Healthcare spending in the news
- Thread starter Diogenes
- Start date
Obama’s “Affordable” Care Act made healthcare anything but affordable.
It lined the pockets of insurance companies while driving costs through the roof for everyone else. Health insurance has become one of the biggest scams in America.
A family medicine doctor just blew the lid off medical pricing — proving that paying cash for basic procedures like an MRI costs only a fraction of what insurance companies charge.
The proof is right here:
• With insurance: $1,900 → Self-pay: $374
• With insurance: $1,250 → Self-pay: $433
• With insurance: $1,800 → Self-pay: $209
The difference between using insurance and paying out of pocket?
In many cases, you actually save money by skipping insurance altogether. And your doctor doesn’t have to waste time battling red tape or begging for approval — only for you to be hit with a massive bill anyway.
Take a simple MRI of the spine. Insurance companies usually force patients to go through weeks of physical therapy, try medications, and make doctors jump through endless hoops with prior authorizations, precertifications, or even “peer-to-peer” calls — just to get approval. And when you finally get the green light, they’ll charge you $1,900 for a test that would’ve cost around $200 cash.
@Life is Golden
View: https://x.com/ImMeme0/status/1987496259708391498?s=20
It lined the pockets of insurance companies while driving costs through the roof for everyone else. Health insurance has become one of the biggest scams in America.
A family medicine doctor just blew the lid off medical pricing — proving that paying cash for basic procedures like an MRI costs only a fraction of what insurance companies charge.
The proof is right here:
• With insurance: $1,900 → Self-pay: $374
• With insurance: $1,250 → Self-pay: $433
• With insurance: $1,800 → Self-pay: $209
The difference between using insurance and paying out of pocket?
In many cases, you actually save money by skipping insurance altogether. And your doctor doesn’t have to waste time battling red tape or begging for approval — only for you to be hit with a massive bill anyway.
Take a simple MRI of the spine. Insurance companies usually force patients to go through weeks of physical therapy, try medications, and make doctors jump through endless hoops with prior authorizations, precertifications, or even “peer-to-peer” calls — just to get approval. And when you finally get the green light, they’ll charge you $1,900 for a test that would’ve cost around $200 cash.
@Life is Golden
View: https://x.com/ImMeme0/status/1987496259708391498?s=20
Monad Portal
Was it me?
Monad Portal
Was it me?
they only believe in parasitic corruption.
they're not real business people who make or sell things.
the archons are imitators of the creative skills of the one true God, but they got nothing.
I don’t know, Professor.
Because in Michigan, it’s, illegal to find out.
Your employer, @UMich lobbies the state to keep it that way.
Michigan has “Certificate of Need” laws. Sounds bureaucratic. It’s not.
It’s a permission slip system where health systems get to decide if their competitors can exist.
Want to open a clinic? Nursing home? surgery center? Imaging center? You need permission from a state commission, staffed by representatives from existing health systems and the carriers.
Want to add an Operating Room to compete? Same commission. Same conflicts.
Want to offer a new service? You’re asking your competitors for permission.
The university, your employer, acquired hundreds of independent physician practices across Michigan. It has used CON laws to block new competing facilities from opening
It converted the practices, so now they bill at Health Systems rates and easily raised prices 5x overnight.Just acquired Sparrow Health System in 2023, making U of M a $7 billion organization.
Same doctor. Same procedure. Same building sometimes. Different owner. Different price. Not because the quality changed. Because the competition was made illegal.
University of Michigan Health now generates $7 billion in annual revenue across 200+ care sites statewide.
They pay zero property taxes on 3.5 million square feet of real estate.
They’ve issued $3.2 billion in tax-exempt bonds meaning Michigan taxpayers subsidize their construction costs.
They receive hundreds of millions in Medicaid supplemental payments (DSH, GME, UPL) every year.
And here’s the kicker: According to the Lown Institute, U of M Health has a $284 million fair share deficit.
That means the tax breaks they receive exceed the charity care they provide by $284 million.
