idea of socialized, free medicine is good in theory, but that is where it stops. Sure, we would all like free medicine like they do in Europe. Spiler, the United States has been paying for that for decades, so that is not even free. But the idea in general just does not work in a country as large as the United States. It just does not work.
But in typical government fashion, they have overspent and overstretched their position for years. Now, the chickens are home to roost.
"We have the best healthcare in the world...we just have a lousy healthcare system. The administrative system paying for all of this has expanded exponentially relative to actual healthcare professionals available," says Dr. Porter. "We have essentially compounded problems with administrative stuff and a lack of market discipline."
Relying on the government to suddenly fix a problem they created, or have an epiphany to want to do something, is delusional. Nothing will truly be fixed at their level. We cannot get Congress to even pass the SAVE Act, which over 80-percent of Americans support. Forget getting action done that people truly want.
The fix is super simple as well. It just boils down to giving people options outside of being required to go through the greed of insurance.
"So much of medicine does not need to be done through insurance...80 to 85 percent of medicine is primary, urgent care, simple things that can be taken care of immediately," Dr. Porter says.
It is a simple fix to free Americans from the shackles of rising healthcare costs. But do not expect that to come anytime soon. So, until then, both the worries the costs of healthcare will continue rising.
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