The second wasteful government action was in how Medicare was designed. Before Medicare, most insurance paid a certain number of dollars per day to the insured when they were hospitalized. But Medicare wanted to pay the hospitals directly and they also wanted to pay for doctors’ fees, too. So, they invented the reimbursement system that has now been adopted by all private insurers, patients no longer see what things cost, and care seems to be largely “free” to people with Medicare or good insurance. Even more importantly, how Medicare reimburses rewards high technology and procedures, and penalizes cognition (such as doctors spending time talking to patients) — which has led to an oversupply of high tech care and an undersupply of primary care.
— I used to be the CEO of an HMO, AMAA
Note that the poster has been verified, and should not be considered an idiot despite being anonymous.
