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New Re: On #5 and related issues.
>>> "Until someone presents a nice table of the US medical system with a breakdown of income and expenses, I'll be skeptical of solutions."

I have not seen any sites that give that data, but here's an example of one CEO struggling with the budget:

http://runningahospi...eliberations.html

[...]

"The personnel budget, including benefits, is about $545 million per year. A $20 million savings is thus approximately 4% of this amount. If we were to accomplish this in layoffs alone, we would have to eliminate over 300 jobs. (This is based on an average cost of $80,000 per employee. This number may surprise you, but it is a “fully-loaded” figure, including all benefits, taxes, and the like. Also, this has to be offset by the amount of severance pay for those people laid off.) With 6,200 full-time equivalent employees currently on staff, this would be nearly 5% of the current staff.

But that is on an annual basis: To achieve the same savings in the remaining six months of the fiscal year, we would have to double the number of people laid off, or over 600."

[...]

A long blog article, but it gives some insight into the costs of this type of thing.
New Interesting. Thanks.
New Can't think of an issue more fraught with problems of Scale
than 'Health. Care.'

Concepts of 'disease' (is this even a useful construct? Many, now, think not.)
of ancient traditions, now perplexed by new techno possibilities (if not probabilities.)
of massively intertwined disciplines: about all of them, from physics through chem, math/statistics, engineering (of a micro-kind) ... now (nascent) moving to gene-level + that hoped-for intuition -- which cannot be taught.
of 'science' presumptions, often not supported by authentic scientific practice (or knowledge of same.)
of psych, in all its forms..

But, almost-last: intricate divisions of labor, Class-distinctions, a tradition of massively-rote training -- all this also involving Qs like,
~ just What is my Specialty-training 'worth' on the market ? (and.. is it Enough?)

Lastly: an army of opportunists, admins of an 19th century style of record keeping, on through 10%ers of every stripe -- all seeking a cut of the insurance meme
(rephrased: how skillfully can I contrive wording so as to insure only the hale/hearty -- while possessing boilerplate capable of disqualifying
-- most anyone who actually Needs repair.)

It's foremost now: a Bizness like no other. And suffers from the same Suit-like tunnel vision in so many places. This-all does Not justify much idealism in the raw recruits, especially after they are processed.

Good Luck re-Forming this roiling bowl of $dreams, Murican mythos, egos and almost-science -- all undefinable.
If bad money drives out the good, then --

Babbitt shall win. And we seem still to be a crass nation of Babbitts.
Obama: YPB, but maybe a Brave-enough Bastard (??)
Wouldn't touch that bet with a 11' hypodermic.



New Another story on US health care costs, with links.
http://business.thea..._cost_so_much.php

Multiple readers want to know why US health care costs so much. A complicated and fascinating question on which agreement across ideological lines is extremely limited.

[...]


(Via Sullivan).

I'm not sure her conclusions follow, but it's a starting point.

More is at the NY Times:
http://economix.blog...t-so-much-part-i/

(Parts 2 - 7 by Reinhardt can be found here - http://economix.blog...reinhardt/page/3/ )

Cheers,
Scott.
     9 people in Austin responsible for 2700 ER trips - (jay) - (15)
         Math - (drook) - (2)
             Well, if they can put a guy on a bed . . . - (Andrew Grygus)
             Bdefore reading the article - (mhuber)
         An ambulance driver chimes in on his blog... - (dmcarls) - (11)
             locally here in atlanta - (boxley)
             Interesting. Thanks. - (Another Scott)
             He has some good ideas - (jay) - (8)
                 On #5 and related issues. - (Another Scott) - (7)
                     On fancy machines - (drook) - (2)
                         I don't know how common it is... - (Another Scott) - (1)
                             They're making money on full-body scans - (drook)
                     Re: On #5 and related issues. - (dmcarls) - (3)
                         Interesting. Thanks. -NT - (Another Scott)
                         Can't think of an issue more fraught with problems of Scale - (Ashton)
                         Another story on US health care costs, with links. - (Another Scott)

GOPHERS, not GOLFERS!
72 ms