University of Michigan is a $7 billion tax-exempt empire that uses government power to eliminate competition, then calls it healthcare.
One more thing: U of M Health operates 340 contracts with 340B pharmacies.
The 340B program was created by Congress to help safety-net hospitals serve poor patients. The University buy drugs at a discount, then are supposed to pass those savings to patients.
U of M turned it into a profit center with 340 locations. The discounts don’t go to patients. They go into the $7 billion revenue pile.
So back to your question, Professor: "Will giving people money instead of insurance subsidies lead to better functioning markets?”
I don’t know. Because in Michigan, it’s illegal to find out.
Your employer, now a $7 billion organization lobbies to maintain Certificate of Need laws that make it a crime for physicians to compete on price, quality, or service.
I’ve built health plans with no copays, no deductibles, no prior authorizations. Direct contracts between employers and physicians. Transparent pricing. Bundled payments. They work. Prices drop 30-40%. Quality goes up. Premiums go down. Patients love them.
So before you lecture Americans about “adverse selection” and “market failure,” maybe explain why the University of Michigan gets to use state violence to prevent markets from existing in the first place.
You’re not teaching economics, Professor. You’re teaching people how to defend a monopoly while collecting a paycheck from it.
View: https://x.com/DutchRojas/status/1987245818940973262?s=20
Because in Michigan, it’s, illegal to find out.
Your employer, @UMich lobbies the state to keep it that way.
Michigan has “Certificate of Need” laws. Sounds bureaucratic. It’s not.
It’s a permission slip system where health systems get to decide if their competitors can exist.
Want to open a clinic? Nursing home? surgery center? Imaging center? You need permission from a state commission, staffed by representatives from existing health systems and the carriers.
Want to add an Operating Room to compete? Same commission. Same conflicts.
Want to offer a new service? You’re asking your competitors for permission.
The university, your employer, acquired hundreds of independent physician practices across Michigan. It has used CON laws to block new competing facilities from opening
It converted the practices, so now they bill at Health Systems rates and easily raised prices 5x overnight.Just acquired Sparrow Health System in 2023, making U of M a $7 billion organization.
Same doctor. Same procedure. Same building sometimes. Different owner. Different price. Not because the quality changed. Because the competition was made illegal.
University of Michigan Health now generates $7 billion in annual revenue across 200+ care sites statewide.
They pay zero property taxes on 3.5 million square feet of real estate.
They’ve issued $3.2 billion in tax-exempt bonds meaning Michigan taxpayers subsidize their construction costs.
They receive hundreds of millions in Medicaid supplemental payments (DSH, GME, UPL) every year.
And here’s the kicker: According to the Lown Institute, U of M Health has a $284 million fair share deficit.
That means the tax breaks they receive exceed the charity care they provide by $284 million.
University of Michigan is a $7 billion tax-exempt empire that uses government power to eliminate competition, then calls it healthcare.
One more thing: U of M Health operates 340 contracts with 340B pharmacies.
The 340B program was created by Congress to help safety-net hospitals serve poor patients. The University buy drugs at a discount, then are supposed to pass those savings to patients.
U of M turned it into a profit center with 340 locations. The discounts don’t go to patients. They go into the $7 billion revenue pile.
So back to your question, Professor: "Will giving people money instead of insurance subsidies lead to better functioning markets?”
I don’t know. Because in Michigan, it’s illegal to find out.
Your employer, now a $7 billion organization lobbies to maintain Certificate of Need laws that make it a crime for physicians to compete on price, quality, or service.
I’ve built health plans with no copays, no deductibles, no prior authorizations. Direct contracts between employers and physicians. Transparent pricing. Bundled payments. They work. Prices drop 30-40%. Quality goes up. Premiums go down. Patients love them.
So before you lecture Americans about “adverse selection” and “market failure,” maybe explain why the University of Michigan gets to use state violence to prevent markets from existing in the first place.
You’re not teaching economics, Professor. You’re teaching people how to defend a monopoly while collecting a paycheck from it.
View: https://x.com/DutchRojas/status/1987245818940973262?s=20