Grant.Reuter wrote:
RZ wrote:
davec wrote:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/11/health/aetna-california-investigation/index.html
So who should make healthcare decisions? A nameless faceless insurance company bureaucraft or a nameless faceless government bureaucrat?
Either way we are fucked.
Simple question. What is the solution?
The doctor treating the patient. How did we end up where a fucking insurance company gets to dictate how a patient is treated? It's absolutely disgusting that this type of thing has been allowed to happen.
It’s obviously not that simple. You can’t give doctors full range to prescribe any treatment or diagnostic option available. If you do, costs will go even higher. It’s not an either or scenario. We don’t have the money to pay for every treatment option for every patient. it’s unfortunate but it’s one of the reasons we have so many treatment options. People have invested tons in biotech finding unique and new treatments. The government couldn’t even get close to funding biotech in the way that it currently is funded.
Nearly ALL the biotechs are spinoffs from federally funded research programs at academic institutions. The reason this happens is not because academic institutions do a poor job, it's because ultimately, the government wants research programs that prove successful to be self-sufficient instead of having to rely on one R01 after another. I just came back from a NCI funded project for folks with a current promising R01, that specifically addresses these questions and train researchers with business development, etc.
As for doctors, yes they can and should have all the possible options available, because they are the ones trained to do this. The question is whether it should be reimbursed or not. And in most cases, this question is addressed not by a single doctor, but comes from the scientific evidence, and the medical community. For instance, the USPSTF constantly revises what should or should not be covered as preventive care and for whom. These organizations are not governmental. They are non profit organizations with clinical, public health, public policy etc. experts.
So, in this specific case, it is obviously that simple.