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by nightfly
2641 days ago
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I really don't believe we want more automation in this area. Think of Youtube or Google play store moderation, do you want that for medical billing? And I doubt even 10% of medical costs could be contributed to regular administrative overhead. |
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Every time I visit the doctors in the US there is a trail of paperwork produced. Outside of basic checkups (where you don't dare mention any niggling health issues because your instantly going to get billed consultation fees) there is always a back and forth between the patient, doctors office and insurance over what the doctors office is asking to be paid and what the insurance says it is prepared to pay. This is an enormous time wasting game - the doctors (or their medical group) ask for much more than the procedure cost to perform knowing full well that the insurance company will push back with a lower accepted payment and the patient will sat in the middle having to negotiate between the two.
Removing the pricing game would lower costs substantially (and vastly reduce the time wasted by regular Americans calling their insurance/doctors trying to sort out their individual billing messes).
Having lived in both the USA and the UK there is no question in my mind that the US health care system is a dysfunctional mess. In my experience the only place the US system has an advantage is that the healthcare providers are very (too) willing to send a patient for tests/scans to check for every eventuality and are happy to prescribe whatever medicine is 'best' for an ailment.
In the UK a fit person with a common cold would get sent home and told to not waste the doctors time, in the US you'll get a consultation and a dose of Z-Pack (and hey if I'm paying for my insurance I should use it when I get sick, shouldn't I).