[thorwasdfasdf]

No. The problem with healthcare is they can't compete against each other: Imagine you just got into a car accident. There's no way you can shop around for the best deal on a hospital while your head is bleeding out. Due to the fact that competition is impossible, we need to strictly regulate the healthcare market to prevent the predatory healthcare that's given. Right now, they can make up any number they want and charge you for it.

I don't like it because it's not how market economies are supposed to work, but we absolutely need strict controls on pricing. For example: instead of allowing them to charge 4000$ for an ambulance ride, set the limit to something more reasonable, say 100-300$ depending on the COL in that area.

Also, expanding the labor supply of doctors and nurses would also help. Right now, there are strict limits on the # of doctors that can be made.

[dajohnson89]

is $300 a fair price for an ambulance ride though? paying a skilled paramedic + driver for (say) an hour seems to exceed $300, when you factor in the overhead of the ambulance itself (not to mention services rendered).

edit: i ask that question, because who is going to eat that cost?

[thorwasdfasdf]

The ambulance cost should be negligable. An ambulance should cost roughly 30-50c a mile. i don't see why it would cost more than that. And the wages for a paramedic and driver should be less than 100$/hour, right?

If the hospital is charging 200$/hour or more for administration or more then they should eat that cost

[dajohnson89]

let's say the wages for a paramedic + driver (including overhead of payroll taxes, benefits, malpractice insurance, etc etc) is $75/hour. How do you figure 50c/mile? Gas? What about all the expensive medical equipment in the ambulance, skill training to use it, service it, insurance on the vehicle, maintenance of the engine/tires, compliance with whatever regulations exist on ambulance service providers....?

[thorwasdfasdf]

Take a look at this: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2017/05...

basically it says the milleage is just 84$ (that includes all ambulance related costs: maintenance, gas, depreciation of the ambulance, etc) and that's already being very generous. Another 127$ goes to state of new york. we can get rid of that entirely.

they didn't mention the cost of labor, but we can assume about 75$/hr as you said. maybe another 75$/hr for rediness. "Part of what shocked Santoro is the fact that he received what he considered very little care: An EMT took his vitals and gave him oxygen, he said"

Where the heck does alll the rest of the 2100$ go? I would guess: It's all markup that goes to administrative waste and profits.

So, let's get rid of the extra 2100$ worth of administration and keep everyone's ambulance bills lower. that will lower your health insurance bill by a huge amount too.