[Peace-discuss] a critique of american medicine and theflexner report

[E.Wayne Johnson]

Why are MRI's and CTs expensive?

The machines are sitting there.  The technician is there.  Those
are sunk costs.  Does an MRI machine degrade by some fraction every time
it is used?  Does a CT machine use a lot of expendibles causing the high cost?

People seem to be so mystified by doctors that they dont ask any questions.

They are also terrified that if they dont pay tribute to the medical industrial complex,
their doctors will let them die.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jenifer Cartwright 
  To: Stuart Levy ; E.Wayne Johnson 
  Cc: peace discuss 
  Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 12:05 PM
  Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] a critique of american medicine and theflexner report


        Sometimes doctors recommend expensive procedures such as MRIs or CT Scans to rule out e g CA, stroke, heart attack. If the results are positive, I guess the procedures were necessary, but if they're negative, then I guess they weren't, huh?
         --Jenifer

        --- On Sun, 4/18/10, E.Wayne Johnson <ewj at pigs.ag> wrote:


          From: E.Wayne Johnson <ewj at pigs.ag>
          Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] a critique of american medicine and theflexner report
          To: "Stuart Levy" <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
          Cc: "peace discuss" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
          Date: Sunday, April 18, 2010, 4:21 PM


          actually some people do just what Baker says, going to India for some surgeries
          and to other countries like China for dental care.  I know of people who come back to China to have their teeth fixed and they can save enough money to pay for their air ticket and get a visit with the family to boot.

          I dont agree with every thing the guy says but he makes some interesting points.

          Insurance has indeed led to many abuses.  On a couple of occasions members of my family were requested to have unnecessary and costly examinations and we were given as a defense, "your insurance will pay for it".


          ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stuart Levy" <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
          To: "E.Wayne Johnson" <ewj at pigs.ag>
          Cc: "peace discuss" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
          Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 4:58 AM
          Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] a critique of american medicine and theflexner report


          > On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 03:51:38AM +0800, E.Wayne Johnson wrote:
          >> My contention has long been that one of the primary problems with medical
          >> care in the USA is that there are too few providers and that the number of
          >> health care providers is held low artificially by the deceit of the AMA. I
          >> have suggested a drastic loosening of the standards to promote more
          >> providers.  There havent been many takers for my notions, but here someone
          >> examines the history of medicine and the Flexner report and the fake reform
          >> of Obama and Co.
          >> 
          >> http://mises.org/daily/4276
          > 
          > Actually, economist Dean Baker agrees with you on this -- at least that
          > US medical providers are deliberately being kept scarce, and that
          > this raises the cost of medical care.  He's said a number of times
          > that any consistent supporter of free trade should oppose this highly
          > protectionist policy.
          > 
          > Baker also promotes medical tourism as a way to provide competition
          > to the overpriced US system, though I'm uneasy with this.
          > It seems as though it would entice medical tourist destinations'
          > providers to flock to (likely better-paying) private tourist clinics,
          > at the expense of their own domestic medical systems.
          > 
          > 
          > There are some pretty half-baked things in this Mises article though.
          > For-profit hospitals have better incentives than nonprofit ones
          > to control costs?  Not in our system, where costs and effectiveness
          > are not transparent.  Insurance of routine procedures leads to
          > overuse of services?  Has the author never heard of the effectiveness
          > of preventive care, or the value of public health measures?
          > 


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