Hospitals
have high costs that change little despite the number of patients rising or
falling. Decades ago, the hospitals developed a special kind of insurance
policy whose premiums assured the hospitals regular income and promised
policyholders free hospital care in return. Similar policies were later adopted
by all healthcare suppliers.
The
government and its handmaidens, the insurance companies, became the third-party
payers. Except for small consumer co-payments, they now cover everyone’s
healthcare costs from the first dollar, creating mountains of paperwork.
With
someone else paying, healthcare consumers couldn’t care less about the costs.
Suppliers don’t compete on price, and the prices have soared.
Hospitals
and doctors work for the governmental setup that pays them, not for us. They
benefit from Americans overpaying for healthcare and lobby to retain the
miserable system.
Congress
is the culprit for not resisting the pressure. It should require policies that have
substantial deductibles. Consumers would pay for their own healthcare up to the
deductible amount and would darn well care about the costs. Many would stop
seeing doctors unnecessarily. Suppliers would compete on price, and the prices
would plummet.
Premiums
and administrative costs would also fall, because insurance companies would pay
nothing until the policyholder’s costs for the year exceed the deductible. For
many, especially young people, they’d pay nothing.
First-dollar
payments by third parties are the most important reason the nation’s healthcare
costs are so high. Spineless Congress is a disgrace for not discarding the
wretched system, saving Americans billions of dollars.
