In my previous post on the STOP Obamacare in Pennsylvania, I commented on how Dr. Nicholas Pandelidis downplayed the problem of the uninsured in the US citing faulty research. However there are some areas of agreement single payer advocates have with this group of controlling costs with the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) that we do have. Pandelidis cites many studies by groups like the Congressional Budget Office or CBO which show that health care costs have skyrocketed in the past and the new law will not control costs and be harmful to patients and providers. He does note that costs have risen faster for the private sector than for Medicare and Medicaid in the last decade. He goes on to list the causes driving the increases in cost here in the US which is "access to superior care" which is debunked in the graphic below and in the blog The Incidental Economist, the "third party payer system" which inflates costs due to profiteering, government regulation of insurance industry competition (how is the Highmanrk/UPMC tussle reducing costs and improving care for Pennsylvanians?), federal tax policy favoring employer provided versus individually purchased insurance (which is like switching the burden from Peter to Paul), and of course medical malpractice costs which is debunked in part two of the graphic below.
I am a statistician. My background is not in actuarial science (financial forecasting). I don't like relying on other people's arguments to build my own but this topic is too important for me to leave out. We agree with the opponents that health care costs need to be controlled and with opponents of Obamacare that it will do little to curtail the causes of the inflation. We do not agree with the proposed solutions. Many other industrialized nations are better able to control costs and provide care with better outcomes than we are. In Pandelidis' article, he even agrees that public insurance plans control costs better than private.
I am a statistician. My background is not in actuarial science (financial forecasting). I don't like relying on other people's arguments to build my own but this topic is too important for me to leave out. We agree with the opponents that health care costs need to be controlled and with opponents of Obamacare that it will do little to curtail the causes of the inflation. We do not agree with the proposed solutions. Many other industrialized nations are better able to control costs and provide care with better outcomes than we are. In Pandelidis' article, he even agrees that public insurance plans control costs better than private.
**Related Posts**
No comments:
Post a Comment